Recommendation? Cheap sharpening stone

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West Šenkovec

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Jan 19, 2013
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After using my pocket knives in the kitchen for the last few years I decided to get a decent kitchen knife. I don't have many sharpening stones and the ones I do are too small so I need a bigger one for the kitchen.
The knife is a 10" japanese knife in blue steel at 63 HRC.

I thought I might get away with a one double stone since it's a carbon steel with a very thin edge.

Skerper and Naniwa 1000/3000

Didn't find much on the Skerper and I found that people had problems with the Naniwa but that also goes for their more expensive stones so I don't know what to get.
Everything else gets expensive real quick.
I assume I also need a dressing stone and maybe a stone holder.
 
One stone for Home Kitchen - Shapton Pro 1000
Splash and go, so no need to soak, less mess and time.
Comes in a hard plastic box with feet, so you don't need a stone holder.
Very hard, so you wont need to dress or flatten the stone that often and doesn't load up requiring dressing. Easily cleans up with running water and a simple wipe.
As long as the knife doesnt get too blunt or chipped, this stone will create a bur, remove a bur and light strokes at the end creates an excellent, slightly toothy edge that will shave, slice paper towel and do mostly everything that is required in the kitchen.
Not a big fan on combo stones, or going much finer than 2000 on a kitchen knife.
 
Stockman said:
One stone for Home Kitchen - Shapton Pro 1000
Splash and go, so no need to soak, less mess and time.
Comes in a hard plastic box with feet, so you don't need a stone holder.
Very hard, so you wont need to dress or flatten the stone that often and doesn't load up requiring dressing. Easily cleans up with running water and a simple wipe.
As long as the knife doesnt get too blunt or chipped, this stone will create a bur, remove a bur and light strokes at the end creates an excellent, slightly toothy edge that will shave, slice paper towel and do mostly everything that is required in the kitchen.
Not a big fan on combo stones, or going much finer than 2000 on a kitchen knife.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your input.
I'm a bit in a tough spot. I have pocket knives with high wear steel that these water stones probably won't cut well. That's why I didn't want to invest too much since I don't plan on collecting kitchen knives too.
The stones I have are smaller. The only bigger one I have is a ultra fine ceramic from Spyderco.
I don't know if I should get the lower grit Spyderco bench stones since they also won't do much to high end steels.
DMT and Atoma diamond especially are expensive. Maybe wait for discounts and buy one by one but what? DMT?
 
You can get by with any real Japanese synthetic stones, King, Naniwa, Shapton, etc.
If you want to minimize your expediture, you can get a double sided stone. 1000/3000 is fine, although if you are doing chip removal
you will want 400/1000. Above 1000 it becomes less "sharpening" and more "polishing".
Single grit stones that come on plastic bases are ok if you only use 1 or 2 stones. Most of us who use a wider array prefer no-base and use
a stone holder. I have even removed the plastic base from some stones to use on the holder.
 
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I took a day to read what should I get and by then the sale was over so I didn't buy anything but I saw the DMT 8x3 on sale. I wanted to pick them up for my pocket knives and the kitchen knife. Then I saw a lot of negative reviews. People say the quality went down the drain.
So what to get? Lol
 
The more I think about it the more I think investing in good stones is a better idea in the long run although they are expensive. The Venev 200 x 83 x 10 mm double stones are $150 per piece, but you get two grits. So in the end its $450 for 400/1000, 1000/2000 and 4000/8000. This would allow me to sharpen my pocket knives easier and I would use them for kitchen knives too. How fast do the Venev stones wear? For that money it better last me a lifetime lol
 
The combination waterstones never worked quite as well for me
Even the better name ones, the stones don't always feel homogeneous, or true to grit
I've gotten a set from Shapton, their ceramic waterstones
That's what's been working best for me, professionally
 
I use the Spyderco Medium and Fine bench stones. They work well with my pocket knives and my three main kitchen knives (Wusthof original Grand Prix - 8" chef, 6" utility, 3.5" (IIRC) paring).
 
Diamonds are forever. A good set will last for decades if properly maintained, and will work on any steel.
 
West Šenkovec said:
The more I think about it the more I think investing in good stones is a better idea in the long run although they are expensive. The Venev 200 x 83 x 10 mm double stones are $150 per piece, but you get two grits. So in the end its $450 for 400/1000, 1000/2000 and 4000/8000. This would allow me to sharpen my pocket knives easier and I would use them for kitchen knives too. How fast do the Venev stones wear? For that money it better last me a lifetime lol
Click to expand...
The Venev stones wear very slowly. They do load up pretty quickly, so you will need to refresh them regularly with SiC powder, a nagura, a rust eraser or magic eraser(probably in order of most to least effective/fast). They are awesome on steels that have large volumes of carbides, but overkill for basic kitchen knives.

Another option is the King Neo 800 grit stone which is silicon carbide, so it handles more difficult steels better than most other water stones that use aluminum oxide. It is on the softer side though, so would need flattening fairly regularly. Here is a thread talking about this stone:

King "Neo" Waterstone | The best kept secret in freehand sharpening

King "Neo" 800 grit A total "sleeper" stone. This is the best kept secret stone for getting into benchstones and freehand. Has all the features of the more expensive Choseras and Shapton Glass, but better feedback, feel, mud, and cutting speed with less burnishing on chromium carbide rich...
www.bladeforums.com www.bladeforums.com
 
I was in Harbor Freight the other day, looking for something else, when I saw this:
www.harborfreight.com

4-Sided Diamond Hone Block

Amazing deals on this 4-Sided Diamond Hone Block at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.
www.harborfreight.com www.harborfreight.com

Anyone have any experience with it? Based on my experience at HF, it could be a great value, might be a real waste of money.
 
If you get a knife with good steel, I think all you need 99% of the time is a ceramic rod. You should never need to re-profile on a stone unless you somehow ding the edge on something harder.
 
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