Coarse Stone?

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klattman

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May 5, 2004
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Okay, so like many of you, I have the spyderco sharpmaker, which is great for finishing off edges. We all know it's too slow for reprofiling. I have found that even the diamond rods are too slow for my taste. (When I'm changing blade profiles from the useless thick factory edges.)

I've been using coarse sandpaper for those jobs and it tends to clog and tear and I'm going through too much of it.

SO.

I want the coarsest most effective material removing stone, benchstone size. What would you recommend that is easy to obtain and not too expensive?
 
Phry said:
I would think a 220 grit Sic waterstone would be your best bet.
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How does that compare to an expensive DMT? (in terms of how fast it cuts at the same grit?) Is clogging an issue?

And would there be any advantage to 180 or 100 grit, or is that more for garden tool-type sharpening?
Thanks,
 
Clogging with coarse waterstones is never an issue, wear may be though. Waterstones cut fast (faster than diamond in many cases) because the surface wears quickly exposing sharp grit, instead of letting the surface get dull. With the finer stones this is no big deal, with the coarse stones I've heard of them dishing in short order requiring frequent flattening. For this reason I've stayed away from the extra coarse waterstones and just use a cheap two sided silicon carbide hone from sears. It cuts quite fast and for my use (quickly changing the main angle before sharpening on a 1000 grit waterstone) it works perfectly. If someone can convince me than a coarse or extra coarse dmt benchstone cuts signifigantly faster I'll get one.
 
Klattman I use a Norton Diamond Benchstone with 325 Grit. Now they make one that is 225 grit which I am sure would even work a little better. Now I can't find a model number on the packet that it came it but it says that it is to be used with the Norton IM313 Multi-Oilstone Sharpening System.

I also have one of those IM313 systems as well but I use this coarse Diamond stone by itself to do reprofiling. They are a bit pricey though. I have heard that this particular one goes for around $150. I got mine through a trade. But they are an awesome stone.

Now when I am at home in my shop I have a TORMEK wet Grinder unit that really does the trick fast. To check these out go to www.sharptoolsusa.com They are great folks to deal with. Hope that helps. JD
 
I have to say that nothing beats a small belt sander for reprofiling. I use a 1 X 30 from Harbor Freight(sp) that was $35 on sale. Its not too difficult to make jigs and such if you are very particular about your angles. I just use a 220 or 320 grit belt and I practiced on a couple of $2.50 knives before I got the hang of it. I just take them thinner than my 20 degree sharpmaker slots and use the sharpmaker after that. Well, to be honest, I use a leather belt on the sander now, but before that I could reprofile the whole knife block in about 30-45 minutes (11 knives) using a light touch. I used a coarser belt at first, but didnt have enough control to prevent taking off way to much. 2-3 swipes per side, then switch. Be careful of the tips, as they heat up the quickest.
 
Belt sander is the way to go for speed. Go to your local woodworker's store, home center or hardware store and find out what sizes of belts you can find in a range of grits between 60 and 600 grit. Find a cheap belt sander that allows you to select a wide variety of grits in your local store. Most of your work would probably be done in the 80 to 320 grit range. A new 80 grit belt would let you reprofile a dull bowie knife in a hurry. A worn 320 grit belt will leave a relatively polished surface. I use a 60 grit belt for reprofiling machete's and a 600 grit belt for polishing. I found a 4"x36" sander on sale at Home Depot for less money than a large premium brand of 220 grit waterstone. The sander is at least 10x as fast.
 
I knew you would all say "belt sander" and that's great, but I don't have a place to put one.

And I don't need to do it in 5 seconds. 5 minutes is just fine. ;)
Thanks though :)
 
Belt sanders work but you can sure screw up if you are not comfortable doing that. Look up the Razor Edge course sharpening stone. It is a good reprofiler and I've had good luck with it. http://www.razoredgesystems.com/

Doing it by hand I've used the above stone in an 8" course or the courser diamond pads by EZLap. Otherwise I use my grinder/sander in the shop.
 
I run across plenty of knives that take 30 minutes to reprofile and polish with a belt sander that would take hours to do with a series of bench hones.

One thing that has been left out of the discussion is that your blade will have a rather scratchy finish if you go from 220 grit waterstone straight to the ceramic sharpening rods. You not only need to use the 220 grit hone, you will also need to follow-up with either a series of sandpaper grits or a couple steps of finer bench hones. Besides the 220 grit waterstone you should also get something like a 1000 grit waterstone or a combination 1000/4000 grit waterstone. It is cheaper to get a series of sanding belt grits.

A lot of belt sanders fold horizontal for easier storage. Just slide it under your bed. I keep mine out in the garage.

We say belt sander, because that is the right answer. You just have to accept that fact and find a place to put yours. It is calling you.
 
Jeff Clark said:
I run across plenty of knives that take 30 minutes to reprofile and polish with a belt sander that would take hours to do with a series of bench hones.

One thing that has been left out of the discussion is that your blade will have a rather scratchy finish if you go from 220 grit waterstone straight to the ceramic sharpening rods. You not only need to use the 220 grit hone, you will also need to follow-up with either a series of sandpaper grits or a couple steps of finer bench hones. Besides the 220 grit waterstone you should also get something like a 1000 grit waterstone or a combination 1000/4000 grit waterstone. It is cheaper to get a series of sanding belt grits..
Click to expand...

I'm talking small pocketknives and my few kitchen knives. I don't think super speed is a real issue, since I don't have all that many. I don't care about how nice the blade looks, so skipping grits is not a problem. Also, I can use paper for the in-between, I just need something more aggresive to start with.

Jeff Clark said:
A lot of belt sanders fold horizontal for easier storage. Just slide it under your bed. I keep mine out in the garage.
...
Click to expand...

Yep, if I had a garage, it would probably contain one. :o

I'm going to start with a few SIC stones and see what happens. I would go for the diamonds, but previous diamond stones I've had tend to get more fine with use, and the SIC are cheaper, even if they need to eventually need to be replaced.

Thanks for all the replies, I was hoping this would be a good topic for our new forum. :)
 
For home use I have a Swedish Grinder that uses a watered, wet grinding stone. It rotates very slow at 90 RPMs. It is called the TORMEK. It is great for re-profiling. You do not have to worry at all about burning up the blade or loss of tempering because the water keeps it constantly cool. It can do in one minute what it would even take a Diamond stone about 20 to 30 minutes to do. You can see this unit first hand at www.sharptoolsusa.com. The unit is a really great system for sharpening woodworking tools as well. Be careful because when you have it in a coarse mode it will remove stock rapidly. But a fun toy none the less ;)
 
I have been using the Sun Tiger #220 for about three months now. Cuts fast, slurries readily (unlike many other coarse green SiC stones I have tried) and does not load so long as you satiate its thirst! The finish is hazy, might end up replacing the Sun Tiger #240 as my go to coarse...
 
Indeed. Was searching for additional coarse stone options and came across this thread. Thought I would add to the good info already posted.
 
You cannot carry a belt grinder w/ you camping. Where are you going to plug it in? Or to Grandmothers. Coarse bench stones are around 100 grit. These can reprofile quickly with a angle guide or freehand. Look at the SiC or India grit type. They can also sharpen a hatchet or axe pretty quick. They only run 20$ in a decent size. DM
 
Here are 2 cost-effective coarse stones that will quickly remove material for reprofiling, and that I own and use (I also have DMT EC/C but the 12-year-old OP post implies that is too expensive--so listing lower cost options):

* Baryonyx American Mutt: $7.49
* SK11 dual-grit 150/600 diamond stone (search "sk11 diamond" on big river): $32
 
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