Crystolon or India for Kitchen Knives?

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calvinw

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Feb 28, 2012
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My sister wants a sharpening stone. She will be almost exclusively sharpening kitchen knives, I think Henckels. German made knives, not the cheaper Chinese ones. I'm set on getting her a Norton combination stone (and a strop) and am just trying to decide between the Crystolon or India stone. There are other older threads comparing/contrasting the Crystolon and India stones, but they seemed focused on a different applications (harder steel, etc.). I wanted to get people's opinion about use on a plain German kitchen knife set.

I have experience with the Crystolon. I have an old one I took from my dad's shop years ago. I use it for rough work on my own knives, before moving to waterstones, Sharpmaker or 306UF to finish. It seems a bit coarse for use on a kitchen knife. Then again, maybe coarse is better.

I've never used an India stone before.

Do you prefer one over the other? Is the difference not that big of a deal?

I'm leaning towards the India because I figure she'll sharpen often and not neglect her knives. So, the India's finer grit seems more appropriate.
 
I'd probably go with the Norton India. The crystolon is perfectly fine, but unless she's a whiz at sharpening it may leave the edge a little rough for chopping and slicing. The standard India does a pretty fantastic job for kitchen knives.
 
Several years ago I got a new Norton combo stone. It's 8 x 2 x 1 and has medium crystolon on one side and fine India on the other. They don't seem to make it in this size any more, which is a shame. They make it in an 11" I think.

Initially, the Crystolon side was a very good shaping stone for me and got a lot of edges started for me. I had just about ZERO luck with the India side. I preferred to use my Spyderco medium profile instead and got great edges from it.

Later, after I got more experience, I was able to get some impressive edges from the fine India. On carbon steels I was amazed at the polish! On stainless I got some nice edges too. I don't use it much these days, but I acknowledge that it can produce very serviceable edges. Sometimes I'm a slow student. In this case it took me several *years* before I got anything usable from the India side.

So maybe something slightly finer might help a beginner more? Like the Spyderco profiles helped me. Or just teach her better than I was doing when I started. :)

Brian.
 
Thanks for the input, Brian.

I'm also going to give her a copy of the Murray Carter's instructional video I have. Hopefully, she can learn from that.

I thought about giving her a Spyderco stone, mainly because they are so easy to maintain (no lapping, no lubricant). But I wanted to give her just one stone. She's not a knife nut, so she probably won't want a collection of stones (like the entire drawer full of stones I have). I find the Spyderco stones don't work well alone - from my experience, you need Medium and Fine at least, and another coarse on top of those two.
 
17pes said:
I'd probably go with the Norton India. The crystolon is perfectly fine, but unless she's a whiz at sharpening it may leave the edge a little rough for chopping and slicing. The standard India does a pretty fantastic job for kitchen knives.
Click to expand...

That's my thought exactly.
 
Yes, the India is a good route for her and teach her along the way. It gets finer once it's broke in. DM
 
Kudos to your sister, son! Where I come from, women don't sharpen knives. They tell you it's a man thang. Maybe, if it was a girl thang, they'd quit trying to carve up ceramic plates... Anyway, the India will give a finer edge, it's true, but if she has to reprofile the knives, she might want the faster-cutting Crystolon (SiC). Reprofiling a set of kitchen sounds like cruelty to a rookie, but she'll learn a lot about edges, burrs, angle and "feel" doing it. You mentioned a strop. Different skill set, another learning curve. For the same money as a good leather, get her a Washboard strop and drastically reduce the learning time for her. I got one, reprofiled a dozen new and used kitchen knives and have not touched the stones since. My wife's in the kitchen right now, happily butchering a butchering block.:D I'll whip out the WB in about an hour and strop it for a minute or two and she'll be good to go again. Nothing wrong with easy.:yawn:
 
Thanks for the input, fellas.

I considered HH's Washboard, but I wanted to make my own strop for her. I got a 12 inch piece of 6/7 leather ready to go. $10 with a bar of white compound.

I didn't want to get her a soft waterstone because I worry the dishing and flattening might discourage her. (And a harder waterstone is out of the budget.)
 
I second the India stone. It is more than appropriate for the typical X50 steel they use for German kitchen knives. I also second the HH Washboard.
 
Thanks, Mag. I'm going to stick with the plain strop for now. But I have to try the Washboard myself one of these days.
 
Thanks, everyone. It looks like the consensus (mostly) is to go with the India stone, so I got one on the way now.

Maybe my sis will end up a better freehand sharpener than me!
 
calvinw said:
Thanks, everyone. It looks like the consensus (mostly) is to go with the India stone, so I got one on the way now.

Maybe my sis will end up a better freehand sharpener than me!
Click to expand...

The India stone is going to be better for kitchen knives than the Crystalon. The Crystalon is my all time favorite for general use but a bit overkill on those softer steels, the India will make a cleaner edge. A great stone that will give good results and grow with her for a long time. With a practiced hand you can coax a very fine edge from that stone, especially after it breaks in a bit as David Martin mentioned.

If I could make a suggestion to add a second strop with black emery compound to go with the white, comes in very handy on kitchen cutlery. Will give her a somewhat toothier edge finish for draw cutting knives, and can be used to help restore an edge on the way back to the white compound for fine slicers and choppers.
 
Good idea, HH. I just ordered a var of black compound and another piece of leather to make a 2-sided strop.
 
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