For freehanders, what stones do you use on your TRADITIONALS?

[TLARbb]

I am using medium and fine diamond hones and a Norton fine India bench stone with a leather strop and green compound to finish. Most of the time just the India stone if I don't have to reprofile.

Ed J

 

[richstag]

I LOVE this knife!

My pocket translucent leaves an awesome edge on my slipjoints.

The leather sleeve also makes a handy strop.

- Christian

 

[kamagong]

You can't mean that. The bone is wearing down, chipped in a couple of spots from when I dropped it onto concrete. The pivot pin is all scratched up, the liners are dinged from coming into contact with keys, and the backspring now has a couple of pepper spots. A rather poor example of a custom knife.

I love it too.

- Christian

 

[HwangJino]

For beginners, king stone 1000 grit is a staple in sushi bars.

once you undrrstand the stones you can get 400 for rougher cuts and 4000-8000 grits once you master the lower grits.

1000 really is fine, I can still grt paper thin cuts of fish lemons or whatever proteins.

8000 is where the edge becomes untouchable to skin.

 

[tomsch]

I use a Smith diamond stone to reprofile. I used to used an Edge Pro but now that I finally have some basic skills I do it by hand which is quicker in terms of setup. I also have a Smith fine that I'm able to put a shaving sharp edge with not too much work. Touch-ups are typically still done on my Spyderco Sharpmaker.

 

[rockgolfer]

You can't mean that. The bone is wearing down, chipped in a couple of spots from when I dropped it onto concrete. The pivot pin is all scratched up, the liners are dinged from coming into contact with keys, and the backspring now has a couple of pepper spots. A rather poor example of a custom knife.

I love it too.

- Christian

Thats what I'm talkin about just a beautiful knife Christian!


I am only using one system right now and its just a tri-hone I purchased at the blue box. I also have a small translucent Arkansas stone that I purchased when I was 14 traveling through the state. I am still planning on getting a strop to help maintain that razor edge but in the meantime my work belt or the palm of my hand work OK.

 

[richstag]

Sounds like real character to me. I don't think I have a knife that I have carried and used for any period of time that I have not dropped on concrete. I have come to think of it as the right of passage Although it hurts until you find out there is no MAJOR damage.

I hope to see it age in another year from now

You can't mean that. The bone is wearing down, chipped in a couple of spots from when I dropped it onto concrete. The pivot pin is all scratched up, the liners are dinged from coming into contact with keys, and the backspring now has a couple of pepper spots. A rather poor example of a custom knife.

I love it too.

- Christian

Thats what I'm talkin about just a beautiful knife Christian!


I am only using one system right now and its just a tri-hone I purchased at the blue box. I also have a small translucent Arkansas stone that I purchased when I was 14 traveling through the state. I am still planning on getting a strop to help maintain that razor edge but in the meantime my work belt or the palm of my hand work OK.

If you think about it most of my stropping is done on the linen side of that belt and its just a mild white compound it doesn't do much so not too much different than your work pants . I got an opinel to be razor sharp (I mean scary scary sharp in every way you can think) off a DMT extra-extra-extra-coarse bench stone the other day. Just a few swipes on that linen. I learned just a few years ago it really has to do with the stone work and the strop just takes care of the small stuff

Kevin

 

[False Cast]

I tried a few different stones and I settled on a Spyderco ultrafine benchstone for the majority of my sharpening. I like my strops too. The Arkansas stones look very interesting as well. I might have to try one.

 

[knarfeng]

While I own some Arkansas and other natural stones, I primarily use diamond hones in a variety of grits (DMT) followed by Spyderco ceramics.
Once in a great while I'll break out my Norton Fine India and Crystolon stones.

Diamond and ceramic make most routine sharpening and touch-ups a simple enough matter.

Ditto.
Haven't used my natural stones in years.
I do occasionally use my India Aluminum Oxide dual sided stone.

I use DMT stones for changing the edge angle to match the Sharpmaker. Once the angles match, I use the Sharpmaker for final sharpening and general edge maintenance.

 

[thedemonbeast]

I use large genuine Arkansas sharpening stones to sharpen my knives. I use a coarse one to get the edge started (if knife has never had an edge). But for knives that have an edge that are dull, I use my fine grit Arkansas stone. Then after I have the edge where I want it, and also for my knives that have sharp edges but just need to swish over them once or twice, I use my super fine grit Arkansas stone.

These stones work wonderfully for my knives. However, this next step is actually a final sharpening step that I never really done nor did I ever really think it was all that important, until tonight anyway. Anyway, that final step is leather stropping the blade after sharpening it. This gets off any fine steel burrs or excess steel particles that might actually cause the blade's edge to dull faster due to the excess steel burrs and particles rubbing against the edge during use, causing the edge to bend in shape and become dull.

Like is aid, I never really considered stropping the blade against leather all that important of a step until tonight when I watched a knife sharpening video. After the video, I decided to try the leather stropping. The video stated that stropping the blade against leather after sharpening refines it and buffs it smooth like fine glass. So after trying it, and then cutting with the knife, I could tell a big difference and the knife cut smooth as silk, like finely sharpened scissors against paper! And now, from here on out, the last step of leather stropping will be a definite step to take for me!. Thanks for reading and putting up with my rather long post. Will try to keep posts smaller in the future!

 

[richstag]

From the sounds of it you were already pretty good at getting your knives sharp on a stone. Finally figuring out the strop can get you this excited! A strop does not always have to make the edge perfectly smooth though. That is one reason I go with my linen set up. It will remove the burr and refine to an extent but its much slower at polishing than loaded leather or horsehide.

Take a look at this 100x shot cropped way in of a true hard black arkansas edge with just a few passes on the linen. Absolutely no burr, still keeps the grit marks and teeth in the actual apex. With the XXXCoarse diamond making the Opi as sharp as it did it was not so without a few passes on the linen. Then it would push cut newsprint, slice paper towel and toilet paper and pop hairs and anything else all with serious teeth. The strop will not be understood until success is achieved and getting it right on the stones makes the strop quick work



Somewhere I have a picture of an edge that started just like that and after a month of only stropping it was perfectly smooth with no teeth left. Time to go back to the hone

That pic is of my work knife so the edge wasn't perfect.

Kevin

I use large genuine Arkansas sharpening stones to sharpen my knives. I use a coarse one to get the edge started (if knife has never had an edge). But for knives that have an edge that are dull, I use my fine grit Arkansas stone. Then after I have the edge where I want it, and also for my knives that have sharp edges but just need to swish over them once or twice, I use my super fine grit Arkansas stone.

These stones work wonderfully for my knives. However, this next step is actually a final sharpening step that I never really done nor did I ever really think it was all that important, until tonight anyway. Anyway, that final step is leather stropping the blade after sharpening it. This gets off any fine steel burrs or excess steel particles that might actually cause the blade's edge to dull faster due to the excess steel burrs and particles rubbing against the edge during use, causing the edge to bend in shape and become dull.

Like is aid, I never really considered stropping the blade against leather all that important of a step until tonight when I watched a knife sharpening video. After the video, I decided to try the leather stropping. The video stated that stropping the blade against leather after sharpening refines it and buffs it smooth like fine glass. So after trying it, and then cutting with the knife, I could tell a big difference and the knife cut smooth as silk, like finely sharpened scissors against paper! And now, from here on out, the last step of leather stropping will be a definite step to take for me!. Thanks for reading and putting up with my rather long post. Will try to keep posts smaller in the future!

 

[j man]

Fallkniven DC4 & Spyderco sharp maker followed by a strop.

 

[mike Berkovitch]

I use few stones, some of them synthetic some natural. The natural are some Japanese and some I found locally in the desert.
It seem that each kind of steel has a stone that performs better honing. Here are few

Mike

 

[Coonskinner]

While I own some Arkansas and other natural stones, I primarily use diamond hones in a variety of grits (DMT) followed by Spyderco ceramics.
Once in a great while I'll break out my Norton Fine India and Crystolon stones.

Diamond and ceramic make most routine sharpening and touch-ups a simple enough matter.

This describes my routine just about exactly.

A lot of the time I start with diamonds, and finish up with a white hard Arkansas and then a little polish on the Sharpmaker.

 

[getout87]

My pocket translucent leaves an awesome edge on my slipjoints.

The leather sleeve also makes a handy strop.

- Christian

such a beautiful shot. the patina makes the edge almost glow.

 

[MT Damascus]

I use 6 x 2 DMT(blue, red, green), Sharpmaker with UF rods, and a 8 x 3 Norton 1200/4000 waterstone. I just bought a 8 x 2 black arkansas from Dan's Whetstone but haven't put it to use yet. I finish on the waterstone and use the Sharpmaker for maintenance. I also use a DMT DiaFold in 1200(green) and 8000(brown ceramic) in the field.


Kris

edit - I also strop on bridle leather with DMT paste

 

[pertinux]

While I own some Arkansas and other natural stones, I primarily use diamond hones in a variety of grits (DMT) followed by Spyderco ceramics.
Once in a great while I'll break out my Norton Fine India and Crystolon stones.

....my favorites are my Norton aluminum oxides ( India stones) and oil...

I do occasionally use my India Aluminum Oxide dual sided stone.

Like this?

Ie, Norton Combination India Stone?

~ P.

 

[kamagong]

the patina makes the edge almost glow.

It's my pocket lightsaber.

- Christian

 

[kamagong]

Norton Combination India Stone?

One and the same.

- Christian

 

[Modoc ED]

I like and still use natural stones. I especially like the Norton India Stones.

However, I also like diamond stones/sharpeners - much faster for neglected or new knives with a less than acceptable profiled edge.

I particularly like the DMT "Mini-Sharp" folding pocket stone when sharpening out and about. Lies flat in the pocket with no bulk.

All of the sharpeners shown do a great job establishing a good edge on a knife or other tools for that matter.

The pictured round Norton combination stone does great on carbon steels all the way up throug D2 steel and even some stainless steels. I like the stone as I learned to sharpen a knife moving the blade in a circular motion on a stone. Even Buck Knives recommended sharpening their knives in a circular motion up until a few years ago.