Free Hand Stone help.

Swoop03

Swoop03

Joined
Dec 1, 2012
Messages
840
It's about time for me to go and buy a few free hand stones. I'm a standard set including, course medium and fine.
I'm tired of setting up my lansky and getting mediocre results. I can do the same with stones/diamond cards or sandpaper and a strop but I don't have any of my own.

Could some of you wonderful forum members point me in the right direction to get some good quality stones.
Mind you I'm on a budget so I'd like to stay on the affordable side for now, but I'd like to get some really good ones in due time. Some recommendations on both ends of the spending spectrum would be cool.

I was thinking a medium and fine for now and get the coarse and between grits later on. For the medium I have in mind a 400-600 grit and fine a 1000-1500. Unless any of yinz have a better combo. I will most likely end up stropping from the medium one and getting a nice toothy edge that I like if that helps you any.

Also when/if you recommend me a stone(s), it would be awesome if you could tell me where to acquire such a device for the sharpening of steel. Internet is the best option for me, but if I can get it at a local hardware store or whatever that wouldn't be too bad, I'd just have to find a way there when I have extra time.
 
There are way too many depends: steels, alloy+rc, tools size/shape, grinding load, sharpening style/skills-level, etc..

Putting myself as an example, so for a given budget I would acquire a combination below. Mostly to address the need of sharpening simple carbon to alloy laden blades. Sharp, very sharp, yeah I want them crazy sharp (for shave+show+cut myself).

1) $50
1a. Update International 110/220grit 12" AlO - $3
1b. Dmt diafold E/EE - $30

2) $100
2a. Town Food Equipment 180/320 12" SiC - $15
2b. Dmt Diasharp 6F - $24
+ 1b

3) $500
3a. Atoma 140
3b. Dmt 8 or 11.5 X + F + E + EE + 1b
3c. Ghessin 400, 1K, 5K
3d. diamond, cbn, other compounds + fancy backing

4) $big - nuts :p
all $500 option and
4a. Knife maker equipments - $30K

Reasons behind recommended abrasive a la carte
* Most abrasive types (AlO, SiC, Diamond, Ceramic, etc..) protruding from surface (embeded/fixed in somesort of binder/plate) larger than 20um - avg 10um exposing - can abrade 99% of avail blade steels today. So 1a or 2a or (those congress tools or countless others low-grit options)

* 1K and higher grit - only diamond, bn & cbn can guarantee abrade hard carbide (Vc, Wc in particular).

* Belt/wheel - fast moving abrasive adds fracturing kinetic + higher affective grit dimensions

For you - I recommend option 2
 
My default response is pick up a Norton Crystalon (silicon carbide) combination stone. I had to order mine off the net, my local shops didn't carry any. The Norton India stone is another good stone for coarse and medium - leaves a cleaner edge but is a bit slower, especially when using the coarse side for heavier work. Personally, I seldom use an extra-fine stone anymore, so a similar strategy to how you envision. With a box of higher end stones I do 80% on the Crystalon and strop with a variety of methods. Even if you opt for fancier or finer stones down the road, that combo SiC stone will never collect dust.
 
Swoop03 said:
It's about time for me to go and buy a few free hand stones. I'm a standard set including, course medium and fine.
I'm tired of setting up my lansky and getting mediocre results. I can do the same with stones/diamond cards or sandpaper and a strop but I don't have any of my own.

Could some of you wonderful forum members point me in the right direction to get some good quality stones.
Mind you I'm on a budget so I'd like to stay on the affordable side for now, but I'd like to get some really good ones in due time. Some recommendations on both ends of the spending spectrum would be cool.

I was thinking a medium and fine for now and get the coarse and between grits later on. For the medium I have in mind a 400-600 grit and fine a 1000-1500. Unless any of yinz have a better combo. I will most likely end up stropping from the medium one and getting a nice toothy edge that I like if that helps you any.

Also when/if you recommend me a stone(s), it would be awesome if you could tell me where to acquire such a device for the sharpening of steel. Internet is the best option for me, but if I can get it at a local hardware store or whatever that wouldn't be too bad, I'd just have to find a way there when I have extra time.
Click to expand...


Look at chefknivestogo, sharpening supplies, highlandwoodworking, japanwoodworker, and leevalley. All carry some of the best and largest selections of quality stones available.

There are so many options it really depends on what you sharpen, budget, and how far you want to take it.
 
wdtorque said:
Heavy,
Do you use the Crystalon wet or dry?
Thanks
Click to expand...

I use it with drug store mineral oil. My favorite one-stop method is to just sharpen on the fine side (assuming no serious bevel work needed), and strop on the slurry from the grinding process. Just mop it up with a sheet of paper and wrap it around the same stone. If I have an edge that just needs a light touch up I'll sometimes whip up some mud with a piece of hacksaw blade and proceed as described.
If there's no oil or other lube handy I'll use a SiC stone dry, but they tend to load up fairly quickly compared. I also tend to think I get a better edge with oil or at least soapy water.
 
About the same process for me ^ too. Either one of those combination stones will give you lots of years sharpening. DM
 
I have been in the process of putting together a basic free hand sharpening set and after a lot of reading and watching videos I have gathered that a double sided DMT Diasharp coarse/fine is pretty much enough to get a quality edge. If you want you could go a step further and get something like a Spyderco Ultrafine ceramic, or a water stone to put on very sharp edge. I have watched several videos of people going from a DMT coarse to a fine or extra-fine with great results.
 
I recently decided to replace some old worn stuff, and got a set from sharpeningsupplies.com for about $75 -- a combo coarse crystalon/fine india, and a combo soft/hard arkansas. Tuned up all my knives one Sunday afternoon, these worked fine. I don't use the coarse much unless an edge is really trashed. And I don't go to the hard arkansas with all my knives, only the good ones....

If I was on a tight budget an India stone and a soft arkansas would do all I needed.
 
knifenut1013 said:
Look at chefknivestogo, sharpening supplies, highlandwoodworking, japanwoodworker, and leevalley. All carry some of the best and largest selections of quality stones available.

There are so many options it really depends on what you sharpen, budget, and how far you want to take it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for giving me places to look
The hardest I have is a few S30V and one S35VN but I don't use those for hard work, I keep them sharp enough to just strop them back in a few minutes. If they get real dull I've been taking them to 1000 grit wet/dry and a mouse pad then stropping. But I don't always want a convex edge and I can't clamp my Para2 for example in my lanksy because of the full flat makes it difficult not to screw up the edge. Also its just a hassle for a touch up and I hate the thing to be honest. I prefer free handing it. Anything else is like Aus 8 or any of those *CR*MOV steels just soft cheaper stuff.

I don't want to spend more than say..umm..$150 for everything. That seems reasonable to me to get a hobby grade set. I don't need any of those fancy japanese high end water stones that Murray Carter uses. Just something that works good and will last a good bit.

The farthest I want to take it for now is just a good fine working edge off the stone at most. I have methods for my beater knives that I destroy that work just fine. I need a tried and true method for my quality blades, I figured free hand won't break the bank and I don't have the learning curve as I can already free hand decently. I can only get better with practice too.
 
I would probably look into DMT, sharpening supplies has a duosharp kit with 2 hones and a base for $139. Add a strop and the biggest challenge you will face is wondering why you didn't order sooner.
 
I think I know what I am going to get thanks to a few awesome youtubers.
DMT Coarse continuous surface
DMT Extra Fine (maybe it was fine, I don't remember right at this very second) continuous surface
Spyderco 306UF Ceramic.

I can lay back the edges if I want to, I can take out damage, get a saw like edge, fine toothed edge or even mirror polish according to the videos. So I can essentially get whatever I want from those stones plus my current strop. Even if I can't get mirror finishes I will still get a sharp edge by hand and have quality stones that should last me my lifetime. I also prefer a slightly toothy edge over a mirrored edge anyway.
 
I use gesshin on my folders. Simply because I have Japanese chef knives and have to sharpen eery few days.

Gesshin 400 works well to profile (be light on pressure), 2000 in between and a 8000 to polish the microbevel.
 
My Norton IB8 does most sharpening. It has lasted for along time and still in excellent shape.

I have a couple of VG10 and S30V folders. Initial sharpening on the Norton, then they get refined on a Spyderco ceramic (fine) and stropped.

Ric
 
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