Freehand sharpening, how many different grit waterstones do I need to buy?

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csisland

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Aug 8, 2013
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I'm a beginner to free hand sharpening and currently have no stones but looking to buy. Can you get by with one waterstone or do you need several different grit waterstones?
 
Generally, whether waterstones or other, you need three stones. One coarse, one medium, one fine. for waterstones, it would translate to one 220-240 grit, one 1000, one 4000-6000. You could fudge it a bit with a stone in the 200-300 range and one in the 1200. This will leave you with a very nice EDU edge but still handle most any job that comes your way. You could also fudge a bit and just get a 1000 and a 6000 - will leave you with a good maintenance and finishing system - can add a rougher stone for repair and changing angles etc.

I make and sell a pretty complete kit for freehand sharpening through the link in my signature that might be useful to take a look at - have two left and probably won't be making more till after the Holidays. Its inexpensive and very functional. Otherwise, there are a lot of waterstones in the mid price range, most of which I have little experience with unfortunately. I own Kings and Norton, would recommend the Nortons as they handle a wider variety of steel - the Kings are a nice stone for the money but can struggle on a lot of the alloy and higher carbide steels, much better for carbon steel.

You could also start out with a Norton silicon carbide combination stone (Crystalon). It leaves you with a fairly rough edge, but as a stone to learn on you'd be hard pressed to find a better option - good feedback, handles any steel, predictable, consistent results, and inexpensive.
 
I can only support HeavyHanded's post and his Washboard sharpening solution is a very affordable and complete set to be used with sandpaper, paper and compound. I like it particularly with my scandi and full convex knives. For "regular" v-edge sharpening I must say that for beginners waterstones and/or oil stones add a bit of a challenge on top of what you have to learn/practice already starting sharpening freehand - and that is your hands get wet/oily, the knife is wet/oily and that somewhat inhibits the very important basic skills to learn as feeling the burr, feeling the stickiness of the edge etc. Therefore other than HeavyHanded's washboard which is being used dry, I would suggest diamond stones. I like the DMT dotted ones, here is a link for more info: http://www.dmtsharp.com/sharpeners/bench-stones/duosharp/

Yes, they are not cheap but is treated well then they last for ever, relatively light, can be used dry (or later on with water if wished for) and that may give you better feeling of the burr, the edge feeling etc. Hallmark of knife sharpening is producing and removing the burr (without fancy progression to 100.000 grit, kangoroooo leather etc.) and this may be a very good starting point.
 
A second vote for a Basic 3 stone Set, how ever I would not recommend anything in the really coarse range to begin with . after a few months of practice it's ok. It's too easy to damage a blade with a 240 grit.
Using the same logic a really fine stone is wasted until skills are refined.

I always recommend this set to beginners
http://www.japaneseknifesharpeningstore.com/Dave-Martell-set-sharpening-stones-p/set1dmcore.htm
after that you can always justify "Just one more"

I've used that excuse 5 or 6 times with the wife
 
As been stated you need 3 basic stones, a coarse, a medium, and a fine stone.

With waterstones you need to do a little research before you buy or you could end up with stones not well suited for the steels or types of sharpening you do. That said, is this for kitchen knives, folders, wood working tools or maybe all of the above? Whatever the answer may be its important to chose the right stone so your venture into sharpening is not a frustrating one.

So, what type of sharpening will you be doing?
What type of knives/steel will you be sharpening?
And what kind of stone do you want? Basically you have two types stones those that need to be soaked and those that just need a splash of water to start working.
 
I'd recommend Shapton Glass Stones in 220, 500 and 1000 grit. If budget is really tight, get the 500 first, then add the 200, then get the 1000.

You'll never regret buying anything made by Shapton.
 
I can agree with Ben by saying that the shaptons are superb stones. However they are not very forgiving to the new freehand sharpener. They have some idiosyncrasies that can throw the inexperienced freehander for a loop.

I would be going for the Nubatama 3 piece set sold by CKTG. It works well on a wide variety of steels and has a good learning curve. On top of that its an easy set to add stones onto without throwing away the base 3 piece kit. Initially I would add a 400 , and then a 3k. But the 3 starting stones are great.
 
I second (or third) Heavy Handed Washboard for the simple reason: the feedback is very good to learn.

It never dish, if abrasive is worn, simply replace the paper/sandpaper. As such, it's applicable for wide range of steel with combination of sandpaper, paper + compound. You'll be surprised that even black compound can be effective for k390 on Washboard.
 
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