Freehand sharpening, need stone and strop recommendations

Kamoe

Kamoe

Joined
Sep 30, 2012
Messages
183
I know this thread's probably been posted more times than you have hairs on your head, but I wanna specify a few things that I can't find with searching.

I wanna get into freehanding, the sharpmaker can only do so much. I'm totally new at this, but I want stones that can put a nice edge on my blade that can compare or exceed that of the sharpmaker's. I also want to get a paddle strop. What I want are recommendations for which stones I should go with that will let me go from being able to re-bevel a knife and end up with a nice polished edge. All of my blades are pre-set to 40° as per the sharpmaker's settings, I want to be able to back it up if I want to. What I need to know is what kind of grit range you guys recommend I get, actual stone recommendations for me, strop recommendations, and what kind of stropping compound I'll be needing.
 
Starting with the coarsest, someone here that I take their advice recommends Atoma. For less than the coarsest, you have your choice of DMT diamont stones or Japanese stones. I have the full range of DMT diamond stones but am considering adding a Shapton 1 micron.

Most people say you can get by with 2 stones. so you have your choice of getting 2 stones to getting the full range of grits. I suppose there's an optimal number. I think the idea is how many stages of refinement and total time spent getting it refined. Having the full range makes it easy to refine it to the next stage being that the grit is closer to each other but you have to spend time going through each of the range. Having two means you only have to do two stages but you have to spend more time relatively at the second stone because of the bigger difference in grit.

I don't have much to say about strops as I'm still learning but I stropping against newspaper wrapped around one of your stones or blocks does have an impact on the edge.

Good luck.
 
What steels are your knives made from?

For reprofiling, chip removal on tougher steels diamond plates will be the fastest stones. Atoma and DMT are the main players here. Atoma offers 140 grit stone and DMT 120 grit.
After that you will need to jump to a 400 grit, brands that work well, Naniwa Chosera, Sigma Power if you want synthetic stones. If you want diamond, Atoma 400, DMT 320.
After 400, you go to 800 or 1k. Chosera , Shapton Pro, Shapton Glass, Sigma Power have offerings that will work well.
In the 2-3k region you have Chosera, Shapton Pro, Shapton Glass.
Not sure if you want to go higher or if it makes sense on a non kitchen knife, but you can get 5k Chosera/Shapton Pro.
I think Chosera is pretty universal and will work with a big variety of steels. Shapton Pro also will work well.

Naniwa Chosera were recently renamed Naniw Pro, just FYU when you are doing your search.

Strops are easy to make.
Grab a construction belt from Lowe's, glue it rough side up on a piece of wood, apply CrO which can be found on ebay or in Woodcraft, possibly local hardware stores, in the form of powder or a bar.
 
Get a gatco tri-hone I think its a great free hand learning tool, if you want to progress into almost mirror edge I'd get a hard arkansas and a surgical black stone ( make sure to lap the black stone with a fine diamond stone )

For a strop I'd recommend a Strop from Stropman & Black, white, and green compound
 
I have a range of steels in my small collection, ranging from 8cr13mov to D2. Are there any dual-sided stone sets you guys can recommend so I'm not buying a bunch of individual stones?
 
Sharpmaker is only good to keep a blade sharp. I was in same situation and decided freehand is the way to go. Get the DMT kit that comes in a wood box with 3 stones, coarse, fine and extra fine. You will get faster results and they are almost maintenance free. I own a Sharpmaker, Japanese stones, lanksy type systems and always use my DMT stones.
If you learn freehand you can always sharpen in the field. That being said, I am considering the KME system so I can ALWAYS get my blades hair whitling sharp.
Oh, I just got a Stropman paddle strip and am happy with it. Just has a learning curve as with sharpening. :)
 
Holy hell these are more expensive than I imagined. Time to save up, I suppose, I wasn't expecing 50+ dollars per stone, here.
 
You might try getting into freehanding slowly. The problem most people run into learning how to freehand is lack of skill, not lack of proper stones. A cheap set of stones, as Rappy suggested, could help you build your skills. Learn to use those stones on your cheapest knife with the softest steel. If you choose an angle more acute than the 40-degree stones you use on your Sharpmaker, you can use the Sharpmaker to put a microbevel on your edges (see Sodak's excellent sticky), saving you from having to buy an expensive, super-fine stone. With the microbevel approach, you'll be surprised at how much easier and more effective the Sharpmaker is to use.

When you go to a strop, you'll have to learn another set of skills, different from those you'll have to learn in freehanding.

The Wicked Edge sharpening system is really nice because it gives you the ability to reprofile easily and strop at a perfect angle.

I wouldn't worry about not being able to resharpen a dull knife when you find yourself lost in the wilderness. In those emergency conditions, you don't regrind a perfect edge bevel, you do the best you can, which means using a rock to scrub a fresh microbevel that makes resharpening easy.
 
Boias.John said:
I know this thread's probably been posted more times than you have hairs on your head, but I wanna specify a few things that I can't find with searching.

I wanna get into freehanding, the sharpmaker can only do so much. I'm totally new at this, but I want stones that can put a nice edge on my blade that can compare or exceed that of the sharpmaker's. I also want to get a paddle strop. What I want are recommendations for which stones I should go with that will let me go from being able to re-bevel a knife and end up with a nice polished edge. All of my blades are pre-set to 40° as per the sharpmaker's settings, I want to be able to back it up if I want to. What I need to know is what kind of grit range you guys recommend I get, actual stone recommendations for me, strop recommendations, and what kind of stropping compound I'll be needing.
Click to expand...

Go to Lowes or Home Depot and get a Norton economy stone and practice on some paring knives. Depending on where in Maryland you are, I'll meet up wit you and teach you how to get a good edge on a knife with minimum outlay and time. It's easier than you think, and in a half hour I'll have you sharpening well free hand. I'll bring some stones and you bring the knives.
 
Boias.John said:
Holy hell these are more expensive than I imagined. Time to save up, I suppose, I wasn't expecing 50+ dollars per stone, here.
Click to expand...

That's what happens when you step into the big leagues. These stones are worthy of the asking price though, lots of people wouldn't buy them and speak highly of them if they didn't.
 
jackknife said:
Go to Lowes or Home Depot and get a Norton economy stone and practice on some paring knives. Depending on where in Maryland you are, I'll meet up wit you and teach you how to get a good edge on a knife with minimum outlay and time. It's easier than you think, and in a half hour I'll have you sharpening well free hand. I'll bring some stones and you bring the knives.
Click to expand...

This is an excellent offer. You should make every effort to make this happen. Sharpening is best learned in person with a skilled teacher. Check out Jackknife's posting record! A very kind offer.

Curtis
 
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