Good grit for beginner sharpener/lesser steels

lieferung

lieferung

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I decided to start learning to sharpen, starting out on my kitchen knives and when I decide to move on to folders I have a couple old Cr13mov and my VG-10 dragonfly I'd like to try on. However I sort of impulse bought a stone on amazon without researching much, it's a 150/240 grit stone.

Two questions:

Is this sufficient for sharpening those steels?

If not, what is a good grit set to start out with?
 
For these kinds of steels--anything non high-carbide super steels--and if trying to keep it simple to start: I'd suggest starting with the Baryonyx Arctic Fox stone, which is 400 grit. They have a 8" bench version, or if you want the added flexibility and portability, they have a 6", 2-grit field stone that gives you a coarse grit for profiling, plus the finer 400-grit. I have both, and if I was starting with just one stone to sharpen all my non-high carbide steels, I'd get one of these, probably the field stone as a 1-stone solution. The field stone is a bit more flexible since you could profile with it using the coarser grit. The trade-off is it's not quite as big, and if you want to get full-length strokes on a bench using say large kitchen knives, or other large fixed blades, you probably want the bench stone. I probably use the AF stones more than all my other sharpening stones combined. This 400-grit stone is versatile enough that you can profile an edge (I wouldn't want to do a full blade profile with it, though), as well as doing apexing, or even just light finishing strokes. The quality of the edge you get is pretty impressive, I do all my stainless kitchen knives, less expensive stainless folders like 420HC, Sandvik, VG10, etc., and carbon steel knives on it, and often don't even bother with a "finishing" higher grit anymore, the edge this stone leaves is that good. The AF is the Swiss Army Knife of sharpening stones. :-)
 
lieferung said:
I decided to start learning to sharpen, starting out on my kitchen knives and when I decide to move on to folders I have a couple old Cr13mov and my VG-10 dragonfly I'd like to try on. However I sort of impulse bought a stone on amazon without researching much, it's a 150/240 grit stone.

Two questions:

Is this sufficient for sharpening those steels?

If not, what is a good grit set to start out with?
Click to expand...

150/240 is pretty low in grit. Maybe a decent stone for heavy grinding & reshaping of bevels; but, odds are, the finished edge will be more rough or jagged, and less fine, than you might hope for.

A decent grit combination for fast-enough regrinding and decent-to-very-good edge finishing would be something in the 220-400 range. A coarse/fine, two-sided hardware store stone in aluminum oxide or silicon carbide would be a typical example of such a combination. Such stones can be found at Sears or ACE Hardware, for example. They're originally made to be used with oil, but they can work pretty well with just water as well. They WILL drink up a lot of whatever lubricating medium you pour on them. There are other, similar oil stones that are pre-filled with oil/grease, so they don't drink up so much additional oil when you use it. Such stones would be something like Norton's India (aluminum oxide) or Crystolon (silicon carbide) stones. A little more expensive than the basic hardware store stones, but still reasonable. And good reputation as well.

And any of these will work well enough with the steels mentioned.


David
 
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Wow, guess I should have researched :D

The stone I have is aluminum oxide from Amazon, it was cheap and I figured it would be decent for basic sharpening. Do you think I should just skip the 150 side and practice on the 240 side? I like your pitch, I think I might try a bench version of that arctic fox.

I should say that I truly am a flat out beginner at this, I'm practicing currently with a very dull paring knife, next step will be an old folder I found followed by my Victorinox santoku (the real show).
 
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lieferung said:
Wow, guess I should have researched :D

The stone I have it aluminum oxide from Amazon, it was cheap and I figured it would be decent for basic sharpening. Do you think I should just skip the 150 side and practice on the 240 side? I like your pitch, I think I might try a bench version of that arctic fox.

I should say that I truly am a flat out beginner at this, I'm practicing currently with a very dull paring knife, next step will be an old folder I found followed by my Victorinox santoku (the real show).
Click to expand...

Yes, for the time being, in a learning exercise, I'd start with the 240 side. I know in my own history, starting with a somewhat higher grit helps get the feel for sharpening, without doing quite so much damage with a very coarse grit, if technique isn't the best yet.

You might also consider using a beater blade to just scrub the stone fairly aggressively, starting out, as if quickly grinding new bevels on the edge. Doing so on a 'don't care' blade is also a decent way to get over the uneasy, uncomfortable feeling usually associated with learning sharpening, BTW. It's also a fast way to figure out how efficiently your stone will actually cut the steel. New & inexpensive stones (especially) can be pretty rough at first, and the first couple or three heavy uses of the stone will break them in a bit. The feedback from the stone will improve as it smooths out with some use, and that'll be helpful when you decide to take some of your better knives to the stone.


David
 
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I would say the stone you get should be dependent not only on the steel you have but also how dull you let your knives get between sharpening sessions. If you like to keep them pretty sharp, maybe go with something like a medium arkansas stone, or for some more money, the dmt fine stone (600 grit) or 1200 grit depending on your sharpening frequency. Also, the silicon carbide stones with dual grit are great for an economical price. I just picked up a 6 inch dual grit silicon carbide at my local hardware store for $10. The fine grit on the carbide stone will give a very satisfactory and aggressive cutting edge and the coarse grit on the stone will be good if you go too far between sharpenings. But, if you are a beginner you may appreciate finer grit stones because they can be more forgiving of mistakes. I think you 240 grit stone may be too coarse for practical maintenance of your knife.
 
The Arctic Fox is a great single stone solution as it cuts fast but it also leaves a very usable edge.
Also in this category would be the 400 Chosera, 320 King, and 320 Suehiro Chemical.
These stones give you a bit more real estate as they are 8x3”.
The King is the cheapest, the Suehiro is about the same as the AF and the Chosera is the priciest.

Don’t forget the Norton Silicon Carbide combo stone either as that is a nice stone that eats most steels easily and gives a screaming edge with a light touch.
 
I like an aluminum oxide stone especially for kitchen knives. This grit will break in finer, perhaps 340. With something like a leather strop and slurry applied your current stone may give you some good edges. Just go about sharpening all of the Aunts and grandmothers knives and see
how you progress in your learning. DM
 
willc said:
Don’t forget the Norton Silicon Carbide combo stone either as that is a nice stone that eats most steels easily and gives a screaming edge with a light touch.
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Yes, I have and use this one too, also good as a one-stone solution. If my plane crashed on a deserted island, I'd probably want this stone if I could only have one (although I'd also wish for something lap it with :rolleyes:). If I were going to start with a stone that however would be pretty versatile and put nicer finishing edges on things, I'd say AF. In an ideal world, get both. :p
 
+1 on the Artic Fox Bench Stone ... it will sharpen quickly and is fine enough for kitchen knives alone and you can not beat the price.

If you get comfortable sharpening or want a combination stone for the steels and knives you listed a Norton India Combo stone would give you a good option without spending alot.
 
I second a Norton coarse/fine as a good starter. the most basic one is their "Economy" stone. I would shop and find a 8" x 2", should be about $25 or so.
 
Cheap 150/240 AlO isn't conducive for learning how to sharpen because it has low grade coarse abrasive (I've a few hahaha), plus damaged/weakened apex. I recommend a safer 400/1000 dual grit waterstone. You can put heavy pressure(yeah this is how I exercise my forearm muscle :D) apexing with 400 without worrying too much about macro compromises to a very thin edge. Possible waterstone on Amzn for OP listed steels: $15 PaiTree 400/1000 Alumina - excellent quality & value. 27$ SharpPebble 400/1000 SiC - this one would works well on high alloy steels as well (except 1000 side struggles for steels with 9+%V).

To get super crisp edge on 1000 SiC - make sure (rinse) stone surface is mostly free of loose grit. During last few finishing strokes - rinse stone per stroke (either leading or trailing). SiC grit easily break down(high friable) to finer grit, thus muddy/slurry up = more refine apex but likely to round the apex, that is why - rinse surface per stroke.
 
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Man, so much good information. I'll have to take a minute this weekend to check out all those stones, I already planned on watching some technique videos.

Well I hope the stone i bought isn't just garbage now? :D at $6 I won't lose sleep if it is.
 
Grits demarcation provides a good visual indication to infer on product quality. I.E. straight thin line = might be correlated to higher precision processing/manufacturing.
 
for most kitchen jobs, finishing on a Norton fine india or crystolon will be ok. while the edge will not be highly polished, it will work well slicing and dicing the heathen carrots and onions that invade our kitchens. your $6 economy stone will produce outstanding results once you get technique down.
 
^What Scott said. If you want to start simple and minimal and low-cost, either your stone or those 2-grit Nortons will work great. Honestly for me as I've been learning more and improving at freehand sharpening, the thing that ALWAYS holds me back most is not the stone, but ME. Too much pressure, inconsistent sharpening strokes, improper burr management--those are the biggest blockers to good freehand sharpening, IMHO those things are far more important than which stone you use.
 
bluntcut said:
Grits demarcation provides a good visual indication to infer on product quality. I.E. straight thin line = might be correlated to higher precision processing/manufacturing.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. It depends heavily on the manufacturing methods used. For instance, dual-grit stones that are vitrified together tend to have more variation in the visual appearance of the bond line at the edge of the stone vs. ones that are simply glued together, because ones that are vitrified together undergo a pressing process not seen in ones that are simply stuck together using an adhesive. However, a glued join is more likely to fail than a vitrified one.
 
I really like ceramics the most like those from spyderco. In fact the 2x8" spyderco fine whetstone was the first new stone i bought after buying a vg10 delica. It works great. But i really like the way the medium spyderco leaves the edge. It cuts through material so nicely without being too aggressive or too polished. Like maximus83, if i were stuck on an island, i would also probably choose the SiC stone. The SiC from the fine side leaves a very nice aggressive cutting edge, and a few passes on a loaded strop leaves a very enjoyable cutting edge. But it is a little coarse for my preference. If i were cutting cardboard a lot i would think that edge would be nice. But in real life with the way i sharpen and how i like my edges, if i could only have one stone, it would be the spyderco 2x8" medium ceramic. As for diamond stones, so far i have gotten more consistently sharp edges from my eze-lap fine stone over the dmt fine stone. However, my dmt is a little newer so perhaps it just isn't broken all the way in yet.
 
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