Grit sizes on sharpening stones

needler420

needler420

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Apr 29, 2011
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I picked up a smiths 4" natural Arkansas stone at Wal-Mart for $2.50 on clearance.

It seems really smooth and my knives have chips and I believe need something more coarse to even it out while this smiths stone is like a touch up.


I want to invest in a naniwa chosera set but I am unsure what grit sizes would be good for me and how many stones.

I see people tend to start at 1000 or lowest 800 and kind of work to a 3,000 6,000, 8,000, etc can I start at a 240 and stay lower.

I plan to get another stone locally to practice more on before using the Japanese set.

Any good reliable places to source these stones?
 
Well, you can go to whatever grit that you want/serves your purpose. Cliff Stamp for instance technically never really went past 400 grit on the Naniwa Superstone. That, or even a Suehiro Chemical 320. He set his apexes at higher grits though...

Anyway, the point is: you can go as high or as low as you want. I like 1k for edc because it is toothy and long lasting, but other dudes on here regularly go sub-micron.

Tl;dr go to whatever grit you want. As long as you form your apex properly, you'll have no issue cutting the stuff you need to cut
 
So far I only have one knife. A cold steel voyager tanto mendium.

I am wanting to invest in sharpening stones first.
A set to learn on and a Japanese set to master. Stones i can use for 20 years - life.

Then I will invest in some better knives.

I'm tired of having a nice knife if I can't even sharpen it.

The all point is independent.
 
400 grit is the lowest Chosera stone.
For small chips it isn't bad but for more rough work I would invest in a Norton Crystolon.

The 400 Chosera is a great stone though and that along with the 1000 will give you a finish that is very nice.
 
I keep some of my knives and tools at ANSI 120, even. Depends on the amount of tooth you want.
 
If I were learning how to sharpen, and if the only knife I had was made from AUS-8, I would start with a Norton IB8 combo India stone and a can of honing oil, with a hard leather strop and some chromium oxide compound. I would learn how to use those two tools first, before even thinking about progressions of Japanese water stones.

Since you already have an Arkansas stone (though 4" is pretty small - more of a pocket stone) you can further refine the edge after the 400-grit fine side of the Norton India.

If for some reason you are dead set on Naniwa Professional stones (the new name for the Chosera line), then go with the 400 and 1000. You will also need a stone flattener of some kind, usually a diamond plate but there are also SiC flatteners or "stone fixers" that can be used. Or you can use sandpaper or drywall screen on a flat plate of glass.
 
You can use your Arkansas to remove chips and obtain a good edge at the same time. But it will take more time than a stone of a lower grit. The more time that passes, the more tedious the job becomes and the greater the potential loss of angle control.
 
Just get a Spyderco sharp maker. Tho, I've not used a sharp maker to sharpen a tanto. I doubt it's difficult.

In any case. Bd1 steel is pretty easy to sharpen.
 
If you are new to sharpening, do not invest in those stones. I did it and wasted a lot of money.
I would have gotten Sharpmaker or DMT aligner instead.
 
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If I am repairing damage to an edge or if I need to reset the bevel, I go with 200 grit. From there, I go to 1000 grit, then 4000 grit, then 8000 grit and finish off with 15000 grit. Sometimes, depending on the knife and how I intend to use it I will stop at 1000 grit. For example I only sharpen by Bark River Bravo 1 up to 1000 grit because I typically beat the hell out of the edge while batoning and chopping etc....

I sharpen all of my knives on japanese water stones (which I highly recommnend) and strop on a piece of leather mounted on a board.
 
I also highly recommend Japanese waterstones.

If you are sharpening EDC knives, in my opinion, you don't really need to go beyond a 1000, so with that being said, I'd recommend

King 1000 - Beater stone to learn on
Naniwa Pro 400 - reset a badly dulled or minorly damaged edge
Naniwa Pro 1000 - workhorse for maintenance sharpening
DMT Extra Coarse - this badass mofo will allow you to define new bevels quickly as well as keep your other stones flat.

Then you need a strop. Strops seem to be quite a pick-your-poison subject. I personally don't care what my substrate is (denim, wood, leather-glued-to-wood, hockey tape) so long as it is hard. I personally vastly favor hard strops. Currently I strop using a marble tile with hockey tape. Large, heavy, flat, and cheap!

That setup will run you like $280CAD (probably more like half of that in USD) and will last you many, many years of typical-user sharpening.
 
Beansandcarrots said:
I also highly recommend Japanese waterstones.

If you are sharpening EDC knives, in my opinion, you don't really need to go beyond a 1000, so with that being said, I'd recommend

King 1000 - Beater stone to learn on
Naniwa Pro 400 - reset a badly dulled or minorly damaged edge
Naniwa Pro 1000 - workhorse for maintenance sharpening
DMT Extra Coarse - this badass mofo will allow you to define new bevels quickly as well as keep your other stones flat.

Then you need a strop. Strops seem to be quite a pick-your-poison subject. I personally don't care what my substrate is (denim, wood, leather-glued-to-wood, hockey tape) so long as it is hard. I personally vastly favor hard strops. Currently I strop using a marble tile with hockey tape. Large, heavy, flat, and cheap!

That setup will run you like $280CAD (probably more like half of that in USD) and will last you many, many years of typical-user sharpening.
Click to expand...

I have no doubt in my mind that you are form Calgary. I just know. Don't ask how. lol
 
skyhorse said:
If your blade has chips you need to get something like a coarse or extra course DMT plate.Japanese water stones aren't the best tool for the job in this case and you will likely damage it.
The best info on sharpening can be found in this sub forum.
https://www.bladeforums.com/forums/maintenance-tinkering-embellishment.794/
Click to expand...
Japanese waterstones are actually an excellent tool for removing chips. The 200 grit stone is designed to set the bevel and removing chips. If the stone becomes irregular, there is a lapping stone which is used to flatten the waterstone.
 
LMNOP said:
Yes, it was the hockey tape. Hahaha!
Click to expand...

It's such an awesome subrate though! Sticks on anything flat, and it's just, like, a kind of fabric, basically. So good! And it's so cheap, and if you could believe it, it's available pretty much everywhere up here haha
 
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