hey guys, need some help choosing advance sharpening methods

Grandmaster

Grandmaster

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Jun 14, 2015
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I was looking at this:
http://www.knifeart.com/knifesharpener2.html

It doesn't come with the black surgical, the other is this one:
http://www.knifeart.com/sharpenknife.html

Now, I have a couple of questions, is this a good method of sharpening knives? Also, is the black surgical worth 40 bucks more? What honing oil do you recommend?
And what strop do you guys recommend, I cant find any to go with the Arkansas stones

thanks a lot guys, I use my spyderco sharpener, but want to get more into the sharpening stuff, I know I can get better edges for my knives,

Thanks a lot!!!!!!!!
 
I know many still like Arkansas stones and they can work extremely well but if you have any modern steels they would be my last recommendation. I learned to sharpen with a Medium Arkansas stone and it worked but every synthetic stone I used after that worked better.

Now that I understand sharpening better I seek efficiency in sharpening tools. A stone needs to be quick to cut steel, easy to use, and produce a good useable edge. This prevents fatigue while sharpening and some of the frustration that is associated with starting to hand sharpen.

I have progress to waterstones over the years and tried out most brands finally settling on Shapton as my main sharpening stone. I have many other top brands sitting on my stone rack but the Shaptons are what see most of the use. They are hard and slow wearing stones with a high rate of cutting speed that produce sharp edges without fuss. The 500 and 2k Glass or 1k and 5k pro stones would be a great start that's easy to expand on.

What's your budget?
 
Well I wanted to spend about 80 bucks, from what Ive read 3 stones are the most used, though I dont know what grits,
Thanks for the help
 
Grandmaster said:
I use my spyderco sharpener, but want to get more into the sharpening stuff, I know I can get better edges for my knives
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First of all I doubt that statement, the spyderco sharpmaker in experienced hands can give you as good of an edge as you will ever need. Yes, it may be slower than other techniques so for a complete package you need the diamond or CBN rods as well or what I usually recommend, get a Norton Crystolon stone for the ground work or as Jason recommended a coarse Shapton.

2nd, 3 stones is what is most used? I don't think that is correct either. Get good results with one stone, one stone only and then widen your experience with finer stones later on.

3rd - listen to Jason!
 
I think OP means three grades of stone - Coarse. medium, and fine. One can certainly push it out to either end and get extra coarse, or extra fine, but three grades will serve most uses. The Norton provides two of them, and one could simply add a strop of some sort or a finer stone to apply a micro bevel, smooth honing steel etc.

You could also add something in the 120-240 range to the 1k and 5k and likewise have a complete set.


I'll second (or third) the advice to stay away from Arkansas unless you are familiar with the types of steel you own. In the right application they work great, but are not versatile across a range of steels.
 
Coming off the 8k all you should need is a strop with some fine honing compound and a plain good quality leather strop for the final step, and that only if you're actually honing a shaving razor. Otherwise a few passes on newspaper or copy paper will do it and you'll have an edge that can easily cut hairs above the skin.

If you go with those stones, keep in mind they are on the soft side and you will need to finish with trailing passes to get the most. They also work best in a dedicated progression rather than being able to stop at any finish level and have a great result. It can be done but will be a challenge to learn - they do cut fast and used in a progression they produce a very good edge. Also a big benefit if you learn to move around on the stone as much as possible to minimize dishing.

The Shaptons that Jason recommended are a hard stone and will make usable edges at every stage. Less forgiving of loose technique, but capable of greater precision through the entire range of stones.

Edit to add:
If you do go with the Nortons I'd buy them separately.

Don't bother with the 220 grit, that stone is not very effective compared to other choices - a King 240 works better and is 3 times the size. An XC DMT plate also a good option for rough setting of bevels.

Pick up the full size 1k as it wears fast. Then pick up the combo 4k/8k. They also offer a 1k/8k that would be the most economical option for a single stone in that set, and use a hardware store combination stone for setting bevels.

For a flattening stone I've used all sorts of coarse stones in a bucket of water or under the sink, currently am using one of these:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Avanti-P...-Bench-Grinding-Wheel-PBW080100A01F/202831072

For a finish strop I use paper over my Washboard, but any dry stone will give OK results. Check out some Murray Carter videos to see how he goes about it. If using a stone watch out for loose grit under the paper.

And of course, the sharpening block I make (link thru signature below) can do a good full-service job on most edged tools - anything that can be sharpened with a bench stone.
 
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As Heavy Handed hints at, waterstones are a different kind of sharpening beast. They feel different, work different, and need different maintenance than other stone types. They are a REALLY interesting and cool sharpening system. But keep in mind that they need some sort of specialized skills. Not amazingly different than other stones and plates, but a little different. Different enough that I personally have trouble with them, despite having a set of waterstones that were highly recommended and are supposed to be not that hard to use.

I'm not trying to discourage you from using waterstones. I'm only adding some information and my experience with them. I've had good results some of the time with mine. Not so good results other times. I tend to do better with harder media like diamond plates, silicon carbide stones (like Norton Crystolon), and ceramics.

It might help us to help you if you would give us an idea of what kinds of blades and blade steels you expect to sharpen. Also what you might be using blades for. "Razor sharp" is a nice goal, but different types of sharpness (different finishes) can be drastically different for different uses.

Brian.
 
I will usually sharpen my EDC's, SAK's, Spyderco, Benchmade, Sebenza, Fallkniven, Emerson, ZT, Buck, the whole Esee lineup and I started buying those hand crafted, Opinel, Man, Douk Douk, Mercator, and bought some Case cutlery and Schrade, because I wanna try some Whittling, thats basically what I want to sharpen,, got some tomahawks and machetes too, but I started using my Spyderco Sharpening and I got some crazy edges off some spydies and benchmades, I just thought it was natural progression to go with stones next
 
Grandmaster said:
Jason, should I invest in Norton Stones, or keep my Spyderco Sharpmaker?
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:) why get rid of sharpmaker?
sharpmaker medium rods 12.5 +/- 1.0 micron or P1500 grit or J1200
sharpmaker fine rods 6.5 +/- 1.0 micron or P2500-P3000 or J2000-J2500

anything north of P1000 is "shaving" ... I've shaved with 600 grit :)
 
HeavyHanded said:
Pretty sure he'd advise you to buy the Shapton 1k and 5k if you haven't already put money down on something else.
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I didn't dare speak for him but I would bet 100$ you are correct sir. Luong (bluntcut) turned me on to shaptons and I love them! Little over budget, cry once then enjoy....
Russ
If glass, 6k may be the finish stone actually, no 5k in glass
 
The 1k and 5k Pro are great stones but the 500 Shapton Glass migh be better to use with the SM. Tough call...
 
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Shapton Glass Stones. A-OK! :)

These stones cut ridiculously fast. I haven't used the 120 in a very long time. I use the 220 for reprofiling, even for fairly serious work. If I only had the 500 for coarse stone work, that would be fine in most cases, too. They are just f-a-s-t. You almost won't believe it while you're using them.

The 120 to 500 grit are pretty thirsty stones. The 1k and 4k (I assume the 5k, too) hardly absorb any water. I store the Glass Stones dry and "splash and go" when I want to use them. I'll let a little water soak into the coarser stones for a few minutes. But the water won't even go into the 1k and 4k (hardly), so I truly use them "splash and go."


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6 inch Dmt red and blue and a strop.

That is all I need to compliment my sharpmaker.
 
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