if you could only have one sharpening stone what would it be?

B

baldegale

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Mar 1, 2017
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right now i have a paramilitary 2 in CPM S30V and im gonna have a fixed blade in CPM 154. gonna be getting into sharpening for the first time and can only really afford one good stone right now, what grit/stone do you guys think would be best?

im thinking coarse as both are gonna be work knives and a polished edge wouldnt last very long (i dont think, inexperienced tho) and my PM2 has a couple chips in it (pictured below) that i wanna work on taking out (after i practice on some ozark trails and a $20 schrade of course)

PM2 chips: https://imgur.com/a/PBbWqrt
 
If I had to pick just one, I'd pick a 400 grit diamond stone. Not the best to get nicks/chips out of an edge in a timely manner but it can be done with patience. It gives your edge a decent toothy edge for work.
 
Norton sic combination.
Or a couple of sic edge pro stones.

Then I'd save up for some bonded diamond stones.
 
baldegale said:
sweet, ill have to look up reviews on both it and the spyderco one.
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I'd consider the Spyderco WAY too fine for your only stone. You need something that can iron out minor to moderate damage but also produce a final edge or suitable polish for general use with relative ease. Sintered stones like the Spyderco are best used as a final finishing stone to crisp up the apex or for only the lightest maintenance honing. There are much better choices when looking for a generalist stone, though the Double Stuff is great as a finishing hone.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
I'd consider the Spyderco WAY too fine for your only stone. You need something that can iron out minor to moderate damage but also produce a final edge or suitable polish for general use with relative ease. Sintered stones like the Spyderco are best used as a final finishing stone to crisp up the apex or for only the lightest maintenance honing. There are much better choices when looking for a generalist stone, though the Double Stuff is great as a finishing hone.
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makes sense, just didnt know if itd be best to get a cheap combo stone or to get a $50 400 or 600 grit. i want something that’s capable of still putting a good sharp edge (as good as factory at least, doesnt have to be polished by any means)
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
I'd consider the Spyderco WAY too fine for your only stone. You need something that can iron out minor to moderate damage but also produce a final edge or suitable polish for general use with relative ease. Sintered stones like the Spyderco are best used as a final finishing stone to crisp up the apex or for only the lightest maintenance honing. There are much better choices when looking for a generalist stone, though the Double Stuff is great as a finishing hone.
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spyderco double stuff 2, has a 400 grit cbn side which could work okay. I don't have one, and not interested in getting one. But just wanted to post the alternative to the first ver.

 
baldegale said:
makes sense, just didnt know if itd be best to get a cheap combo stone or to get a $50 400 or 600 grit. i want something that’s capable of still putting a good sharp edge (as good as factory at least, doesnt have to be polished by any means)
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Price ≠ performance. As a first stone, a combo stone of known quality, regardless of specific manufacturer, in a conventional vitrified bond is probably your best option. :)
 
Mo2 said:
spyderco double stuff 2, has a 400 grit cbn side which could work okay. I don't have one, and not interested in getting one. But just wanted to post the alternative to the first ver.

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I consider it closer to an appropriate option for the OP's context than the double-ceramic iteration, but still less than an ideal choice.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Price ≠ performance. As a first stone, a combo stone of known quality, regardless of specific manufacturer, in a conventional vitrified bond is probably your best option. :)
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ive had this pm2 for about 2-3 years and never taken it apart or sharpened it and aside from the two chips its still relatively sharp for that long (unbelievable) but now that i have the money im getting all the tools (torx set, nano oil, maybe some frog lube, blue loctite and getting into sharpening) just dont/didnt even know where to begin with the sharpening aspects
 
Unless it's been barely used, I think you'll find it's probably much farther away from "sharp" than you expect. Look straight into the edge under bright light and any place along the edge that's reflecting light is totally dull. A further test is to place different parts of the edge on the back of your thumbnail under its own weight and just rock it side to side. If it slides both ways, it's totally dull. If it sticks both ways, it's good n' sharp. If it sticks one way and slides in the other, the edge is rolled towards the sticking side and that face needs some strokes to true up the edge. Do that test down the length of the blade and it'll help you find problem spots in no time.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Unless it's been barely used, I think you'll find it's probably much farther away from "sharp" than you expect. Look straight into the edge under bright light and any place along the edge that's reflecting light is totally dull. A further test is to place different parts of the edge on the back of your thumbnail under its own weight and just rock it side to side. If it slides both ways, it's totally dull. If it sticks both ways, it's good n' sharp. If it sticks one way and slides in the other, the edge is rolled towards the sticking side and that face needs some strokes to true up the edge. Do that test down the length of the blade and it'll help you find problem spots in no time.
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it hasnt been used a bunch but its also not barely used? if that makes sense. did the nail thing and its about 50/50 the first 3/4” from the tip down (where the chips are) is dull as is about 1” of the belly of the blade.
 
For a one stone solution I really like the fallkniven DC4 or its big brother in bench size.
But, seeing the chips on the s30v blade maybe is better something like DMT coarse/fine or the articfox stone(I don’t have experience with it though)
The new double stuff 2 from Spyderco seems also a good all around stone.
 
At first I thought this was one of those theoretical questions. Like "if you were lost on a desert island with a few knives and ONLY ONE sharpening stone, what would it be?"

But this is actually a beginner purchase question, which we get around here a LOT. The weird thing is, we don't have a standard well known answer to "what beginner sharpening system should I buy?" You would think we would... but we don't.

In my opinion, you need, at a minimum, a two grit setup: Rather coarse and rather fine. This is advice that several of "the masters" of sharpening have advocated for many years. You'd be well advised to at least consider a two grit system; particularly as a beginner.

If you hang around here for a while, you'll start to get an idea of who knows what. Right here in this thread, you've got 42 Blades giving you advice. I greatly respect his knowledge of sharpening stones and materials. He is a manufacturer of sharpening products; as such he really understands a lot about it. There are many other knowledgeable people here. He's just the one that has given you direct advice in your own thread. :)

I'm struggling to come up with a 2 stone system that I could really stand behind. I guess I really think you need more like 3, but I don't want to overcomplicate it. If I come up with something good I'll post back here.

You could do a lot worse than the JDavis882 recommended system. It's not 2 stones, but it should give you some really good information and some things to think about:


Brian.
 
Baryonyx stones are high on my list to buy and try. They have a great reputation and FortyTwoBlades FortyTwoBlades knows is stuff and is a real treasure around here. But, that said, at this very moment I don't have any firsthand experience with them. So to give a recommendation from products I do have experience with, I'd say it would be tough to beat the 300/1200 diamond combo from Ultra Sharp. I'm no expert, just an enthusiast, so take my input accordingly.

You can get an 8" really course Silicon Carbide stone at your local Ace Hardware for about $10. And a Smith's Aluminum Oxide combo are about the same. Not recommending these as "only stones" but one of them might be helpful with the chips.

Then try not to chip it. ;):D
 
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Similar to Eli’s recommendation, I’d say get DMT C/F double sided. Cheapest option is diafold. Ideally XC/F or XC/EF but I don’t think they come in those combo.

I have used C, F, EF (DMT credit cards) and EF/EEF (Diafold). Haven’t used XC, but C is a bit slow to fix problems for high vanadium content steel (S30V is the starting point of high IMHO). So XC probably is better, but C will work with enough patience.

42Blades stones are interesting but I haven’t tried them. If I start over with what I know now, I probably will buy each of his stones for each role, Coarse (American Mutt?) to finishing stones (Black Magic?).
 
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For S30V in particular, a diamond hone in the 325-600 range (like DMT Coarse/Fine) makes it no-brainer easy.

I like using other stones for less wear-resistant steels. But if one is really limiting the choice to just one hone for everything, including S30V and other wear-resistant steels, a diamond hone makes it worry-free across the board.
 
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