Mom bought me this in Japan: Teach me to use it.

L

lwt210

Joined
Mar 21, 2007
Messages
511
Greetings.

I'm no stranger to sharpening.

I have sharpened most of my life with Arkansas oil stones. Ceramic sticks came later as did a Lansky kit and then on to a Sharpmaker.

I dabble in stropping with cardboard and leather and have expanded to Hand American 1 micron diamond paste on wood.

I can get a 1095 blade sexy. I can get Tru Sharp nice and keen.

But I have never used waterstones. Mom was in the Orient visiting my sister and brought me back a Cerax 6060 stone. The instructions are in Japanese and I am afraid my Japanese is a bit rusty. Mom knows I love honing supplies and is a great souvenier shopper.

I need to know how long to soak it, if I can soak it along with it's plastic holder, how to use the paste stick that came with it, the works.

I am assuming that you soak it for around 30 minutes, apply the paste, and strop or hone away. I have seen them use push and pull strokes on Youtube.

Also, would this come after the Sharpmaker fine hones and before the 1 micron spray? Can the micron spray be used on this waterstone?

What about cleaning it? Wash down with water?

Here is a pic. Thanks in advance.

SDC11456.jpg
 
well, i dont know much about waterstones, but if you use it it will need flattening. you should buy a flattening stone if you plan on using this oten because over time it will develop a curve. for soaking you should probably take it out of the base so it can absorb more water, i would say about 20 minutes is good before you sharpen. DO NOT USE 1 MICRON SPRAY on this waterstone, youl ruin it. the "paste stick" is a nagara stone, you put water on the stone and rub in the nagara stick, it will create a paste on the stone which helps polish the blade. i looked up this stone on the internet and translated it, heres the link, http://yoshikin.shop-pro.jp/?pid=4220644

it looks like it is 6000 grit, so you should use the fine sharpmaker stones, this, then the 1 micron paste on leather or wood, whatever you prefer.

Overall a great new stone care for it well, NEVER PUT OIL ON IT. you will ruin it if you do, use only water.
 
First of all, the stone is a 6,000 grit water stone. That's quite fine. Do NOT use any honing compounds on this stone. Soak it in water for 30-60 minutes before you use it, (if it doesn't separate from the base you can soak that too, otherwise, put it in alone.)

Keep it very wet while you're using it. A water stone cuts by building up a 'mud' slurry on top of the stone, using this slurry to do the cutting rather than the stone itself. It's important not to wash off this slurry while you're working. Add a hand full of water after every couple of strokes but don't add so much that you rinse away the mud! The writing on the side of the stone says "Soak in water before using."

Regarding the paste stick that you received with it... Unless we see the tube, we can't know what it is. Take a photo of that and I'll translate the Japanese written on it. My Japanese isn't rusty. I need it every day, living here in Japan. Do NOT put it on the stone before you know what it is.

After using the stone, wash off the slurry and let the stone dry. After sharpening a few dozen times you will need to flatten the stone. You can do that easily by going out to your back patio and finding a flat slab of cement and rubbing the face of the stone against that. Draw a line with a Sharpie pen along the length of the stone, and when the entire line is gone, the stone is flat. (If you don't have a slab of smooth cement at home, buy a 12"x12" slab at your local home center for $2.) Many people here just use their sidewalks for this.

Stitchawl
 
Waterstones forms paste on the surface during sharpening when they are well soaked. They suppose to be always filled with water during sharpening. Blade "shave" stone and this abrasive particles mixed with water create paste which gently sharpen the edge.

Because blade actually shave - carve stone, time to time you need to flatten it.

Stone is too soft and edge shaving it out - so it does not get dirty, all metal particles from blade will be mixed with that abrasive paste it forms and washed away easy.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
Vassili and Stitchawl nailed it.

Don't put that stuff on the stone till we get a look at it (and by "we" I mean Stitch :p)
 
Thanks for all the information so far.

The "stuff" that came with it is actually on top of the stone in the pic. It didn't come with any tubes or instructions. Everything that came in the box is in the pic.

It was simply wrapped in protective wrap and placed at the end of the box.

So far, everything y'all have said is what I thought. Fine SM hones, this stone, then micron spray.

This stone won't see a whole lot of use but my family knows that I want souveniers that I can use and that is why she got me this stone. So it is going to get some use and I knew that it had to be flattened after some time. I thought the glass/sandpaper trick would do that but if it has to be cement or concrete, I can figure out a place to do that on my patio.

Thanks for all the advice so far, it is much appreciated.
 
I personally soak mine for only 15 minutes. I use the nagura stone to make the "mud" before sharpening. Sharpening might go faster without the mud, but considering it's a very fine grit stone and you probably want to polish the whole edge, it's better to have the mud.
 
I use sandpaper on glass and it works fine for me, doesnt need to be on cement.
 
Here are a few youtube videos featuring the use of japanese water stones. They're about sharpening katana swords, but the technique should be transferable to knives aswell.

[youtube]T5lmhZiup3o[/youtube]

[youtube]55BlqOj-hqo[/youtube]

[youtube]nRv8mWDmviM[/youtube]

And here's two videos from Ray Mears, where he gives tips on using japanese water stones to sharpen a knife.

[youtube]We1-CDNaSFs[/youtube]

[youtube]FPRiJ_YnSCI[/youtube]

Hope this helps!
 
You might check out Murray Carter's website also. Along with some very nice blades, he has a couple of what I think are good instructional DVD's about water stones. There are a number of out takes from the DVD's on UTube also.

I like your stone flattening technique xmtgx. Thanks.

Mike
 
lwt210 said:
The "stuff" that came with it is actually on top of the stone in the pic. It didn't come with any tubes or instructions.
Click to expand...

Then that is to be rubbed onto the surface of the stone to work up a slurry.

I thought the glass/sandpaper trick would do that but if it has to be cement or concrete, I can figure out a place to do that on my patio.
Click to expand...

You do not NEED to use cement. That's just usually more available to most folks right outside their door. Silicon carbide on glass, sandpaper on glass, or a dedicated flattening stone are all things used by folks for flattening. As long as the surface is flat and abrasive, it will work just fine.

Stitchawl
 
I use a 2-inch thick 12X12 inch granite block machined to .0001 (one-ten thousanth) of an inch. Do people make flatter surfaces than that, that is, maybe something machined to .00001 inch or better?
 
Sorry for the questions. Does your dedicated flattening stone ever get out of whack? Does the flattening stone ever need to be flattened, and if so, how do you do it?
 
Anything flat and course enough to abraid your stone will work. No need to worry about tolerances to one-ten thousanth of an inch, and don't worry about the size of the grit of your flattening stone. Most of the ones sold for professional use are about 80 grit yet do a fine job resurfacing an 8,000 grit water stone. If you doubt the effect of your flattening stone, draw some straight lines on the face of your convexed stone, going from end to end. When you flatten the stone, you should be able to remove all the lines. When you have removed them, your stone is flat. Just be sure that your flattening stone is larger than your sharpening stone.

To true up a flattening stone, just use another that is larger, draw lines on the stone, and rub until they are gone.

Stitchawl
 
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