Recommendation? Need some help with choosing options for a TSprof K03

[panzerkiller13]

Hi everyone! After browsing the forums here for a long enough time, I figured it was nigh time to go ahead and create an account after all

So, I've been looking at biting the bullet and going ahead and getting a Tsprof K03 for myself this Christmas but I'm a little unsure of a few options on stone choice and initial accessories and would like to get some feedback and recommendations from those of you who have more experience with the system, the stone types, and etc!

As of now, I think I'm going to go ahead and get the universal convex attachment for a little more than the single angle one just for future flexibility, and I don't see any reason to not get the heavier base instead of the cheaper one gritomatic sells. Am I thinking right here? Is there anything else you guys would recommend I get initially?

As far as stones go, I'm really interested in the offerings from VID as my workhorses, but I don't have any experience with them and I'm not sure if I'd be better off getting the "Orion" option with the 3mm deep coating already attached to the aluminum bases, or the double-sided Centaur stones that are only 1mm but a little cheaper. I'm also leaning toward getting the 100% saturation stones across the board; is there any reason that would be a bad idea?
I'm thinking I would like to supplement these VID stones with some spyderco M/UF stones or something similar like the gritomatic jasper for times I'd like a less aggressive cut/ higher polished finish, as well as a leather strop or two for knives and chisels I want to get a serious polish on. I was also thinking about getting a set of the electroplated diamonds, but are these even necessary if I get the Venevs?

 

[Blues]

S.T.A.T.E.S.

 

[Old Biker]

As far as stones go, I'm really interested in the offerings from VID as my workhorses, but I don't have any experience with them and I'm not sure if I'd be better off getting the "Orion" option with the 3mm deep coating already attached to the aluminum bases, or the double-sided Centaur stones that are only 1mm but a little cheaper. I'm also leaning toward getting the 100% saturation stones across the board; is there any reason that would be a bad idea?
I'm thinking I would like to supplement these VID stones with some spyderco M/UF stones or something similar like the gritomatic jasper for times I'd like a less aggressive cut/ higher polished finish, as well as a leather strop or two for knives and chisels I want to get a serious polish on. I was also thinking about getting a set of the electroplated diamonds, but are these even necessary if I get the Venevs?

My thoughts on your stone selection. The Orion set gives three times the wear area for a little more than double the cost. Either set should last for years. So I would think the deciding factor, would be how much you want or have to spend. I don't see the need for electroplated diamonds if you are buy a VID set. Or buy the electroplate diamonds and skip the VID set. They fill the same role. I have learned that the coarsest stone does most all of the work. The rest are just polishing out the scratch marks from the stone before. So if you don't get the blade sharp with that first stone, you likely will end up with a nicely polished bevel, and a blade that is still dull. So if I was buying. I would get one of the sets with 100% concentration on the coarse grits, and 25% on the fine grits. Because the fine grits are mostly just for polishing anyway, and the 25% stone should do that better. But this is mostly just theory on my part. The only VID stones I have used, are some 1/2" wide curved gemini series stones, for sharpening recurved blades. For most knives I use a set of CKTG diamond plates. The finest is about 15 microns. If I want more polish I follow those with an edge pro 600 and then the edge pro 1200 stone. That gets me to 2.5 to 3 microns. Then I use a leather strop. If I ever wear those stones out, I'll look at something like one of the VID sets. The VID hadar centaur set looks like a good buy to me. F100 to F2000 grits (120? to 1.5 microns) followed by a strop. You shouldn't need any other stones, unless you have some recurve blades, then you might want some of the gemini series stones for them.

O.B.

 

[K80Shooter]

Do get the heavy springs for the clamps. Also if you plan on doing filet knives you'll need clamps for them also.

 

[S.T.A.T.E.S.]

We recommend getting the coarse single piece, 100% resin bonded Venev stone and using it for creating the burr. It will work fast and requires minimal pressure. Then, we generally recommend switching to the SiC stones that come with the TSProf sets. You will find that the finer grits last significantly longer than the coarse grit would have lasted. By using the combination, you have the best of both worlds. Speed of a diamond and the finer scratch pattern of the SiC stones. We have all of the Venev diamond stones in stock as well as the K03 Standard Kits.