New Whetstones for High Carbon Knives

JJ_Colt45

JJ_Colt45

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I have recently purchased some Shapton HR Glass Stones to use on my newer "super steel" or harder to sharpen knives ... and I love them.

But I am looking at buying some new stones for use on my high carbon knives and was hoping to get some feedback and suggestions from those of you that have experience using stones free hand.

I was thinking the Shapton HR stones might take steel faster then I really wanted or needed for my high carbon blades. I was looking at the Naniwa Ceramic Stones but I'm open to get suggestions for other ... or maybe better options if you have any thoughts I would like to hear your input.

I use Ceramic honing rods and leather strops with various compounds for touch ups on all my knives .... If that gives you more information to give me suggestions.

Thanks JJ
 
I use a couple of options. In no particular order:

Norton Waterstones - they are fast and trouble free, the 8k is a real nice stone. They can be muddy, I use them splash and go, just enough water to keep them from loading up.

Washboard - silicon carbide wet dry over reduced footprint makes a nice flat surface. Fast, easy to clean and swap through progressions. The least influenced by differences in RC/stubborn burring etc.

Norton Crystolon or India stone, often finished with microbevel on a Suehiro G8

For woodworking tools I have a set of Suzuki Ya stones 1k,4k,8k. Beautiful result and reasonably fast - they work best on higher RC carbon steels.
 
I would stick with the GS HR and limit the creation of slurry (if any) or reduce applied pressure or both.
 
Shapton also makes "HC" glass stones that are intended for your carbon knives, if you like the Shapton Glass family. I don't have personal experience with them. I use Shapton Pros for my kitchen knives, which are just VG-10 and SG-2 so not especially hard to sharpen.
 
Yes I saw the Shapton HC series ... but they begin at 4000 Grit and I think go 4000 to 6000 to 8000 ... I was wondering if starting with a lower grit stone would be benificial and finishing on the 4000 or 6000 grit HC stones?

I am ordering Baryonxyknife Artic Fox Bench Stone at 400 Grit as I like my small field stone just like it ... and thought with it or the Shapton HR 550 would be good for reworking an edge that's in bad shape and finishing on the higher grit Shapton HC on my high carbon knives ?

Maybe I'm over thinking it and could just use the Shapton HR set for all my knives reguardless of steel ???
 
Though I mentioned sticking with the GS HR, you do miss out on the fun and excitement of buying and trying new products :)
 
Oh if that's the case ... I'm sure I can probably find a knife to put whatever money saved from stones towards. Not that I'd ever do that ...
 
FWIW, I sharpen everything (though not exclusively) on SPS II stones. High carbon, high carbide, it does not matter. Have been doing so for years. Just limit slurry production and reduce applied pressure when using similarly fast cutting stones. You can use a scale to determine typical pressures used to accomplish a targeted result. For example, I grind edge bevels ~250 grams, scrub ~40 grams and set micros ~20 grams. Obviously, these values are also influenced by the steel being ground, time constraints and the desired results, but those numbers represent my personal ballparks...

IMG_20170825_141600_edit.jpg
 
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Shapton glass will work just as well as the next stone but they're very hard and this can make things difficult at times. Difficult because your edge straightness and curve must be near perfect or the extreme flatness and hardness of the stones will skip over low spots and highlight any deviation in the blade grind.

To help overcome minor defects in the edge and blade grind (like your Winkler for example) professionals like to switch to softer stones that produce a fair amount of mudd and are more forgiving of imperfections.

The Naniwa Gouken which are similar but faster than King stones would be one of several brands I would recommend. I would also suggest the Suehiro Cerax 1k and 6k, Naniwa Chosera 400 and 2k Green Brick, Kohetsu 800 and 2k (toothy edge) or the Shapton Pro 1k and 5k. The Pro only being outdone in hardness by the Glass stones are still rather hard but are formulated for basic alloys and have a ton of feedback compared to the Glass stones. Not as forgiving as the aforementioned stones but they get sh!$ done.
 
I had looked at the Choseras, Shapton Pros, and the Suehiro stones ... I may give one or the other of those a try. I will have to look at the Naniwa Gouken stones as I haven't seen those yet.

That was my biggest worry how fast the Shapton Glass cuts if I would feel nearly was well using them as something more suited for the high carbon softer blades.

Thanks JJ
 
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