Newby needs help. Bought KME basic sharpener, want finer stones. Which ones?

Ask to have it moved here: https://www.bladeforums.com/forums/maintenance-tinkering-embellishment.794/
Sharpening related questions are answered best there. That being said, look into strops and honing stones as well. (I'll be watching your thread, since I plan on getting a KME myself )

 

cant speak to the KME stones, but I run the following progression on my lansky (assuming Im starting with setting a new bevel)

80, 120, 280, 600, 1000, 2000

then i go to strops with diamond paste - typically just a 5 micron
but I have several from 5 down to .5

I'm not getting mirror polish under magnification, but it looks good to the naked eye

 

You can buy the CBN emulsions and strops or get the lapping films and plates directly from KME.

 

I don't know any stones that will help you get those grits (@BilboBaggins suggestion was spot on IMO). From my experience, you need to get up/down to at least 8000 grit/3 micron in order to get that reflection.

My ultra fine stones are THE stones for mirror polishing, and they make me question whether or not I should raise the bevels on all the knives in the world just so I can see my stupid grin

 

What are the steels you want to sharpen because not all stones are equal,the Chosera stones are nice and work really well but also cost a lot and are worth it if you want a really good polished edge.

I did a review of some really good stones from Russia called Gritalon stones and I would go with the Silicon Carbide one if it were me and I'm pretty he will cut them for the KME if asked,I have heard some people say after I tested the Aluminum Oxide version of the Gritalons that they dull and people have had no luck refreshing them with Silicon Carbide powder I have only used the Aluminum Oxide stones once so I don't know if the part about them dulling is true or not.

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads...ide-and-aluminum-oxide-stones-review.1563787/

Also don't the CBN stropping compounds directly from KME they are the biggest rip off for the amount you get,go straight to Ken Schwartz the guy who sells KME their Emulsions and you can get 2oz for just a bit more money then what you can get from KME,also the Kangaroo leather strops work really well and get a few of them and be careful not to use to much pressure when stropping or you will cut it for sure.

Here is Kens contact info if you look on KME's site you can see that Ken sells them the Emulsions it's right on the bottles.

If you tell me what steels you plan on getting and have I can better help you,I have many different stones for my Tsprof I have so many have lost track.

209-612-2790
[email protected]

https://www.facebook.com/ken.schwar...001212185481:1524023340&section=contact_basic

 

You can go to the KME site and see the accessories that are offered for achieving a mirror finish.
They offer Chosera water stones, CBN emulsion from .1 micron to 4 micron, kangaroo leather strops and lapping films.
You can pick your poison based on the amount of money you want to spend.

 

I would get the strops and Emulsion's and Chosera's from Ken because your going to get more for your money that way and then go to sharpeningstones.ru to get the highest grit Silicon Carbide Gritalons and get 3 of each to save money so you won't have to order them so soon they cost about 10 bucks Canadian a peace witch is pretty cheap.

The Gritalons end at 4000 grit in the Silicon Carbide then I would move up to the 5K 8K 10K Chosera's then get a 10 and 20K Suehiro stones as well I have the 10 and 20K Suehiro stones and they great and will never wear out,the 10K Suehiro is more around the 15K mark and the 20 is more around 25K I don't why but from Ken Schwartz say's they underrate those 2 stones and I know from jumping from a Chosera 10K to a Suehiro 10K I feel the difference in sharpness.

Just so you know I have never had any problems dealing with sharpeningstones.ru and all his prices are in rubles and if you want to see what you'll really being just google 1200 rubles to US funds or whatever your currency is and use EMS shipping and you should get it in about 2 weeks.

http://sharpeningstones.ru/

https://sharpeningstones.ru/cat/точильные-камни-для-apex/naniwa/chosera

https://sharpeningstones.ru/cat/точильные-камни-для-apex/россия/gritalon/gc-карбид-кремния

Also if you going to get Chosera' be warned they need to soaked for 15 minutes before using them and they do tend to glaze over and you need to remove the glaze I use what's called a rust eraser and I use the medium grit and they last a good while and they work better then anything else for not removing as much of the stone,you can use a diamond plate but they will tear off more of the stone.

Another thing to keep in mind is go to a machine shop and get them to cut you some 1 inch by 4 inch or whatever the KME stones are and mount the stones to the blanks with 3M Super 77 Spray just shoot a really thick coat on the blank and wait the amount of time it say's on the can and press the stone onto the blank,that's what Ken does when he mounts edge pro stones to the blanks and I do it myself for some stones and my Kangaroo strop when I make them,the reason I'm telling you to mount your stones to blanks is because the stone holder on the KME covers almost half the stone so if you mount them to blanks your going to get a lot more life out of you stones,just make sure they cut the ends of the blanks straight trust when I used my KME more back in the day I've been there and done that and it sucks.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Japanese-k...499214?hash=item4674ee844e:g:DlQAAOSwqaJaY3GM