• Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! I hope that you all have something to be grateful for this year and for many years to come

  • The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is available! Price is $250 ea (shipped within CONUS).
    Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/

  • America has reached 250 years, and I am grateful to be here, in the best country in the world. Thank every one of you who helps make this country a better place, those who have gone before and risked it all, and those who've paid the ultimate price to make the United States what we are today.

    Happy Birthday America! Let Freedom Ring for all time!

Ok, I'm buying stones to freehand with.

D

Doogoon

Joined
Feb 21, 2012
Messages
971
But I don't know what I'm buying, and I have a couple options and I don't know which would benefit me most for the money. I have been freehanding with the spyderco sharpmaker, but that's quite difficult. My knives stay fairly sharp, so keep that in mind when helping me choose my stones. I don't need anything that will chew them up just yet.


Now I'm going to link to leevally tools, they aren't a knife dealer but if this breaks the non paid dealer rule, please give me the heads up and I'll remove the links, and simply post the info they have displayed. I just want to know what I want to buy.

http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=33005&cat=1,43072 - this is the link to their diamond bench stones, if I were to buy these, which two grits would be best?

OR...

http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=33005&cat=1,43072 - would two grits of their DMT serve me better?

I will greatly appreciate any help. I'd like to buy them today or maybe tomorrow.

Thanks for any help in advance!
 
Mabye try the Spyderco bench stones. They are the same grits as the sharpmaker and I think you can get the coarse,fine and ultra-fine (all 2x8) for less than $120 on amazon.
 
Ok, I'd get the 600 grit and the 1200 grit. A strop might be a good idea. I just use a piece of denim with some green compound
 
The links you posted are the same. I have heard good things about the DMT diasharps. They also have a continuous surface that I believe is supposed to be better and easier to use. The stones in the like you posted don't have a continuous surface. I personally would go with the DMT. I am also currently using the sharpmaker to free hand on. My personal desired set up is DMT EC(220), C(325), and the Spyderco bench stones coarse, fine, ultrafine.
 
Morkte said:
The links you posted are the same. I have heard good things about the DMT diasharps. They also have a continuous surface that I believe is supposed to be better and easier to use. The stones in the like you posted don't have a continuous surface. I personally would go with the DMT. I am also currently using the sharpmaker to free hand on. My personal desired set up is DMT EC(220), C(325), and the Spyderco bench stones coarse, fine, ultrafine.
Click to expand...

Oh that's weird, both pages have the same address.
 
Morkte said:
The links you posted are the same. I have heard good things about the DMT diasharps. They also have a continuous surface that I believe is supposed to be better and easier to use. The stones in the like you posted don't have a continuous surface. I personally would go with the DMT. I am also currently using the sharpmaker to free hand on. My personal desired set up is DMT EC(220), C(325), and the Spyderco bench stones coarse, fine, ultrafine.
Click to expand...

+1 - get diasharp with continous surface. Recently I bought 6" diasharp XC, F, EF (skipped Coarse on purpose), they work great for knife with short blade - 6" or below. Althought I've 8" diasharp & duosharp, many times now I prefer 6" even for kitchen knives with blade up to 12" long. Get either a EEF in 4" or 8", the finish will be fine enough to strop next.
 
What are you hoping to gain with your new stones? Bigger? Flatter? More abrasive? Finer abrasive?

For me the medium sharpmaker stone is no where near abrasive enough for general purpose work. For knives that "stay sharp" as you noted, the sharpmaker is fine. As a freehand stone it's probably too small and too wobbly (even on it's base) to make a nice firm freehand stone. If that's all you're after, then the previous poster's idea of a Spyderco 8x2 bench stone is probably a really good one.

But what happens the next time you need to sharpen a knife that hasn't seen a stone in a year? You're going to need something that cuts way faster than a Spyderco medium.

I think a fast cutting stone is a prerequisite for making great edges. It all starts with that perfect, even, flat bevel that meets another perfect, even, flat bevel, in the middle for a perfect cutting edge.

Brian.
 
I didn't read all the posts in this thread (since I'm lazy (and on beer number 3)

But I will tell you what works for me. I use a DMT Coarse stone and an (old) hard Arkansas stone.

Of course I also have a sharp maker with the extra fine stones and 3 or 5 strops with different compounds on them.

But the DMT and Arkansas stone work just fine.
 
I got the DMT and started getting some wicked awesome edges on my knives so I decided to go expensive and sharpen my ZT 0560

It's absolutely terrible quality, but the darkened part of the blade wont sharpen at all.
431987_10152019621085075_10612955_n.jpg


What do I do to fix this?

Also, the 1095 steel rusts really fast and the water makes the steel that come off rust on the stone. What should I do to avoid this rust?
 
Which Grit did you get??
I had this problem to begin with. I think your lifting the handle up slighty so part of the edge doesnt make contact with the stone. Try dropping your hand down just a little, almost like your trying to sharpen on the corner of the stone (but not quite that much). Also try to make sure you do full strokes. If I go to fast I find a miss the very base and the tip of the knife.

To solve the rust problem just rinse the stone of after use and dry it. Also remember to wipe and dry the knife after.
jdavis882 has some good videos on youtube for freehand sharpening.
Hope this helps
-George
 
Thanks! This should help quite a bit! I'm really enjoying the edge these put on my big knives!

I may stick to the sharpmaker for my smaller folders.
 
I've read that Norton/Arkansas style stones are the most economical to use in the long run, the downside being they cut relatively slow. Since you've already got a sharpmaker, I'd suggest a relatively low grit diamond bench stone for rough work on dull knives/reprofiling, and finishing with your Sharpmaker stones by hand. You can do large blades with those by makig multiple freehand passes down the length of the edge.
 
I use BKF to clean rust off my carbon knives after sharpening, if needed, follow with force-patina using hot vinegar.
 
Morkte said:
What Grit did you get??
Click to expand...

Oh yea sorry.

I picked up a 600 and a 1200. They seem to do what I need. I also got a strop and some green compound... I'm not very sure how to use it though...

@ C.S. Graves: The sharpmaker has been a hassle to use on my big knives. It works great on the few folders I have, but I'm a big blade person. I may go with an extra low grit if I start getting nasty with my knives.
 
Strops are super easy to use. Only use edge trailing strokes, slightly below your sharpening angle, and light pressure. To apply the compound you just use it like a crayon and use short fast stroke to 'colour in' the strop. Cutlery Lover and jdavis822 both have good videos on strop use.
I strop my knives every night before I go to bed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top