Recommendation? Overhauling my sharpening set-up ...

[Kirk_Ferentz]

So, I have traditionally used Japanese water stones and polished all blades (say 5000). Good to learn the process, but I want to use more blade/steel appropriate tools and methods. Any advice about which tool/method is best for my blades and what, if any, additional tools I should add to my set-up would be appreciated.

Below is a list of my current main blades. In addition to the water stones, I have some an extra coarse DMT stone, a coarse shapton glass stone, sandpaper and mousepad (and some stropping leather) for the convex blades, and some green and red paste-loaded paint sticks. I will likely not want to buy any big equipment like an edge pro, and don't have access to workshop tools.

One more question -- I'll be buying a folder, and it will probably be in S35Vn, CTS-204p/M390/CPM-20V, or ELMAX (possibly S90V/S110V). If you can tell me how I should be sharpening any of these, it would also help, as I might end up choosing based on which blade will fit into my set-up (if the answers are different).

Thanks in advance!

3 blades in 52100/SR-101 (two convex)
Several in 1095
2 in 5160
2 in VG-10 (Fallkniven F1 (convex) and Spyderco Delica)
Some stainless Moras in their Sandvik steel
[May some day buy A2 and/or CTS-XHP, so if you have thoughts on those ...]

 

[adamlau]

Sounds as if you already have the necessary tools. Just continue what you have been doing. Perhaps you can try coarse edges with micro bevels.

 

[maximus83]

^This. You have a good cross-section of stones that should be able to handle all the steels in your line-up. The DMT EC is super helpful if profiling on the hard super steels, I have that one too and it's great. For myself at least, once I had a basic setup of stones in a few grits, the main thing to work on is just learning the different aspects of freehand sharpening and increasing and my proficiency. For me, it's rarely the stones that are holding me back.

 

[Kirk_Ferentz]

Thanks ... in particular, I have been concerned by comments that I have seen suggesting that heavily polishing simple steels like 1095 is not a good idea because, for instance, those steels do not have the required edge stability (which made me think that maybe I should be stopping at a lower grit level). I've also seen comments stating that Japanese water stones are not effective after a certain grit level for "supersteels" like the ones that I am considering for my new folder.

To confirm, do you both think that this is wrong?

 

[bucketstove]

Thanks ... in particular, I have been concerned by comments that I have seen suggesting that heavily polishing simple steels like 1095 is not a good idea because, for instance, those steels do not have the required edge stability (which made me think that maybe I should be stopping at a lower grit level). I've also seen comments stating that Japanese water stones are not effective after a certain grit level for "supersteels" like the ones that I am considering for my new folder.

To confirm, do you both think that this is wrong?

Hi,
It is exactly steels like 1095 that have high edge stability
see Edge Stability (Review) : Cliff Stamp
He classifed steels into three groups, type I, type II, and type III mainly based on carbide volume, 0.5-5%, 5-15%, and greater than 15% respectively. These groups needed different angles to both take and hold a high polished sharpness, 8-12, 12-20, and 20-30 degrees per side respectively.
1095 would be a type I steel, able to take a high polished sharpness at a low angle