Recommendation on a stone?

B

b money

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Dec 1, 2013
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Hello all, I'm new to the forum but I enjoy knives as a hobby and I very much enjoy sharpening them. With that being said I desperately need to expand my stone collection. And before I get to far into my needs I want to stick with a handheld bench stone of about 8x2x1 in dimension. I like holding the stone and knife while sharpening and I enjoy sharpening by hand.

As far as what I already have would be:
A very course, dark gray 8x2x1 Norton that I use to reprofile and put an edge on a blade.
Second I have a cheap Walmart course/fine diamond hone that I hate and never use. Mostly because its to short for almost all my knives, but also because I can't get a decent edge with it
Third I have a extremely fine grooved Chicago cutlery steel that I use after the norton if I'm cutting an edge.
And finally I have a no name Japanese ceramic steel that I do all my honing with and it seems to do the darn good job at honing a already sharp blade to hair splitting edge.

Now I know my current setup is far from ideal, it does the job for me. But I know I am missing a stone in between the course stone and steels. Perhaps a soft Arkansas?
And also I imagine a translucent Arkansas would do better then my current ceramic steel setup?

I get a lot of older WWII era fixed blades that need quite a bit of work. But I also have knives such as D2 benchmade that I only hone on a steel, so the knives I sharpen vary widely in both style and blade steel. But one thing that is a constant for me is that all my knives must have a hair cutting edge when I get done.

I don't mind spending the money to get quality products(Norton seems pretty good) I just don't know exactly if those stones are right for what I want and need.

Thanks!
 
b money said:
I have ... seems to do the darn good job at honing a already sharp blade to hair splitting edge. ... Now I know my current setup is far from ideal, it does the job for me
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Your post indicates you are happy with your sharpening and able to both reprofile and take an edge to hair-splitting sharp. What is it about your set up that you don't like? It seems you are getting the results you want.
 
I like the Shapton Pro 2000 as an in-between stone. It's something like 7.35 micron in grit size, but cuts quickly.
 
Magnaminous_G said:
Your post indicates you are happy with your sharpening and able to both reprofile and take an edge to hair-splitting sharp. What is it about your set up that you don't like? It seems you are getting the results you want.
Click to expand...

True my setup is acceptable, I just feel like it can be better I guess. For example when I go directly from the course stone to the steel's the stone leave's an unpolished edge that I feel could be polished out to a mirror finish with a finer stone. And also I'm not sure what a ceramic steel measures in grit but I imagine there is a finer grit stone that would put a even better edge on my knives.
 
I will have to look into those stones. I glanced at them quick and I have a question. I see they are Japanese water stones, what are the differences between these and say your everyday American stone? As far as quality and in the use of it?

Also what would be a good finishing stone? Say to use after a stone like the ones that you guys mentioned. 3000grit? 5000grit? 10000grit? I have no clue as to grit size. Basically I want to take my setup I have now to being able to put a razor sharp mirror finish on a knife if I want. Also I want to use mostly if not all bench stones in this process.
 
I like my shapton stones.

I have the 3 pack kit that has a 500, 2000, and 16000 with a base.
Keep them and wet, clean and flat, and they will serve you a long time of service.
 
b money said:
I will have to look into those stones. I glanced at them quick and I have a question. I see they are Japanese water stones, what are the differences between these and say your everyday American stone? As far as quality and in the use of it?

Also what would be a good finishing stone? Say to use after a stone like the ones that you guys mentioned. 3000grit? 5000grit? 10000grit? I have no clue as to grit size. Basically I want to take my setup I have now to being able to put a razor sharp mirror finish on a knife if I want. Also I want to use mostly if not all bench stones in this process.
Click to expand...

A member here made a "Grand Unified Grit Chart"

Komitadjie said:
Hey, glad it's helped 'ya out! :)

New revision, I've re-sorted the EdgePro stock stones to reflect the response from Boride that they are FEPA-F graded. This casts some doubt on the numbers for the tapes, given that the 2K tape is now considerably more coarse than the 1K stone... So I've moved the tapes to approximate values.

gcreve.png

FULL VIEW
Click to expand...

This is useful when piecing together stones from different styles, types, and abrasive types.
 
Compared to your current sharpening process a 3k-5k Japanese waterstone would surpass your sharpness expectations. Waterstones like the ones mentioned will cut much faster and produce a finer edge than most other methods. You need a minimum of 3 stones, a coarse stone a medium stone and a fine stone.

So the next question is,

What's your budget?
 
The more I think about this, I'm thinking I should ditch my current setup and start over because really the only true stone I have is a course gray norton that is all chipped up and probably not flat at all. I've been looking at all of your recommendations. Would it be better to stick to one company like shapton throughout the grit range, or doesn't it matter much?

I don't really have a set limit, although I'm not going to spend $500 or $1000 on a stone. But I think over time I would be ok with up to $100-$200 for a fine good quality stone. Funds right now won't allow me to buy the entire set up at once so I would have to piece it together. But over all I don't mind spending the money for good quality stones
 
I recently had to redo my inventory after a move, and decided on the following -- a two-sided coarse and fine India stone, and a two sided soft and hard arkansas.

I think if you were keeping your current Norton, a fine india and a soft arkansas would be all you would need. You're doing ok now, these would just save time and work.

I have less that $100 in my set up. I crave diamond stones and water stones, but truth is I don't need them.
 
b money said:
The more I think about this, I'm thinking I should ditch my current setup and start over because really the only true stone I have is a course gray norton that is all chipped up and probably not flat at all.
Click to expand...

There's nothing wrong with that Norton. Just put a little work into it to flatten it out and maybe work out the chips if they're any size at all. You said in your opening statement that it was "A very course, dark gray 8x2x1". Being as how it is a dark gray, I'd say it is an aluminum oxide stone. You can invest very little money (maybe 25-bucks) and get a Norton combination coarse/fine silicon carbide (crystolon) stone. It will easily handle D2 and quite a few other steels that may surprise you.

I'm an advocate for keeping it simple and some of these systems and even the expensive stones are too much for me. Just my .02¢ . Of course I'd bet they're fun to use.
 
Well after researching a bit more I'm thinking about getting a Shapton 1000grit professional, and a Naniwa 3000 and 8000 grit. I've picked these because from what I've read shapton is very hard and I want to use the 1000 as my main cutting stone. While the Naniwa's are a bit softer and better for polishing which at 3000+ grit is what I want.

Am I on the right track?
 
Kinda but I would pick the Naniwa chosera or shapton pro stones. Doesn't really make sense to mix and match them. The Naniwa super stones load quickly and polish too much imo, the high polish causes the edge to glide over materials instead of biting in.

A shapton pro 1k and 2k would be a good starter set as would a 800 and 3k chosera. Chosera are also a hard stone which is nice when learning to use waterstones because you have very little chance of gouging the stone.
 
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