I have a DMT course diamond stone (removes an insane amount of material), and a kings 1000/6000 stone. I am trying to have a complete sharpening setup. What do I need to add to this and also what would be the best backpack/field free hand sharpening setup that is budget friendly. Thank you
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Sharpenig stones
- Thread starter gpewett
- Start date
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2012
- Messages
- 8,811
What type of steels do you need to sharpen? Are these smaller pocket knives or do you want to also sharpen larger kitchen knives or large fixed blade hunting/outdoors knives?
In the field, do you just want to be able to touch up already-sharp knives, or do you need to be able to repair damaged edges and set fresh bevels?
What kind of edge are you trying to achieve? Good working edge, more refined edge, or mirror polished edge?
In general you are going to need something coarse that can cut your particular steels for edge repair and bevel setting. The DMT coarse covers a lot of that. Assuming your technique is good, you can get a functional edge off of nothing but the DMT, and just need a method of removing the burr, which you can do on the DMT if you know how.
After you have your basic coarse edge established off the DMT, the King would cover you for your medium and fine abrasives for edge refinement, assuming it works with your steels.
You need a method of flattening the king stones every so often, and the DMT coarse isn't recommended for water stone flattening. A strop of some kind might help with burr removal and edge burnishing, though you can strop on the King 6000 if you don't want something else. I get good results using a balsa strop with some 1 micron diamond spray.
So depending on what you are trying to do, you may already have pretty much what you need. There are lots and lots of other options, of course, depending on how much you want to spend and what range of steels you want to be able to sharpen.
In the field, do you just want to be able to touch up already-sharp knives, or do you need to be able to repair damaged edges and set fresh bevels?
What kind of edge are you trying to achieve? Good working edge, more refined edge, or mirror polished edge?
In general you are going to need something coarse that can cut your particular steels for edge repair and bevel setting. The DMT coarse covers a lot of that. Assuming your technique is good, you can get a functional edge off of nothing but the DMT, and just need a method of removing the burr, which you can do on the DMT if you know how.
After you have your basic coarse edge established off the DMT, the King would cover you for your medium and fine abrasives for edge refinement, assuming it works with your steels.
You need a method of flattening the king stones every so often, and the DMT coarse isn't recommended for water stone flattening. A strop of some kind might help with burr removal and edge burnishing, though you can strop on the King 6000 if you don't want something else. I get good results using a balsa strop with some 1 micron diamond spray.
So depending on what you are trying to do, you may already have pretty much what you need. There are lots and lots of other options, of course, depending on how much you want to spend and what range of steels you want to be able to sharpen.
I have a norton flattening stone. I am sharpening a Victorinox chef knife, 1095 boning knife, San mai master hunter, Ontario rat and spyderco techno. The last 3 are the only ones that will need sharpening in the field. I also have a spyderco sarpmaker that i really dislike but I was thinking i could take two of the rods out and put them in a leather sleeve and just use those to free hand a blade in the field if it gets dull. Would that work?
Jason B.
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2007
- Messages
- 11,196
The Spyderco SM rods work very well in the field. I would probably take a small coarse stone too, ACE combo stone or a Coarse diamond hone pairs well with the SM rods.
I would probably add a strop with some diamond compound and a coarser waterstone to fill out your bench stone set. If you like the King stones I would consider the King 240, or for a smaller and cheaper option the Naniwa Traditional 220. Basically the same stones, just the Naniwa is thinner.
If you are looking to maybe get a little bit nicer of a stone then I would highly recommend the Naniwa Professional 400. It's about the same price as the King 240 but it cuts a cleaner bevel and makes crisp lines, something coarser stones have trouble with. The NP400 is also much faster than its grit rating and sharpening feel may suggest. It's said to be faster than a Shapton 120 (which I can confirm is mostly true) and smooth enough I thought it was a 1k the first time I used it. It will complete devour softer stainless and carbon steels while leaving an edge that is pretty nice on EDC blades after a little stropping.
Personally, I pair the NP400 with a Naniwa 2k Aotoshi "Green Brick of Joy". It's one of my most used stone combinations and produces a very difficult to beat edge on Kitchen cutlery.
I would probably add a strop with some diamond compound and a coarser waterstone to fill out your bench stone set. If you like the King stones I would consider the King 240, or for a smaller and cheaper option the Naniwa Traditional 220. Basically the same stones, just the Naniwa is thinner.
If you are looking to maybe get a little bit nicer of a stone then I would highly recommend the Naniwa Professional 400. It's about the same price as the King 240 but it cuts a cleaner bevel and makes crisp lines, something coarser stones have trouble with. The NP400 is also much faster than its grit rating and sharpening feel may suggest. It's said to be faster than a Shapton 120 (which I can confirm is mostly true) and smooth enough I thought it was a 1k the first time I used it. It will complete devour softer stainless and carbon steels while leaving an edge that is pretty nice on EDC blades after a little stropping.
Personally, I pair the NP400 with a Naniwa 2k Aotoshi "Green Brick of Joy". It's one of my most used stone combinations and produces a very difficult to beat edge on Kitchen cutlery.