Sharpening knuts, Recommend some stones and range of grits please!

Sticky

Sticky

Joined
May 11, 2002
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I am looking for a nice set of stones for my home brew sharpener.
Here is the objective, minimal mess, relatively long lasting, low maintenance, and i only want to progress through about 5 steps or less on stones, i have strop leather already and will be making blanks for those for final finishing. They can be 6"-8" and not too thick lets say 1/2 inch or so maybe even 3/4" max if the stone is a good deal. I originally wanted shaptons but i just cant swing a nice range of those.
I was thinking of dmt course, medium,fine, then spydeco ceramics up to ultra fine, then stropping. Any thoughts that might be more economical or better?
Maybe a mix and match set of one or 2 shaptons, dmt, etc? I guess im trying to figure a minimal number of stones to buy while still achieving an nice transition from step to step. My silly goal is to make knives sharp enough to comfortably shave a face with and to do it in the minimum number of steps.
any and all ideas and help appreciated!
Thanks, Jim
 
Last edited:
Sticky said:
I am looking for a nice set of stones for my home brew sharpener.
Here is the objective, minimal mess, relatively long lasting, low maintenance, and i only want to progress through about 5 steps or less on stones, i have strop leather already and will be making blanks for those for final finishing. They can be 6"-8" and not too thick lets say 1/2 inch or so maybe even 3/4" max if the stone is a good deal. I originally wanted shaptons but i just cant swing a nice range of those.
I was thinking of dmt course, medium,fine, then spydeco ceramics up to ultra fine, then stropping. Any thoughts that might be more economical or better?
Maybe a mix and match set of one or 2 shaptons, dmt, etc? I guess im trying to figure a minimal number of stones to buy while still achieving an nice transition from step to step. My silly goal is to make knives sharp enough to comfortably shave a face with and to do it in the minimum number of steps.
any and all ideas and help appreciated!
Thanks, Jim
Click to expand...
11" dmt blue, sharpmaker, strop.
 
I like a Norton IB-8 two grit stone; coarse 150, fine (20$)more like 300 but lapp it and a Spyderco med. and fine ceramic(about 50$ each). All these are 2x8" stones. With your strop, this will easily achieve what you desire while giving you great longevity and economy. DM
 
Naniwa Super Stones, they go up to 12,000 grit. No soaking, 10 or 20 mm thickness. Try to get the ones without a base.
 
cool thanks for the input...I wont be able to use dual grit stones as i need to mount them to backing plates.

here is a pic for an idea of what it needs.

http://hinsonjim.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album01

the stones in the photo do a so-so job but they are messy and break down. they are actually for tool and die makers to polish molds and stuff.
Im thinking diamonds and ceramics would be great for this type of rig.
 
hardheart said:
Naniwa Super Stones, they go up to 12,000 grit. No soaking, 10 or 20 mm thickness. Try to get the ones without a base.
Click to expand...

how long you reckon a naniwa would last with flattening it and stuff? I would like to have a waterstone in the mix at some point but i guess i have this idea in my head that they will wear out in no time.
 
I dunno, haven't worn mine out yet (had Kings and a glasstone for a while, just got the SS 10K). The edgepro uses waterstones. A fairly prominent razor honer uses super stones and does about 50 blades a week. Maybe just use them at finishing grit, where there is little metal removal and no pressure applied.
 
norton carries a 220/1000 grit combination stone and you can get a norton flattening stone to keep it true , if you want to get one step finer than 1000 grit you can add a 3000 or a 4000 grit king stone to your collection .
 
Last edited:
Sticky said:
I am looking for a nice set of stones for my home brew sharpener.
Here is the objective, minimal mess, relatively long lasting, low maintenance, and i only want to progress through about 5 steps or less on stones, i have strop leather already and will be making blanks for those for final finishing. They can be 6"-8" and not too thick lets say 1/2 inch or so maybe even 3/4" max if the stone is a good deal. I originally wanted shaptons but i just cant swing a nice range of those.
I was thinking of dmt course, medium,fine, then spydeco ceramics up to ultra fine, then stropping. Any thoughts that might be more economical or better?
Maybe a mix and match set of one or 2 shaptons, dmt, etc? I guess im trying to figure a minimal number of stones to buy while still achieving an nice transition from step to step. My silly goal is to make knives sharp enough to comfortably shave a face with and to do it in the minimum number of steps.
any and all ideas and help appreciated!
Thanks, Jim
Click to expand...


I'd go with super coarse to rebevel, then a shapton 1000, and then a shapton 2000 to finish(alternatively, any fine stone to microbevel with), followed by a strop. This should be all that's needed and will easily leave a treetopping sharp edge with little fuss. The extra coarse stone you can pick from whatever, dmt's XX may work out fine, and the shapton 1000 will quickly remove any scratches from that grit.
 
I am acquiring stones for the So Lo method. I have the DMT coarse diamond for profile on order. Then the brown med, and white fine Spyderco profile stones obtained today, and the ultra fine 3" wide Spyderco stone on back order, and then strop homemade. I am obsessing, because I can already get really sharp in a couple of minutes on my paper wheel set up, but I want to learn how to hand sharpen really well also. The paper wheels sometimes eat up more blade than I want on some of my really good knives.
 
cj65 said:
I am acquiring stones for the So Lo method. I have the DMT coarse diamond for profile on order. Then the brown med, and white fine Spyderco profile stones obtained today, and the ultra fine 3" wide Spyderco stone on back order, and then strop homemade. I am obsessing, because I can already get really sharp in a couple of minutes on my paper wheel set up, but I want to learn how to hand sharpen really well also. The paper wheels sometimes eat up more blade than I want on some of my really good knives.
Click to expand...

Mind sharing what the So Lo method is? Thanks!

Ryan
 
FlaMtnBkr said:
Mind sharing what the So Lo method is? Thanks!

Ryan
Click to expand...

Ryan,
There is another thread with pictures as to the results of how So Lo sharpens. He explains it also. I only have and am acquiring the stones. If you search So Lo's sowbelly thread, you will see his fantastic polished bevels that I am envious of in Traditional forum. Blues then linked my question to So Lo in this Maintenance forum. Look up spyderco ultra fine and you should be able to find it. I am not too good about posting hyperlinks. Let me know if you cannot find it.
 
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