Sharpening stone question

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razorback1595

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Nov 1, 2008
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I'm pretty new to freehand sharpening, i have a kai waterstone (400-1000) combo stone and my edges look verry good and are sharp as hell :cool:

But i've always wanted DMT stones, Had a good year at school and my mom gave me a budget to buy something of my choice.

I went and bought a DMT Extra course/Course 6" stone and a 6" Extra fine. 6" because of my budget.

But today i've earned some money and i would be able to buy a Spyderco 306 (ultra fine benchstone). Do you guys think this is worth buying or should i save up for the extra extra fine DMT.

opinions, Pro's, Con's or suggestion are welcome :D
 
I can't speak for the DMT EEF because I don't have one. But the reason I didn't get it is the following:

1. The Spyderco UF is cheaper
2. The Spyderco UF doesn't have the same break-in requirement that the diamond stones do
3. I like stones that are composed of abrasive material rather than coated with it

The Spyderco UF stone will give you a hair-splitting edge, but for me at least, it has been very difficult to use. The stone provides no (detectable) feedback to my hands during sharpening, so I'm pretty much left guessing whether I'm hitting the edge. In most cases, I put on a microbevel.

My recommendation to you is to save your money. A hair-splitting edge isn't all that much more useful than a knife finished on DMT EF for 99% of cases. DMT EF is what I used to finish my knives for a long time; the only reason I got the Spyderco UF stone was for straight razors.
 
He said he got a 6" extra coarse/coarse. Is that double sided?

You can get away with XC to EF. I did that for a long time. But I did get an F stone in between just for the hell of it.
 
the xcoarse/coarse is a double sided stone :)

i've seen a couple of vids from nozh (or something like that) and another guy saying the xcoars/course to the extra fine is a good progression and that the fine isn't necessary :).
Just hate that i live overseas. Makes the wait so much longer :o
 
With DMT the EF has always been good for one thing to me. If I sharpen something on it I'm going to get cut. It never fails :) You should be fine with that progression.

You should get or make a strop if you haven't already though. That was what I found missing between sharp and hair popping. Now I go from the Sharpmaker brown rods > black compound > green compound.
 
razorback1595 said:
the xcoarse/coarse is a double sided stone :)

i've seen a couple of vids from nozh (or something like that) and another guy saying the xcoars/course to the extra fine is a good progression and that the fine isn't necessary :).
Just hate that i live overseas. Makes the wait so much longer :o
Click to expand...


The fine is only not necessary when you don't look at your edge under a microscope.
 
Well, and bear in mind that you're entirely able to use multiple methods while you're sharpening. There's no mandate that you ONLY use the diamond plates or the waterstones. I use my DMT XC as a profiling step for severely damaged stuff before changing over to waterstones. Definitely second the strop, though!
 
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