Sharpening stone set

S

slimb

Joined
Jul 28, 2004
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when thinking about sharpening stones, a golf analogy comes to my mind: with a driver a 5 and 9 irons and a putter i could handle and have a decent experience.

looking at sharpening videos (wicked edge in particular) you’d easily get convinced you need every stone and strop in incremental grit to get the ‘perfect edge’. In my golf analogy, if i had the full set of irons and woods, i would not in fact use them all, not by a mile.

is this your experience? If not, what smaller set might you feel sufficient to get sharp knives?
 
Sharp vs mirror polished are different things. I go with 3-4 grits most of the time. You could easily do it with 2 or 1. Slight touch up can be done with one. I've used upwards of 10 different grits going for a perfect mirror.
 
I have stones up to 20,000 grit.

Now, I use a coarse edge and a strop for most working edges.

As a bare minimum setup, an Atoma 140 and horsehide strop can produce a very serviceable edge. Add an Atoma 400 or DMT 325 next. After that, a Norton Crystolon dual grit is handy, especially for the softer steel blades such as some kitchen knives.

Those could handle most of my needs, but I do use and enjoy other stones such as Arks or higher grits on occasion.
 
Unless you're into mirror edges, all you really need is a coarse stone for bevel setting and chip/tip repair, a medium grit, a fine grit, and a strop.

I always recommend diamonds or CBN, because they can sharpen any steel.

A great general-use setup is the Venev 100-240 + the 400-800 combination stones.
 
After some time trying a lot of different options, you might find a certain specific character of sharpness preferable over all others you've tried. That might be the moment you realize you'll only need maybe a couple of stones to handle everything you sharpen.

I've settled into a pattern where I consider a coarse- or medium-toothy finish on the bevels and a barely-there microbevel applied via a medium or fine ceramic pretty much ideal for everything I do with my knives. This means I could get by just fine with no more than two hones: either of an XC or Coarse diamond for the tooth, and either of the medium or fine ceramics for the 1-3 passes per side I'd need for the microbevel. Beyond that, maybe a few swipes on a bare leather belt for stropping, and I'm done.
 
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In the short term, a cheaper way to get a lot of different grits is to use wet/dry sand paper for sharpening. You might want to look into it. I was surprised to learn that a lot of people do it. I've never done it myself, but I always keep it in the back of my mind as an option. Of course the paper will behave differently than a rigid stone. It's my understanding that it tends to give you a more convexed edge.
 
Sandpaper won't necessarily give you a more convexed edge. It depends on what you use for a backing. If you lay the sandpaper on a piece of glass or stone, it will work like an ordinary sharpening stone. But a lot of people use it on a soft backing, like a mouse pad, for the purpose of convexing edges. The softer the backing material is, the more convex the edge will be. Pressure also affects the amount of convexing.
 
slimb said:
If not, what smaller set might you feel sufficient to get sharp knives?
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A medium grit ceramic stone works for me. Throw in a leather strop, and that's all I need to get a nice edge. Now, that setup is not great if you have a damaged (chipped, dinged up, etc.) edge, or if you want to re-profile an edge. A coarse, or extra course, stone would be a better starting point for those conditions. But for basic sharpening, it works great.
 
I've particularly liked SiC sandpaper for thinning the primary grind above the edge grind. Affixing the sandpaper to a hard backing like glass or stone works well for that. I have a granite reference plate that's just slightly larger than a full sheet of sandpaper at 10" x 12" or so, and 2" thick, which elevates the work above the table - that's PERFECT for this type of sharpening. And their IS just a little bit of 'give' in the paper itself, even on glass or stone, which leaves a more even scratch pattern on the blade laid flush to the abrasive. And for more convex when it's desired, adding 1 or 2 sheets of plain paper underneath the sandpaper gives it a little more 'give' under the paper. I find it easier to do this sort of work on sandpaper, rather than on a very hard stone which won't have the same 'give' to work within the slight waves/ripples in the blade's grind and therefore won't even out the scratch pattern as easily.

Along the same lines, for something even more aggressive for very heavy thinning or hogging off of metal, a very coarse sanding belt of AlOx cut and glued flat to a hard backing works in the same way, but even faster. It's very good for repairing major blade damage, like reshaping broken or severely bent tips on blades, working from the spine side. I haven't yet tried it for setting a new bevel on a blade - but I keep that possibility in mind as well.
 
Blade Lab said:
Sandpaper won't necessarily give you a more convexed edge. It depends on what you use for a backing. If you lay the sandpaper on a piece of glass or stone, it will work like an ordinary sharpening stone. But a lot of people use it on a soft backing, like a mouse pad, for the purpose of convexing edges. The softer the backing material is, the more convex the edge will be. Pressure also affects the amount of convexing.
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I've never understood the mouse pad thing, my instinct tells me I would end up rounding my edges... a bit like I already do on strops that have give. Always just use a loose wrist for sharpening convex, bit of a rocking motion.
 
SwissHeritageCo said:
I've never understood the mouse pad thing, my instinct tells me I would end up rounding my edges... a bit like I already do on strops that have give. Always just use a loose wrist for sharpening convex, bit of a rocking motion.
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Yeah, I get a convex on stones even if I'm trying to produce a flat bevel. :p
 
A coarse and fine stone plus a steel/ceramic rod would be your driver/5/9/putter. Most producers make a coarse/fine combo for a reason, it's really all you need practically. With that said personal preference and endless selection make it easy to tweak and customize a setup that suits you.
 
Blade Lab said:
Unless you're into mirror edges, all you really need is a coarse stone for bevel setting and chip/tip repair, a medium grit, a fine grit, and a strop.

I always recommend diamonds or CBN, because they can sharpen any steel.

A great general-use setup is the Venev 100-240 + the 400-800 combination stones.
Click to expand...
DMT hones are also good. Mine have lasted for +3 decades.
 
slimb said:
when thinking about sharpening stones, a golf analogy comes to my mind: with a driver a 5 and 9 irons and a putter i could handle and have a decent experience.

looking at sharpening videos (wicked edge in particular) you’d easily get convinced you need every stone and strop in incremental grit to get the ‘perfect edge’. In my golf analogy, if i had the full set of irons and woods, i would not in fact use them all, not by a mile.

is this your experience? If not, what smaller set might you feel sufficient to get sharp knives?
Click to expand...

The SuperSteels have really changed the sharpening landscape. If you have any knives with SuperSteel blades, or expect to get any, you might as well just spring for good diamond stones and get it over with! Some of the new steels will not respond to natural stones, and they will only respond very slowly to ceramics. I saw an 8" diamond set of three grits by a good manufacturer for $120.

Sharpening more common steels is more interesting. Assuming the blade was not damaged or very dull, a really sharp edge can be achieved with something around 1-1.2K, CAMI. A hard Arkansas stone and great technique will get from dull to Whoa, Baby! Most folks would like a finishing stone of some sort. Maybe a black Ark, maybe something a little softer, like those unbelieveably cheap but curiously effective Guanxi (sp?) gray finishers. For when you don't need or have time for the brilliant polish a black Ark can provide.

If a nick or a very dull blade came in I would want a soft Ark as well, or maybe an Atoma 400 diamond plate, which could also be used to lap the hard Ark and the finisher.

So assuming nothing too dull or damaged and no SuperSteel:
An Atoma 400, for ugly jobs, and to flatten the finer stones. $80
A hard Arkansas, the King of The Stones, for the vast majority of sharpening. $60
A Guanxi gray finisher. To keep the cost in line, and because the black Ark is finer than most blades need. $40
So if you lube with water that is about $180.
 
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Thank you everyone for your input, appreciate the generous sharing of experience.
 
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