sharpening stone

T

TheGoldenWalrus

Joined
Jul 16, 2011
Messages
433
looking for a decent cheap benchstone i already have a small "field" sharpener that works ok for me, but i would really like something larger.
looking for about 400 and about 800 grits (anything close to eather is good enough for me)
 
Norton IB8 would be my recommendation. I don't know what grit, Norton list it as course/fine. Very happy with mine.
 
I'd buy the DMT course/fine/extra fine diamond bench stones. I think they run $25-30 a piece and are enough to put a shaving edge on a knife without a ton of experience. Throw in a home made strop and you'll be good to go.
 
Norton's IB8 India stone is 150 grit on the coarse side and 320 grit on the fine. So, a little short of what he's looking for. The fine diamond is 600 grit and the x-fine diamond 1200 grit. A little above. DM
 
Keep in mind, the 'grit' spec will imply completely different performance, depending on which abrasive type (diamond, silicon carbide, aluminum oxide) you choose. A 'fine' diamond grit, like DMT's 600 mesh, will work more aggressively than an identical 'grit' number in a different abrasive type (like aluminum oxide, which is what the Norton India stones are made of). This is just due to the difference in hardness and particle shape, therefore aggressiveness, between different abrasives. Different grit standards for each abrasive type, so directly comparing each type based only on the grit number is risky, and usually misleading.

Having said that, the Coarse/Fine combo from DMT is always a pretty safe and effective choice. I've read here that the Norton stones, in either aluminum oxide (India) or silicon carbide (Crystolon) are also quite good as general-purpose workhorse stones.
 
Though a old standard I would not recommend the tri-stone set, Arkansas stones are good natural stones but by far the slowest and least effective across a large spectrum of steels. If budget is the issue then just buy the Coarse DMT and more stones when the budget allows.
 
TheGoldenWalrus said:
i suppose i can just save up for a dual sided DMT with base. i am amazed at how expensive sharpening supplies are...
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They can be expensive, for sure. Oftentimes, though, one doesn't need to spend a lot to get the job done. If the expense of the diamond is still intimidating, I do think the Norton stones would be worth a look. I haven't yet tried them (my money situation is very tight, right now), but if I were to buy something new today, I'd likely jump on the double-sided Norton Crystolon stone (silicon carbide). A larger bench hone is most useful for re-bevelling and heavy grinding, especially. Additional refining can usually be done with smaller hones, because removing a lot of metal is not an issue. And the silicon carbide will handle most any steel you put to it, save maybe for the hardest of the 'supersteels' anyway, where diamond would likely be better. I've heard a lot of good things about the Crystolon stones here on the forum, from members I've grown to trust for their knowledge and opinions. The 8" x 2" Crystolon stone can be had for ~ $20 or so. For the money, that looks pretty attractive to me, and if opting for something less costly than the diamond, that's the way I'd go.
 
^ This. I have a bin full of stones - natural, waterstones, diamond plates, etc but more and more I just use a combination Crystalon stone and some polishing compound, Black and white Sears - 2 bucks each. Throw in a Sharpie and some mineral oil and you'll cover the vast majority of your sharpening needs for under 30 bucks. For a strop just use newspaper wrapped around the stone. In fact the combination SiC stones at Sears (made in USA) are probably every bit as good quality as the Nortons and for half the price - now you're down to 16 bucks or so. You'd be surprised at how nice an edge you can create with very little.
 
I agree with these last two posts. Wholeheartedly! Yet, many love tinkering in excess with this hobby and this is where theres room for that expression. Now, back to my JUM-3. DM
 
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