Sharpening Stone

M

MrCPA

Joined
Jun 15, 2016
Messages
10
Can any of you guys point me in the right direction to buy a decent whetstone or any other sharpening stone that isn't super expensive but is still good quality? I don't know much about these so if anyone could point me in the right direction that we be great. Its only for pocket knives. My main concern is, is a cheap one just as good as a more expensive one, or do they potentially hurt or damage the blades? I don't think there is a lot of knife stores here where I live but we have the major retailers like Dicks Sporting Goods, Walmart, etc...


Thanks!
 
I don't know if you can find them at the stores you listed, but I really like the Spyderco Ceramic Bench Stones. They come in Medium, Fine and Extra Fine. I use mostly the Extra Fine and the Sharpmaker to keep the edges on my blades honed.
 
I use the Work Sharp Guided Sharpening System with Upgrade Kit. It doesn't use stones, but diamond plates. With the regular GSS you get course and fine diamond plates. With the Upgrade Kit you get extra course and extra fine diamond plates as well as a leather strop. With the regular GSS you also get ceramic rods. I really like the GSS and would recommend it.
 
What type of steel are you trying to sharpen? Once you know that then you can make choices. Several sharpening systems out there that will help you with the angle and I have used them with good success... Recently I made a change to silicon carbide stones,shaped 6" x 1/2" x 1/8th thick and use then like a file and I really like them,especially with the newer steels used... Kits are available...
 
This is a very hard question to answer, there's just so many choices. I think for inexpensive, all around stone, the Norton Crystolon stones are excellent. They are Silicone carbide, and can handle most steels quite well.
 
Diamonds are hard to beat IMHO. I have the dmts and I swear by them .

Ezelap may be cheaper I dunno . Also have a cheap plate that's 400/1000 combo plate but it's lost some grit .

Also have a smith's diamond in coarse and fine I got at academy for 20 bucks iirc.

Unless you have a woodcraft around usually the stones you can buy in person aren't that great IMHO also for the price of a stone in a store you can buy a better one online .Amazon would be my recommendation they have some diamond plates under 10 bucks they may not be dmt quality but you get what you pay for Imho.
 
I think most of the carving wood knives can be sharpened real nice on a Spyderco Sharpmaker, it should fit your needs, and its great way to start for beginners
 
I like the job that japaneese water stones do. I got mine at Lee Valley but I think that's just a canadian store. It takes practice to do right and I am no expert but it's not too terribly hard in my opinion.

Sent from my SM-G925W8 using Tapatalk
 
If you look only for purpose of all rounder - every hardware store sell them, if not - go onto ebay /amazon there are hundreds or thousands of sharpening stones from few bucks up to few hundreds per piece (natural Japanese whetstones,these can cost whole fortune) ,,,,if you need really bad ass edge, buy stones of various grids - from 300-500 up to 4-10k, sharpen edge gradually, than use leather strop for fine finish.... Belgian Coticule is great natural stone for fine finish too,I used that one for convex edge finish before strop , also look up synthetic stones - these are generally cheaper than natural stones, but also doesn't last that long... look up Shapton,King,Arkansas stones,Belgian Coticule.Stones are whole another obsession for many guys, :) there are guys who buy a knife, just to try their new stone and are collecting stones, which is very interesting and nice topic
 
You said cheap. The cheapest is different grades of sandpaper glued to a wood block. If you put in a layer of cardboard you can do a convex edge, use a mouse pad if you want a more dramatic convex. Smith's makes good stone hones at a reasonable price, less expensive than Norton or Japanese water stones. EZ-lap makes a reasonably priced line of diamond hones.
 
Here's a thought for you to consider. Murray Carter, a knife maker, has a video sharpening a knife on a concrete or cinder block followed by stropping over a newspaper over that block. And afterwards, he shaves with that knife.

Other youtube videos show sharpening on the bottom of ceramic mugs or the edge of car windows.

Point being, that you can apparently sharpen on most anything and it mostly depend on your knowledge (which you can learn) and technique (which you can improve by practice). Not that I want to steer you away from spending your money.
 
Handheld diamond sharpeners work for me off Amazon. There is also a block (4 levels of sharpening) that is nice as well.
 
If you can freehand a ceramic coffee cup works, the bottom is rough and the top is smooth. Recently discovered this screwing around after misplacing my steel. It really works. After I'm done sharpening my SAK, I poured a cup of coffee and all is well.
 
evltcat said:
I don't know if you can find them at the stores you listed, but I really like the Spyderco Ceramic Bench Stones. They come in Medium, Fine and Extra Fine. I use mostly the Extra Fine and the Sharpmaker to keep the edges on my blades honed.
Click to expand...

+1

I have the medium and the fine. From what I have heard the fine and the extrafine are the same stuff, just roughened up a bit on the fine.

I also use the diasharp stones if there is some serious steelremoving to be done.
 
Personally, I don't cheap out on sharpening because it only leads to frustration. Buy once, cry once is my motto.

I also prefer waterstones because I have found through LOTS of sharpening that they produce some of the best edges while also being very efficient.

Sticking with a budget I would recommend the King 1000 and a leveling stone. This single stone option will keep things simple and allow you to learn/master one stone. Keeps you from being confused with a progression of stones and allows you to learn at a faster pace.

On the other end of the spectrum we have a 3 stone set. The idea of a 3 stone set is it provides you with all the basics for sharpening, a Coarse, Medium and a fine stone will allow you to grind, sharpen, and finish an edge. This is also the more costly option but gives you all the tools needed to repair and sharpen edged tools.

I like to break down the sharpening set even further. I use two stone set with a lapping/grinding plate, this is generally a mix of coarse and medium stones that produce more aggressive edges which is ideal for cutting tools that get used a lot.

If you couldn't already tell I like Shapton waterstones. They are fast, efficient, wear slowly and produce very sharp edges. My typical recommendation is for the 500 extra thick and 2000 Glass stones with an Atoma 140 for setting bevels and lapping the stones. They are top of the line stones so it's not something you will outgrow.
 
MrCPA said:
No, but I am wanting to get into whittling wood and figured I'll need to keep my knives sharp
Click to expand...

What types/brands of knives are you going to use for whittling? If they're in simple steels like 1095, CV, 420HC, 440A, etc, the sharpening options could be very simple and inexpensive as well. Technique, skill and smart choices of materials for sharpening will drive 99% of sharpening success; if that's there, even the simplest of stones & tools can handle the remaining 1% of the work. For the steels I mentioned above, it may only need something like a decent and inexpensive Arkansas stone with some honing oil, and/or a supplementary hardware store 2-sided SiC stone (Norton, ACE, Sears have them) for heavier work. Add some buffing compound for a strop (white rouge or green compounds should do very well over a hard backing) for maybe $5-$8, and you could be set.


David
 
Last edited:
Worksharp GSS, Sharpmaker, KME, Worksharp Ken Onion, Edge pro Apex, or Wicked edge... :)p
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top