Sharpening stones

E

Edgehunter

Joined
Apr 20, 2016
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I have just started collecting knives and do not have any experience sharpening blades yet. I have watched so many videos and read several threads on the issue and have decided to learn free hand.

My question is should I go ahead and spend the money getting dmt continuous diamond course fine and extra fine with a spyderco ultra fine and strop or start with something cheaper and if so what stones would you recommend.
 
Do you have friends or family members who sharpen anything? If so, maybe you could try a couple of different types of stones to see what you like. Lots of people love dmt but I don't like the feel of them. Shapton glass for me.
 
For freehand sharpening, I've found nothing needed more than a Norton Combination stone and a Smith's Ceramic 1000 grit stone. With those two stones, you can sharpen any knife. But it is a learned skill. Practice on some cheap yard sale kitchen knives or cheap, junk yard sale folders. Patience and practice.

I forgot to mention; it is important to keep the bevel constant. Most knife makers sell their knives with about a 40 degree (inclusive) bevel. Get a protractor and see what a 40 degree angle is (20 degree per side). I prefer about a 30 degree angle. It gets the knife sharper, but will require more frequent touch-ups. It is easier to keep a sharp knife sharp than to sharpen a dull one.

If you learn proper freehand sharpening, you will never have to depend on one of those expensive sharpening gadgets.

Rich
 
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Edgehunter said:
I have just started collecting knives and do not have any experience sharpening blades yet. I have watched so many videos and read several threads on the issue and have decided to learn free hand.

My question is should I go ahead and spend the money getting dmt continuous diamond course fine and extra fine with a spyderco ultra fine and strop or start with something cheaper and if so what stones would you recommend.
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What steels will you be sharpening? If you're not using, or don't plan to use, any vanadium-heavy steels like S30V, 90V, 110V, etc, you may not need the diamond hones anyway. At the coarser end, for heavy grinding jobs like rebevelling, something like a Norton Crystolon stone (silicon carbide) could work well. And at the medium/fine refining end, the Norton India or a similar aluminum oxide stone could handle that.

If you do still want to try the diamond, and still aren't going to use the vanadium-heavy steels, the EF DMT is a very good all-around hone for upkeep and refining jobs. It'll still definitely be better if, at some future time, you decide to try a more wear-resistant steel (S30V, etc). At the refining end, diamond is much better for those steels in particular.


David
 
Yes I should have mentioned I have one s30v and also have a s90v blade coming soon hence inquiring about the diamond stones
 
Is there a better ultra fine for those steels than the spyderco?

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An inexpensive option is the CKTG combination diamond plate 400/1,000, for about $35. 8" x 2.75". It is an interrupted surface plate but the pattern has much more coverage than the polka-dot DMT hones.
 
Edgehunter said:
Is there a better ultra fine for those steels than the spyderco?

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If you're not looking for a full-on mirrored finish or nearly so, you may not need the Spyderco ceramics at all; they really won't add anything that you can't already attain with the DMT EF. The EF DMT can leave a great working edge on it's own, with a very fine satin finish and still very toothy bite. And even if you DO want mirrored bevels, I'd just skip the ceramics and follow the EF DMT with stropping on diamond compound over wood, like balsa or basswood & many others. For S30V and beyond, that's probably the easiest way to bring up a fast & bright mirror after a fairly tight finishing sequence on diamond hones, like Coarse > Fine > EF. If going straight from the DMT XC to the EF, it'll be more difficult to get rid of the coarser scratches left by the XC. The ceramics have a tougher time at the polishing end on high-wear steels like S30V, S90V and beyond, because the vanadium carbides in the steel are significantly harder than the alumina ceramic in the SM hones, by at least 30% or so. Any polish you do get will always remain somewhat hazy, because the vanadium carbides just won't be polished by the alumina. That'll also affect how much you can refine the edge at high polish, therefore the maximum sharpness you'll be able to achieve. That's why I recommend polishing those with a diamond compound instead; makes it easy and fast, especially at 3µ and finer.


David
 
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For a beginner I would go to Lowes or Home Depot and find a cheap two sided stone and start sharpening kitchen knives to see if you like to do it and are good at it. If you can get good edges then I would invest in better stones if not then I would try a guided system.
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
If you're not looking for a full-on mirrored finish or nearly so, you may not need the Spyderco ceramics at all; they really won't add anything that you can't already attain with the DMT EF. The EF DMT can leave a great working edge on it's own, with a very fine satin finish and still very toothy bite. And even if you DO want mirrored bevels, I'd just skip the ceramics and follow the EF DMT with stropping on diamond compound over wood, like balsa or basswood & many others. For S30V and beyond, that's probably the easiest way to bring up a fast & bright mirror after a fairly tight finishing sequence on diamond hones, like Coarse > Fine > EF. If going straight from the DMT XC to the EF, it'll be more difficult to get rid of the coarser scratches left by the XC. The ceramics have a tougher time at the polishing end on high-wear steels like S30V, S90V and beyond, because the vanadium carbides in the steel are significantly harder than the alumina ceramic in the SM hones, by at least 30% or so. Any polish you do get will always remain somewhat hazy, because the vanadium carbides just won't be polished by the alumina. That'll also affect how much you can refine the edge at high polish, therefore the maximum sharpness you'll be able to achieve. That's why I recommend polishing those with a diamond compound instead; makes it easy and fast, especially at 3µ and finer.


David
Click to expand...

Well said sir!
Russ
 
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