Show your sharpening gear!

Khromo said:
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On top are diamonds, ceramics, a few combo Arks, and a few home brewed strops charged with various abrasives.

In the middle are natural stones from China, Belgium, and Japan.

On the bottom are Arkansas stones, soft, hard, black, and translucent.

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Here we see a variety of Japanese and a few U.S. water stones, two loaded Wicked Sharp systems, lapping stones, raw material for strops, and various maintenance items.

I don't use the water stones any more. Natural stones with water just feel more romantic, they are less messy, and they require little maintenance. If the steel is too hard for natural stones, good diamond plates are great for heavy lifting, after which ceramic or even natural stones for polishing. Stropping on diamond-charged leather, or the German red and black compounds. I usually need a nap afterwards.
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WOW, you do have a selection of sharpening gear. I'm impressed, and a little bit jealous.;):). One question, what do you use the liquid lanolin for.???
 
c7m2p3 said:
Looks great. I have a spyderco medium benchstone and a fine benchstone in the mail. I understand them being ceramic will limit me on what steel I will probably be able to use them on to great effect though I figure they will be great micro beveling and maintenance stones. What steels have you found them to be effective on even just for some small touch ups?
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Thank you for the kind words about my gear. I don't have any knives with a supersteel blade. I have some slipjoints in 1095 and D2. I have a Schatt & Morgan in ATS34. a few Benchmades in S30v and my Mnandi in S35V.
Nothing that the ceramic rods or bench stones have any trouble with. Ceramic is pretty damn hard so I think it would work on most blade steels.

I am sure that diamond rods/stones work much faster than ceramics but I would be surprised if there is a blade steel out there that couldn't be sharpened on ceramics.

Then again maybe I don't have clue.
 
This is my setup, meager though it may be. The Gatco system is OK, and I like it for 'early stages' sharpening, but I'm definitely not getting the edge I want, or as fast as I want. I think that's probably due in equal parts to: (a) gear; (b) skills; and (c) patience, but not necessarily in that order.

https://imgur.com/a/lyF0UN8

Next up, I'm planning on adding some Arkansas stones to the mix.
 
c7m2p3 said:
Looks great. I have a spyderco medium benchstone and a fine benchstone in the mail. I understand them being ceramic will limit me on what steel I will probably be able to use them on to great effect though I figure they will be great micro beveling and maintenance stones. What steels have you found them to be effective on even just for some small touch ups?
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I don't think that Spyderco stones will limit you on what steel you are able to sharpen. Sure, diamonds are harder and will - most likely - work faster. But the Spydercos are made of extremely hard material. They should work with any kind of steel.
If you take a look at the Mohs scale of mineral hardness, diamonds are a 10. I think to remember that Sypdercos are rated as a 9.2, but don't pin me down on that.
Fällknivens dark ceramic is similar to the Spyderco medium. From the description (knivesandtools): "with these hard materials [diamond / ceramic] you can even sharpen knives made from extremely hard powder types of steel".
440C is not a problem. Not at all. I do not have personal experience with harder steels.
 
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cudgee said:
WOW, you do have a selection of sharpening gear. I'm impressed, and a little bit jealous.;):). One question, what do you use the liquid lanolin for.???
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I don't lubricate with oil anymore, I use water. I use a couple of drops of lanolin in a big spray bottle to keep the stones sluiced down! It smells better than dish soap, feels pretty slinky. The tap water where I live contains enough calcium and total dissolved solids that I use bottled water on my stones to minimize clogging. I keep a big Home Depot industrial spray bottle loaded with clean water and a little lanolin to keep my sharpening session smoooooooth!!!
 
Khromo said:
I don't lubricate with oil anymore, I use water. I use a couple of drops of lanolin in a big spray bottle to keep the stones sluiced down! It smells better than dish soap, feels pretty slinky. The tap water where I live contains enough calcium and total dissolved solids that I use bottled water on my stones to minimize clogging. I keep a big Home Depot industrial spray bottle loaded with clean water and a little lanolin to keep my sharpening session smoooooooth!!!
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Thanks. Have you thought of using distilled water. ??? I use it a lot, for many things, we also have hard water which leaves water marks. I only use distilled water to clean my car windows, never thought of it for sluicing my stones. Have a good weekend.
 
Distilled is probably best. I usually keep a big jug of it in the shop for mixing dyes and a few other critical tasks.

I don't know if the water prevents clogging as well as oil, but I think by rubbing a little "rust eraser" or other nagura type stone over the surface once in a while the stone stays pretty fresh and sharp.
 
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