Small Machinest Stones

[ouc]

Hi,

I plan to start learning to sharpen knives and have seen alot, alot of videos, been reading alot about sharpening, sharpening stones, and strops and sharpening kits, etc.etc. I don't own currently any sharpening tools. I would like to learn to sharpen by hand in case I need to do this outdoors one day with what ever is around me.

My father use to be a machinist (now retired) and has many small sharpening stones. Some made in India, alot made in Germany, and some the U.S. from what I can tell. Most of these are small no more than 5 or 6" long. The are square shaped no more than 1" per side. A few are marked, 320, 400,600 and I assume that is the grit. A few even smaller ones are the size of the small stones you would carry in the field in the sheath and seem to be very fine. As an example I was able to find one of those that said India FF44. I found this one to be a Norton stone from India and apparently very fine but not sure how much grit. There is one so fine it feels smooth but I guess it is a stone.

This leads me to some questions.
Does anyone use small stones such as these to sharpen there knives? Do you recommend them or not? Should I just go ahead and invest in larger stones?

I plan on using mineral oil on them or try water on my kitchen knives tonight to see what happens. I am very mechanically inclined and have good body motion mechanics so I can learn to hold an angle.

sorry for the long winded post and thanks in advance for your thoughts.

 

[grizzled gizzard]

I would vote for getting some good stones. The King 1k/6k is a great stone that'll set you back less than $40 including shipping. Add an Extra coarse DMT for reprofiling, fixing blade damage, and keeping your stone flat.

Of course you can try the little stones first, but they are harder to use, and you would be unnecessarily handicapping yourself.

I guess it depends on how serious you are about sharpening. It wouldn't cost anything to try what you have.

 

[Bill DeShivs]

The India stones are not made in India-they are simply called "India stones." They should handle almost all of your sharpening needs.
Use WD 40 on your stones. All I ever use is a 3" India for most of my knives.

 

[Superdave1]

You can use the stones dry....

 

[ouc]

I tried using the stones on a small Henckels parring knife. I left it in worse shape then what it was. A very rough blade edge. I was very careful to keep the angle even. I just used water over the stone. Maybe I should have used dry or the WD-40? Hmmm....

 

[Alberta Ed]

Start with a coarse grit to establish the bevel you want, and continue with finer grits until you achieve the desired edge. Have fun and keep plenty of Band Aids handy.