stones for n00b

thejamppa

thejamppa

Joined
Aug 20, 2009
Messages
2,907
Hello everyone!

I'm planning to make my dream come true and get good set's of whet stones and learn really to sharpen knives. My goal is eventually get hair whittling sharp knives with free hand.

Any stones / grits recomended to get start?

I got 2€ mora and old CRKT M16 10-KZ as sacrficial lamb to start testing the sharpening. So far I make decent job with Arkansas oil stone that I've had decade but I want to take this further.

Thank you everyone in advance.
 
You can get a pair of King 1000grit/6000grit for relatively cheap. The price difference for anything greater than 6000 is simply too much for me to justify spending, but usually those two shouldn't run you very much.
 
The debate for beginning sharpeners I hear from time to time. Should I...:
1. Buy one GREAT LARGE stone since I can not afford more than one, then later add to the collection?
2. Buy 2 or 3 GOOD MEDIUM-sized stones and latter add to the collection?
3. Buy a set of small or cheap stones (and later replace them all)?

Either path is good as long as you realize that you will be spending money in the future no matter what! Personally, I find that a LARGE stone will never present difficulties (small stones present a challenge on larger blades for some). Additionally, if you want to reach for your dreams, you have no room for any tools that are not the BEST you can find (unless your dreams are less than the BEST you can imagine?).

Personally, I would start off with a very large DMT coarse stone. With it you can begin learning the fundamentals of free hand sharpening and will not have to worry about your results suffering from a dished stone. DMTs version of coarse can be used to produce a very sharp edge. As money allows, I would then purchase the Fine, followed by Extra Fine, then EE Fine. May be pick up the Extra Coarse in there somewhere...but if you are keeping your knives sharp, you can just spend a little more time on the coarse instead.
 
I was under the impression that DMT stones remove more steel than water/oil stones, if this is the case I don't know if I would recommend using one to practice your technique on. Particularly if you're just beginning.
 
somber said:
I was under the impression that DMT stones remove more steel than water/oil stones, if this is the case I don't know if I would recommend using one to practice your technique on. Particularly if you're just beginning.
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It just means you need to do less work and spend less time doing it. Diamond stone just get you their faster and do not loose effectiveness with various steels.
 
knifenut1013 said:
It just means you need to do less work and spend less time doing it. Diamond stone just get you their faster and do not loose effectiveness with various steels.
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Wouldn't that mean as you're developing your technique as a beginner the errors that you will undoubtedly make have a more detrimental affect on the edge?

I know that working on my stones in the beginning I would have a zig-zag edge because of not equal pressure and rocking, combined with more laps on one side than the other in certain areas.
 
somber said:
Wouldn't that mean as you're developing your technique as a beginner the errors that you will undoubtedly make have a more detrimental affect on the edge?

I know that working on my stones in the beginning I would have a zig-zag edge because of not equal pressure and rocking, combined with more laps on one side than the other in certain areas.
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Because they give results faster they also let you know what your doing wrong faster. Less required passes also means your angle will be more consistent.

The types of steel and bevel are also important factors in stone choice, if you have a bunch of scandi and carbon steel knives water stones might be the better route. If your collection mostly starts with the letters CPM you probably want the diamonds.
 
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