Stones to buy to complement Norton India Fine/Course Stones?

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leozinho

Joined
Jan 7, 2005
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I have the Norton India Stone fine/coarse combo. What stones would you recommend to take the edges a little further?

I don't think that I want to spend the money to invest in waterstones (unless they were a screaming good deal).

Or is it even necessary? I have a strop and various colored compounds. Can I go from the fine India stone to the strop? Supposedly the fine is 320 grit, which isn't very refined, imho.

Thanks.
 
Nothing is stopping you from going from any stone to a strop. Hopefully I can explain this right, the only thing is when you go with something of that high grit progression difference you're not going to be getting a finish from the green compound as the scratches from your fine india is too deep for it to remove so you're more or less refining the fine india finish a bit more and getting something in between. Had you progressed through the steps you could get a finish equal to that of the green compound micron rating and work your way up to a mirror finish. Neither are wrong but just different way to sharpen to get a different type of edge, a more toothy or polished edge depending on what you want.

I was just playing around with my silicon carbide and india norton economy stones last night and a few hours ago. I went from fine silicon carbide to basically a black compound and then later on a fine india to a black compound and finished both up on plain paper.

So my advice go ahead and take it to the strop and find out which one you like taking it to after the fine india. I am starting towards leaning to just using my black compound and ignoring my other ones for simplicities sake but that is just me, find out what works for you and go with it.
 
Stropping will greatly improve the edge from a India stone. It's not about refining the scratch pattern as much as it is removing excess burr and "polishing" the teeth. Makes for a very sharp yet toothy edge.

You can use a number of stone to produce a finer edge but without a budget it's difficult to make recommendations. Also, what type of steels are you sharpening.
 
Get a spyderco sharpmaker for touch-ups, along with Norton india stone that's what you mostly need.I get hair whittling edges off the both Norton and sharpmaker brown and gray stones.Key is in the light pressure.You can strop on plain leather, or slurry off your Norton india stone, just put it on paper , cardboard or leather.No need for expensive stones or edge pro etc;)(I would like to have one of those one day, edge pro or wicked edge)
 
Although the India stone is 320 grit, as you say. The edge you can get from it acts much finer once the stone is broke in. I would explore this. A strop is a good way to refine the edge further. After a hundred or so passes on a good strop with slurry you'll be very surprised at the level of refinement this gives. I usually go no further. DM
 
Thanks for the replies.

I should have mentioned that I already a Sharpmaker with the medium brown and fine white rods (I also have a HF 1x30, and a 2x 72, bu I'm moving and going to put it those storage. The power strop is nice, but I need to get back to the basics).

I have got a bit of everything when it comes to knives. Axes, Moras (stainless and carbon), lots of stainless folders, a few 1085 blades that I made, etc.

Budget? Max $50 for the right stone(s). (I was wondering if you were going to recommend a ultra fine diamond)

But it sounds like I might put off that purchase and work with what I have.
 
I found my Spyderco fine to be a good follow up to an India stone. As mentioned, the edge it makes is a bit finer than the 320 grit advertised, more like a 600 or maybe even 800 grit finish.

Similar to above observations, I have had good luck coming straight off the India stone to some Flexcut Gold on newspaper wrapped around the coarse side of the India stone. The harder the backing, the more of a jump you can make - I've used the Flexcut Gold on a red oak board with a few drops of oil and it can make a very refined edge from a medium finish such as the India stone. All depends on what you're looking for and the steels you tend to work with, but you can do a lot with compounds and a bit of experimentation.
 
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