Time to invest in a home sharpener

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Aerose91

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Feb 11, 2014
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I've recently been improving my skills with sharpening my bushcraft knives, as well as my tomahawk, with my pocket dmt sharpener and a stroping block i made. I want to become proficient in this skill and using the small sharpeners gets a little annoying so i feel it's time to buy something larger.
I see a lot of recommendations for the Spyderco Sharpmaker but I'm torn between an angle sharpener and stones. I feel using a sharpening stone is a good skill to have and i like the art of it. What is recommended? Not sure i want a stone that has to be soaked over night but something of good quality. I feel a good sharpening set is something that should last a lifetime, no?
I'm certainly not a professional but want to keep improving my knowledge. Is there a consensus on what's best? Whetstones? Oil stones? Ceramic? Clay? Diamond? I appreciate any help
 
If you want bench stones that you don't need to soak ... diamond stones would be a decent option ... my Shapton Pros are splash and go ... Norton Oil stones don't require soaking just a few drops of oil when ready to sharpen ...

I believe the Spyderco ceramics stones are also splash and go ... but I can't swear to it ...

Baronyx stones can use water or dry I prefer a splash of water and dishsoap just a better feel ...

some other whetstones you can do the same ... you'd just have to research a bit to see which stones are wet/dry or splash and go so you don't have long soak times ...

I like bench stones and free hand sharpening ... but it does take practice ... a guided system takes some of the personal motor skills out of the process ... but still have a bit of a learning curve ... but once you get that down the guided systems are more easily repeatable ...
 
Are the Shapton stones you have the gkass stones? I've been reading about them and they seem awesome but are pricey.

Splash and go is fine. Do you think ceramic is the best option?
 
Aerose91 said:
Are the Shapton stones you have the gkass stones? I've been reading about them and they seem awesome but are pricey.

Splash and go is fine. Do you think ceramic is the best option?
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The Shapton Glass stones are "splash and go". No soaking needed. I just keep a water spray bottle or a soaked sponge on had to keep them a little wet while sharpening. The Shaptons are very nice. low maintenance, splash and go, and are pretty easy to use. A 500 and 2000 combo is probably all you would ever need for a fixed blade. But, with the Shaptons, you will need a flattening stone. They don't dish quickly like traditional water stones but they do dish. Something like an Atoma 140 works great and give you a great coarse stone as well.
 
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500 to 2000 is a big jump. I noticed they also sell a pack with 500, 2000 & 16000. Is 16000 worth it?

Is the consensus that a ceramic type stone is better than diamond? How is the longevity
 
Would it make sense to have something like a couple DMT bench stones and a ceramic stone (Shapton or otherwise) for a finishing grit? Like that 8000 or 16000?
 
Aerose91 said:
Would it make sense to have something like a couple DMT bench stones and a ceramic stone (Shapton or otherwise) for a finishing grit? Like that 8000 or 16000?
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For most of my knives, that’s what I use. DMT XC/C, and F/EF duo-sharp benchstones, and Spyderco ceramics in M, F, and UF to finish or microbevel. Not for Japanese kitchen knives, but pretty much any pocket knife I have, from 1095 to S110V.
 
Aerose91 said:
Would it make sense to have something like a couple DMT bench stones and a ceramic stone (Shapton or otherwise) for a finishing grit? Like that 8000 or 16000?
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I personally don't think you should mix the DMT Diamonds and Shaptons. But that's just my opinion.

When I use my DMT Diamonds, I end with my Spyderco Fine and/or Ultra Fine. That progression seems to work well for me. I typically go from DMT Coarse, Fine, Extra Fine to the Spyderco Ultra Fine. I can get a nice polished edge with the Ultra Fine. Not mirror, but a nice polish.

When I'm using my Shapton Glass stones, I just go from the 500 to 2000 and sometimes the 6000. The jump from the 500 to 2000 is not that big and works fine. For typical needs, the 2000 is usually plenty. It leaves a really nice slightly toothy edge. Greta for pockets knives and fixed blade camp/bush craft style knives. For some knives that I want to be really great slicers, I move onto the 6000.

Personally, I would go the DMT/Spyderco route if I was in your shoes. I think that would be the best most versatile option for your bush craft knives and tomahawk.
 
What's the difference between the spyderco ceramic and shapton?

Would going high grit, like 6000 then a leather strope afterward be even better?
 
Dangerously said:
For most of my knives, that’s what I use. DMT XC/C, and F/EF duo-sharp benchstones, and Spyderco ceramics in M, F, and UF to finish or microbevel. Not for Japanese kitchen knives, but pretty much any pocket knife I have, from 1095 to S110V.
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Why not kitchen knives? I have a pair of henkels that also need work. If I'm going to spend the money buying a good set up, I'd like to be able to use it across all spectrums
 
I can tell that I really do not like the Shapton Glass stones I have that much do they work yes they cut really slow yes,if I had to choose Spyderco Ceramic's would be the choice over the Shapton Glass any day period.
Mike Emler a youtube guy told me the Spyderco Ceramic's can be over and over again and they just don't dish now keeping that in mind they dish over time but what his point is it's going to take a really long time before you will need to flatten them,they are not speed demons at removing metal but they are faster then the Shapton Glass.

If you want a good 400 grit stone that really removes metal fast get a Chosera that thing really goes to town on the steel without tearing it off and screwing up your edge,you could also go with a 6K stone for your kitchen knives to finish with like a Chosera 6K or something else in the 6K range.

For your kitchen knives you could try the Spyderco knives and a 6K water stone like a Chosera or get a 1K and 3K combo stone of some sort and then a 6K to finish on and just use the Spyderco for your pocket knives,with having S110v your going to want something that like a harder cermic to cut the S110v and most ordinary stones just won't do it or at least not very well.
 
Aerose91 said:
Why not kitchen knives? I have a pair of henkels that also need work. If I'm going to spend the money buying a good set up, I'd like to be able to use it across all spectrums
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Oh, it’s a fine enough setup for Henkels. I have a block of those too, and this setup works fine with them. In fact, often with kitchen knives I want to use for slicing, I won’t even touch the Spyderco ceramics at all, or just a quick deburring pass on the UF after DMT F. Leaves a toothy edge.

I don’t use it with Japanese kitchen knives, usually in Aogami Super steel, run hard at HRC 64 or so. Those get a better edge with waterstones. Right now I’m using Naniwa Pro 400, the Green Brick of Joy 2000, and finishing on a 6000 stone. I’m not sure why the low alloy, high hardness steels respond better to different abrasives, but I’m sure one of our experts here does.
 
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Ive heard good things about Naniwa.

Should good Japanese knives not be used on a diamond sharpener at all? Or is finishing them up on a ceramic stone suitable?

How about a leather strope, do you think that is necessary after using something around 5-6000 grit
 
Aerose91 said:
Ive heard good things about Naniwa.

Should good Japanese knives not be used on a diamond sharpener at all? Or is finishing them up on a ceramic stone suitable?

How about a leather strope, do you think that is necessary after using something around 5-6000 grit
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I don’t use either diamond plates or ceramic stones with Japanese knives. To be honest, I don’t even know what happens. Using standard waterstones on these knives is one of those pieces of advice that I never saw contradicted, so I never tried. Unanimity is hard to come by.

I don’t much bother with leather strops anymore. A proper finish, correctly deburred, and then light as a feather finishing strokes on a high grit stone gets knives screaming sharp. I find flexible (leather) strops more easily capable of rounding the apex by accident. Hard strops, I.e., balsa with CBN paste seems to be very similar in precision to a high grit stone, so I’d try that if I wanted that level of polish.
 
Dangerously said:
I don’t use either diamond plates or ceramic stones with Japanese knives. To be honest, I don’t even know what happens. Using standard waterstones on these knives is one of those pieces of advice that I never saw contradicted, so I never tried. Unanimity is hard to come by.
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Same here. I use water stones for my nice kitchen knives. Strop on balsa with 1 micron diamond compound. The strop is the only place they see diamonds.
 
I think Murray Carter would hunt me down and do bad things if I used diamond hones on my set of his kitchen knives.

I have touched up an edge or two on the Spyderco ceramic ultra fine bench stone.
 
Aerose91 said:
What is it about diamonds that is contradicted with kitchen knives? Too aggressive?
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I think most of us are referring to Japanese knives as opposed to "western" knives. The Japanese knives are often of san mai (laminated) construction and are thinner, more delicate at the edge.

I don't own high end "western" kitchen knives, so those, (Boker, Victorinox, Tramontina etc), which my wife likes to use as I don't fuss over 'em, I can and will sharpen with anything in my arsenal.

Diamonds are a little harsh for the finer Japanese edges...though I haven't tested mine on the DMT extra extra fine.
 
I agree with Blues completely on the Japanese edge's as they are to thin and most people sharpen them at 10 to 12 degree's where on a western knife it's more about 15 degree's and up,the diamonds just tend to tear off metal and more so if not used carefully,on a pocket knife it's not such a big deal if you refine the edge with a water stone after using diamonds.

Also if you get a Japanese chef knife be careful what you wish for because they are great knives and nothing perform's like them keep in mind a lot of the Japanese water stones cut very slow in the higher grit's and that's mainly do to the fact that most are made from Aluminum Oxide,I read somewhere a person was asking why no one makes Silicon Carbide stones in really high grit's and that's because from what I read online a while ago that Silicon Carbide is great at cutting metal off fast at lower grit range's but when the Silicon Carbide is made into finer grit's it's does not have the performance as it does in lower grit's.

If I were to use a diamond stone on a Japanese chef knife I would try one of the new stones I got from Venev that's the same as a 6K water stone and if they made the stone in the new bonding that's rated at 15K I would try them and then strop the knife with diamond paste because the 6K and old stone they make that's rated at 15K don't seem to scratch the hell out of everything and seem to be gentler but I would still want to take it easy using those stones just to be sure.
 
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