Want to consolidate my whetstones, but what grits to get?

C

crick0234

Joined
Feb 8, 2016
Messages
54
hey guys, need some advice.

I got a collection of whetstones from different makes and mfr's. I have two king stones i really like: 1000grit and my king 6000grit finishing stone.

The other grits i got are generic chinesium branded water stones in grits of: 120, 400, 1000, 2000, 3000, 6000, and 8000.

They work, but mmmmmm i'd like to just consolidate to the King stones. The chinese brands are ... i dunno... less than steller. Like the 6000 and 8000 chinese stones are rougher than my king 6000, so it takes the edge/removes the finish. I use my 120/400 a lot for reprofiling, before moving to my king 1000 grit. my chinese 2000,3000 stones dull the edge i get from my King 1000 grit.

I am thinking of adding a King 300 grit.. i also see the 220 grit from king, but am unsure. Currently thinking 300 -> 1000 -> 6000 king whetstones, and the rest of the chinese ones goes into storage.

I also see a king 800 and a 4000 but do not know if those are necessary.

any advice/fb welcome! thanks in advance, this forum rocks.

ps: i got several sharpening systems; i use my hapstone system for most of my pocketknives. I use my spyderco sharpmaker for quick maintenance. i use my whetstones for my japanese deba, any knife that has a scandi/scandivex/convex, and large blades.
 
the king 1000 is a good stone, a bit messy. The wife makes me set up in the garage she won't put up with brown mud in her white sink.

Look into the Suehiro CERAX 320 for a coarse stone. A very popular choice for a finer/mid range is the
Suehiro Rika 5K , both can be found on Amazon.

For final polish for your Deba or Hi-Carbon blades check out a Kitayama 8K
 
Generally, I'd want a flattening plate, coarse, mid-grit, and fine. You need only one of each.
The flattening plate will be a 140 and act as a very coarse stone for repairs. Kings will need flattening, they aren't the hardest stones.
Coarse - 200-500. A 320 or so would be good. Coarse enough to sharpen a moderately dull blade, good place to polish out the 140 if that was needed.
Medium - 800-2K. If the King is handling your steels okay, you're set. Not my favorite, but to each their own.
Fine/polishing - well the sky is the limit here. You can get a progression to polish to your heart's content. Generally speaking the King 6K is fine.

So you have 2 of the 4 I'd recommend - medium and polishing.

Personally I'd prefer other stones, but the grits you have are fine and my taste is irrelevant here. You're instincts were right.
 
The King 220 is a good stone, I'd get that and in reality you have the set - 220, 1k, 6k

In the King lineup I prefer the 220, 800, 4k as a set. The 800 is a good stone but it will only save you a few minutes over the 1k when following the 220, so a little redundant.

I have not used the 300 but it might be just the thing for your set.
 
Ourorboros said:
Generally, I'd want a flattening plate, coarse, mid-grit, and fine. You need only one of each.
The flattening plate will be a 140 and act as a very coarse stone for repairs. Kings will need flattening, they aren't the hardest stones.
Coarse - 200-500. A 320 or so would be good. Coarse enough to sharpen a moderately dull blade, good place to polish out the 140 if that was needed.
Medium - 800-2K. If the King is handling your steels okay, you're set. Not my favorite, but to each their own.
Fine/polishing - well the sky is the limit here. You can get a progression to polish to your heart's content. Generally speaking the King 6K is fine.

So you have 2 of the 4 I'd recommend - medium and polishing.

Personally I'd prefer other stones, but the grits you have are fine and my taste is irrelevant here. You're instincts were right.
Click to expand...

ah yes, i do have a flattening stone, forgot to mention. i believe it's a norton that i picked up from a chef/knife shop. thnk you for the fb, I'll go check out something in the 300's.

I've also debated just shoving everything into storage and buying a set of chosera stones, but right now the king stones are doing what i need them to do. i'm reading that the chosera stones are water stones so do not need to be soaked - I do make a good mess with my king stones. they slurry quite a bit.

also do people use the nagura stones much? I do not yet have a nagura stone.

thanks eveyrone for your FB!
 
I don't use naguras, I think just using a stone that's been soaked builds up enough slurry.
Some water stones need to be soaked for best results, the Choseras aren't one of them.
The King 220 should do you just fine, if you get that don't bother with a 300. It will set a bevel, but it isn't so coarse that a mid-grit stone will take forever to polish it out.
Choseras get expensive fast - anything for polishing sets you back.
If you have a Norton flattening stone, it may not be suitable for stock removal, only flattening. Its tall with grooves, right? That's fine for flattening a water stone. If you need to remove a lot of metal because it's extremely dull or has chips you want to work out, you'll want a diamond plate. That's something you won't necessarily need in your life. Also useful if you want to think out knives, but again that's not everybody.
 
I am a huge fan of the King 300. I have beaten the absolute shit out of mine and it is a ROCK. Slower, due to it’s higher hardness, but still plenty fast. Plus harder stones like that amplify the effect of pressure manipulation. From a heavy press up to a featherlight touch, you can really produce a range of edges from that single stone. There are faster low grit stones, but in the effort to consolidate under King, the 300 fulfills its role with aplomb. Atoma 140, King 300/1k/6K, 1 mic diamond strop, you got a full range of stones, the capacity to flatten and reprofile, and are well within range of hair-whittling glory.

It also smells really nice lol

Solid 8.5/10 stone. Excellent, enduring value for its actual ~$30 cost (some North American vendors have inflated the price so high the value is completed negated)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top