Does anyone know how to stop my knives from scraping off some of my waterstone? Its a white, 800 grit stone from the local woodworking shop. The writing was in japanese so I dont know the brand. I use it on a block, held vertically like a v rod. Every 20-30 strokes I dunk it back in the water to keep it wet. Its especially bad near the plunge grind (choil?) when there is no little notch at the start of the edge.
-
The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
Water Stone Gouging
- Thread starter me2
- Start date
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2004
- Messages
- 67
Gouging a waterstone is usually caused by incorrect angle, in this case too high of an angle.
Perhaps its my technique. I generally cut in both directions, forward and backward. I can get a burr w/o trouble, but cutting it off on the 800 grit stone is not getting it as sharp as it used to. Of course I lapped the stone and its much coarser now, or feels that way.
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2005
- Messages
- 112
A waterstone should be kept wet, by that I mean KEEP IT WET. Not just wet it once in a while but every stroke. There is no excuse for gouging a stone of any kind. Watch what you are doing. Pay attention! Don't try to work in a distracting atmosphere.
Waterstones are designed to wear away exposing sharp new granules each stroke. The water floats the old grit and metal particles away. Long smooth strokes of light to medium pressure should be used.
Waterstones are designed to wear away exposing sharp new granules each stroke. The water floats the old grit and metal particles away. Long smooth strokes of light to medium pressure should be used.
There is no excuse for doing lots of things, but gouging a stone while rubbing a knife on it isnt one of them. If it were an expensive brand name stone or natural stone, I would be more annoyed, but as it stands, I'm only doing a little damage to a $20 stone that gets used for the kitchen knives.
The stone is wet on every stroke. It takes less than a minute to do the 20-30 strokes, and the surface is still wet at the end. It is stored in water, which may be bad, but doesnt seem to have any effect. Lighter pressure does seem to help cut faster and cut down on wear to the stone at the same time. I just got done reprofiling 2 steak knives to 17 degrees using this water stone. I want to try a test to see if it cuts faster than my coarse India stone. Reprofiling doesnt seem to cause any problems. Its when I try to remove the burr at a higher angle that the knife seems to skim off more material. The gouging I mentioned at the beginning of the stroke near the choil/plunge area may be more correctly termed excess wear, as it appears on my India stone as well. When removing a microbevel or reprofiling from 20 down to 17 degrees, the edge isnt in contact, only the little (or big, depending) shoulder is riding on the stone, at least until the burr forms. I left the stone out the other day and it dried out, and I could feel some little grooves where the tip travels at the end of every stroke. I suppose this may be more correctly labeled excess wear than gouging as well.
The stone is wet on every stroke. It takes less than a minute to do the 20-30 strokes, and the surface is still wet at the end. It is stored in water, which may be bad, but doesnt seem to have any effect. Lighter pressure does seem to help cut faster and cut down on wear to the stone at the same time. I just got done reprofiling 2 steak knives to 17 degrees using this water stone. I want to try a test to see if it cuts faster than my coarse India stone. Reprofiling doesnt seem to cause any problems. Its when I try to remove the burr at a higher angle that the knife seems to skim off more material. The gouging I mentioned at the beginning of the stroke near the choil/plunge area may be more correctly termed excess wear, as it appears on my India stone as well. When removing a microbevel or reprofiling from 20 down to 17 degrees, the edge isnt in contact, only the little (or big, depending) shoulder is riding on the stone, at least until the burr forms. I left the stone out the other day and it dried out, and I could feel some little grooves where the tip travels at the end of every stroke. I suppose this may be more correctly labeled excess wear than gouging as well.
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2005
- Messages
- 112
It seems you are well on the way to better sharpening.
When you start the microbevel a very very light touch is all that you need. Work on that and I think you will be a pro.
When you start the microbevel a very very light touch is all that you need. Work on that and I think you will be a pro.
I'd like to switch to a 4000 stone for removing the burr after the 800, but I havent been able to find one locally, and havent ordered one on line. Besides, the toothy, kinda coarse edge from the 800, or from my fine India still shaves hair, but with a slice instead of a push. Anyway, I got the stone because of a statement in Leonard Lee's book on sharpening. He feels an 800 grit waterstone cuts faster than a coarse India, except when the latter is freshly lapped. At the time, my coarse India was out of commission, so I got the water stone. The first few tries w/ it were horrible, but after 3 or 4 knives it worked pretty well, except when I noticed the gritty sludge on my knives around the choil/plunge grinds. After lapping my India stone, I noticed the corners where I start my strokes are worn like the water stone, but it's not as easy to lap out and make it flat.
Yuzuha, that tiny line at the edge is what I look for on my knives after deburring. Its usually applied w/ a sharpmaker, but I want to try some knives at lower than 15 deg angles. Frugal Weaver, I tried tonight removing a burr on a chef's knife. The blade is very thin, full flat grind from 2" wide, 3/32" stock, and forms a new burr even on the edges of the white Sharpmaker rods. Anyway, the wide surface of the 800 stone was just the trick. I stopped freehanding it though. This time, I put the stone on a towel on the counter and very lightly drew the knife across it about 6 times per side. Slices paper cleanly, but wont push cut, just what I was after.
Yuzuha, that tiny line at the edge is what I look for on my knives after deburring. Its usually applied w/ a sharpmaker, but I want to try some knives at lower than 15 deg angles. Frugal Weaver, I tried tonight removing a burr on a chef's knife. The blade is very thin, full flat grind from 2" wide, 3/32" stock, and forms a new burr even on the edges of the white Sharpmaker rods. Anyway, the wide surface of the 800 stone was just the trick. I stopped freehanding it though. This time, I put the stone on a towel on the counter and very lightly drew the knife across it about 6 times per side. Slices paper cleanly, but wont push cut, just what I was after.
Cliff Stamp
BANNED
- Joined
- Oct 5, 1998
- Messages
- 17,562
If you elevate the angle above the edge grind the pressure will increase dramatically. A standard edge bevel is a millimeter or two wide, the micro-bevel you apply at a higher angle will be less than a tenth of a millimeter wide and thus it will act similar on the stone as if you tried to sharpen it with 100 times as much force. In general I don't deburr on waterstones at elevated angles, or very rarely anyway because the very wide surface and aggressive cutting action doesn't make it necessary.
-Cliff
-Cliff