Water Stones - How to use?

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pinetree

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Jun 24, 2005
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I bought a combination stone to try out water stones from Lee Valley. I have seen some videos on youtube where the guy goes back and fourth, edge leading -edge trailing. This is done is one area of the blade several times then a new section is sharpened. Is this the right technique? What about towards the end with the finer stones. My finest is a 4000. I have had good success so far. I have and like the Sharpmaker but I find something therapeutic in freehand sharpening.

I appreciate the help.

tjg
 
Get em nice and wet and keep them that way. They can usually be used just like western stones, leading or trailing strokes don't make much difference unless you're going for ultimate sharpness. The trick is that most of them are much softer than western stones and if you use a push stroke and aren't careful you'll dig right into the surface of the stone. My first waterstone was a fairly easy to gouge king 4000 grit, and after I managed to dig a trench in it the first time I used it I only used trailing strokes for a while, now I don't worry about it since my control has gotten alot better.
 
Keep them wet. Keep them flat. As for strokes, yoda4561 is right, they're easy to gouge.

I use Norton stones, and the 4000 (smooth white) stone is by far the softest. My own technique is a circular swirl, moving the blade over the stone surface to equalize the stone's wear. At the very end, I switch to an edge lead stroke on the 8000 stone (it's a lot harder than the 4000), then strop.
 
The water stones I've seen in use in Japan are kept submerged (except while sharpening) in the water all the time, then they are partially submerged.
 
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