Waterstones - What Grits?

My new Naniwa stones came in today and as for first impressions, I am impressed with the quality of the stones.
 
L2bravo said:
Does anybody use Norton water stones? Are they worth a crap?
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They're a good buy for the money. I only have Kings and Nortons, so my opinion relative to a wide variety of brands is not of much value. The Kings are a good choice for carbon steels are OK on common stainless, the Nortons can handle a wider variety of steels and are much faster and more reliable on stainless. The 4k puts on a great EDU edge - can treetop some leg hair but with a lot of bite for everyday stuff. The 8k leaves a near mirror polish. The 220 grit is not a very good stone IMHO, even the King 240 grit is a better choice for heavier work. I use mine at work, and because its so soft I use it dry, just brush it off when it gets loaded up. The 1k is somewhat soft but a fairly fast cutting stone. One could go right to the 8k from the 1k, but the 4k is a nice stone to have. Here's a good vid of Rick Marchand putting them to work.

[video=youtube;UAxd7SV-ZtM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UAxd7SV-ZtM[/video]
 
On a side note, what's a good way to go about flattening these later on? I have access to some 220 grit white aluminum oxide (like is use for sandblasting). Would it work to put some of this down on a piece of glass I don't really care about, wet the stone down good and just go to flattening like that?
 
JSMcustoms said:
On a side note, what's a good way to go about flattening these later on? I have access to some 220 grit white aluminum oxide (like is use for sandblasting). Would it work to put some of this down on a piece of glass I don't really care about, wet the stone down good and just go to flattening like that?
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That will work. I use a piece of float glass with a sheet of 3M wet/dry 220 grit sandpaper, used very wet with excellent results.:thumbup:

The best way is to use a large XC DMT diamond plate, but those are a bit pricey unless you also use them for sharpening.:D
 
@ Ben Dover: A friendly word of advice, I believe we're only allowed to link/mention dealers that are official dealers here on the forums.
 
Google "Naniwa flattening stone" they are about $20 and should be used almost every time.
 
The resulting edge is for sure not what I'm used to. It's actually rather odd. An explanation: For one, it's much sharper than the edges I was getting with my Sharpmaker (not to mention much more polished). Now what gets me is when I test the edge with my fingers, it doesn't catch like I'm used to with my V-edges. However, when I go to cut something, the knife is clearly quite sharp as it simply glides through the material with very little resistance at all (cardboard, paper or whatever). The question is, what's going on?
 
knifenut1013 said:
they polish far too much and leave a edge that's nice and mirror polished but has poor cutting qualities.
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I beg to differ that the Super Stones leave an edge with poor cutting qualities. The following is my knife that I reprofiled and sharpened on my recently purchased Super Stones (straight off the stones with no stropping). Go to 2:20 to see a couple of quick cut tests.

[video=youtube;wCh2voek6UY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCh2voek6UY[/video]
 
Cutting paper and cardboard is easy and if the edge is polished it looks even better. My comments are based on experience with waterstones including the super stones and chosera line from Naniwa. In comparison the Chosera stones offer a better cutting edge than the super stones do for knives, especially pocket knives.
 
For a paper cutting test, try using soft newsprint, and pushing straight down. That gives you a better idea of the sharpness of the knife. Old telephone book pages work well also.

You should be able to push the blade straight down without any slicing motion.
 
As someone that has used almost every product mentioned in this thread, I will suggest that it is more about the mechanic than the tools.

If you take the time to learn the hone, whatever hone you choose, and learn its idiosyncrasies, you should be able to get great edges.

As for lapping and flattening, there are many tools for the job and depending on the jobs you are doing, the steels you work, and the steps in grit you make (all will dictate the time spent on a particular hone) your necessary stone prep may be as simple as a few figure 8s with a lapping plate prior to honing.

Take care of your tools, and learn to use them properly, and they will work well for you for a long time.
 
unit said:
As someone that has used almost every product mentioned in this thread, I will suggest that it is more about the mechanic than the tools.

If you take the time to learn the hone, whatever hone you choose, and learn its idiosyncrasies, you should be able to get great edges.

As for lapping and flattening, there are many tools for the job and depending on the jobs you are doing, the steels you work, and the steps in grit you make (all will dictate the time spent on a particular hone) your necessary stone prep may be as simple as a few figure 8s with a lapping plate prior to honing.

Take care of your tools, and learn to use them properly, and they will work well for you for a long time.
Click to expand...

Very well said, sir. Indeed!

My wife accuses me of being absolutely fanatical about my sharpening equipment.
 
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