What combination sharpening stones under $50 everyone should have?

Arkansas's are finishing and touch up stones. Same with hard ceramics like spyderco's. India's and Crystalon's combo-stones can regrind and finish almost any pocket knife. Crystalon's more so than India, but they wear quicker than india's. Be prepares to lap them. Diamonds cut anything and everything just don't use excessive pressure. Waterstone are a whole nother beast. Save those till you have the basics down with something a little more stable. They wear a lot quicker, create slurries and muds that that can speed up or slow down cutting speeds, increase or dull the apex, then there is how wet or dry they need to be for the steel you are working with or the polish you want. Not to mention that they all act a little bit differently.

Any stone can work with water or water and soap. The arkansas, crystalon, and india stones can work with oil if you want to. If the stone is pre-oiled (like the india's) or has been used with oil before, then use the water and soap mix. This will stop the stone from glazing till the oil is washed out.

Just remember that you can get a sharp edge off any stone. Doesn't matter grit. The grit is just for refining it to the finish that works best for your task and steel.
 
Norton India and Crystolon combination stones which each set you back $20, I own the economy versions and they work great.
 
That Norton combo looks good but is there another of that type and price that doesn't require the stone to be oiled?
 
csisland said:
That Norton combo looks good but is there another of that type and price that doesn't require the stone to be oiled?
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Diamonds and sandpaper (silicon carbide wet/dry) are the two most obvious that need no oil or water. Ceramics likewise need no water or oil though will become loaded up with use and need to be cleaned. Anything that isn't using a fluid to remove the swarf and any abrasive debris will need to be cleaned some other way.

Silicon carbide stones can be used dry for light work, but will become loaded up and glazed if used dry all the time. Some of the jointer stones are better at this than the regular oil stones, but will become loaded up as well, just takes a bit longer and are easier to clean off. They are also pretty inexpensive. Unless specified they go by color, with only the brown resin ones hard enough to be used for hand sharpening. The coarse ones generally need to be spec'd by hardness, most of them are pretty soft by cutlery standards as well.

I picked up a few from Global Tooling and can give you the specifics of the ones I bought, they are very inexpensive. When I used them I would finish with the 500 grit Tyrolit stone and mineral oil though it can work quite a bit with no oil or water and just rub it down with a paper towel to clean. They can handle most steels handily, are made for sharpening high speed steel or carbide blades in the machine - at operating speeds.

Ultimately wet/dry sandpaper has become my ease-of-use and inexpensive option for sharpening, but only since I've dialed in the design of my Washboard. Am not the biggest fan of how it works over flat glass or steel compared to an oil stone, though many really like it and it does do a nice job used in that way.
 
A SiC (crystallon) and India combination stone are a very good place to camp at for sharpening. They are capable of cutting any steel, offer great economy, easy to use and give a nice edge. I use mine with mineral oil. A crystallon will wear much more than the India as that's the way it works. Worth giving them a try. DM
 
csisland said:
How often do you have to add mineral oil to a stone? Every time you sharpen a knife?
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Is a good idea. I'll let it "dry out" as I get down to removing the burr, but for grinding it really helps to have a nice film on the surface, enough to float the junk into suspension so it doesn't get impacted into the stone. Also, the use of oil on vitreous silicon carbide stones really seems to increase how readily it sheds abrasives, keeping the surface perpetually in like new condition. Over time it will need less, but even well saturated and broken in will still benefit from a half to a full teaspoon or so.
 
I think I'm going to try the Norton 8x2 coarse/fine combo India stone. Nothing fancy, looks decent, and it's inexpensive. :)
 
csisland said:
I think I'm going to try the Norton 8x2 coarse/fine combo India stone. Nothing fancy, looks decent, and it's inexpensive. :)
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That is a strong choice, you'll have no regrets.

I made a few videos using that one a couple of years ago - have gotten a lot faster but the basics haven't changed. About 1/2 hr total

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viC7mybM6gk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9NTNakx8Vs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmR4nSTukmE

Also Jason B has a good one showing that stone and some follow up work with a meatpacker's steel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VPCvd5hUVQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VPCvd5hUVQ
 
I have kept track of my crystalline and India stones thru the years for the number of times I've leveled them. In 29yrs. I've only leveled the India once and in 9yrs. I've leveled the SiC twice. Grit sloughing off is just the manner which the SiC works. So, during use and leveling much of the SiC stone will be ground away. Whereas the India doesn't work that way. DM
 
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