What do you think of this for a freehand sharpening combo?

[hardheart]

DMT stones in 220, 325

Hand American combo with 600 & 800 compound and textured/smooth leather plate (w/ CrO)

Ceramic 'steel' @ 1200 grit

Can I transition from the 325 diamond to the 600 loaded leather, or is the diamond too aggressive and I would need another step in grit? Speaking of aggressive, is the 220 overkill for reprofiling?

I had a 1200 ceramic before, I thought it was great for light touch ups, does the Hand American make a noticeable difference in edge performance on thin beveled blades? I usually like a toothy edge, but some of my blades aren't for abusive use, so I'd like to polish the edges just for shaving hair and other weird knut habits .

 

[TorzJohnson]

I think you have most of the bases covered there, but for my own tastes I'd put a fine DMT after the 325 DMT. That that would be a good step between the coarse stone and the strop. In fact, I like to put a black arkansas stone between the fine DMT and the CrO strop.

Most of the time, I just touch up on the black arkansas and then strop it a few times. This old fashioned combo is just pleasant to use.

I've never done any re-profiling, but I think you might want the 325 regular coarse DMT over the 220. Less chance of taking off too much too soon.

 

[VampyreWolf]

I have both 200/300 and 500/800 combo stones, alumina oxide($5-8 a stone), spydie ceramics(303mf double stuff), and a strop with veritas green(0.5 micron).

I can clear cut hair off my arms.

 

[stich]

The DMT extra coarse is perfect for reprofiling. Significantly faster than the DMT coarse hone. I too think the 600 grit fine diamond would help.

 

[alan aragon]

DMT is good for reprofiling, but for finishing i'd hit it with surgical black arkansas, then for that ultra-ultra-fine touch, pass it over some translucent arkansas - that stuff's just awesome. you have no idea what you're missing till you've tried finishing off an edge with it. here's a couple links for arkansas stone:

http://www.danswhetstone.com/current_specials.htm

http://www.hallsproedge.com/sharpening.htm

 

[db]

If you like your edges thin the coarsest hone is a must.

 

[Don Luis]

Use will tell you where there are gaps to be filled, much depends on what you want and how you do it.

When I was a kid I used a single stone/grit, some fairly coarse, rough, small and cheap stones that I could find at the sunday market, we called them "navaja" stones, they did a fair job on the small pen knives we used at school to sharpen pencils but wore down very fast, almost like soap stone.

Later I started using an aluminum oxide hone that my father had (I still have it after over 40 years), that one served me well until a got a Washita/Hard Arkansas set from the U.S., I still use those quite a bit, later on I discovered Crock stiks, then one day I found an extra fine ceramic, my edges were getting sharper and smoother.

When I started surfing the internet I found out about diamond hones (I already had a small EZE-LAP, that was my "easy to carry for touch-ups" thing), and I got a ouple of DMT´s (medium and fine, or blue and red, whatever that is).

Then I discovered bladeforums, I have since gotten a much coarser stone and sandpaper from 600 to 1500 grits (I already had coarser), I have reprofiled some knives to much thinner edges, I feel I need an ultra fine ceramic and/or a translucent Arkansas, I have gotten some knives to pick off hair tips when drawn across the arm above the skin.

It´s getting too far, My name is Luis and I am a sharpoholic...

Sorry about the long post.