What do you use to sharpen?

Kasco knife sharpener (1.5"x24" slow speed sander)
DMT XXC
DMT duosharps in 220,320,600, and 1200
1000 grit waterstone
natural blue stone
shapton 5000 & 15000
King gold stone 8000
backed handamerican leather with 10, 6, 3, and 1 micron diamond paste
various other crap
 
i have a large 150x50mm dual diamond plate 60/30µ. and the sm. the diamonds for hard work and the sm for touchup
 
Razor Edge Coarse Hone for wilderness and utility knives. DMT DiaFold (coarse) for touch-ups.

Sharpmaker for kitchen knives.
 
mauiblue said:
For me:

Edge Pro Professional Kit #3
Lansky clamp sharpener
Spydeco Sharpmaker (on order)

Ever since I got my new Bud Nealy knife, I started to think about getting a good sharpener. I ended up with a great sharpener, the Edge Pro. I also heard so much about the Sharpmaker that I got one from eBay. Now I all my blades are sharp, sharp, SHARP.
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I *finally*received the Spydeco Sharpmaker in the mail the other day (it took almost a month via PARCEL POST to Hawaii). I am amazed at how fast and easy it was to get a sharp edge on my small Gerber folder (partial serrated edge). It is a very simple setup but the results are great. Now I can use the Sharpmaker to quick touchups or general sharpening duties. The Edge Pro is more for consistent and accurate edge angles on my custom and collectable blades.
 
yuzuha said:
natural: aoto blue stone and awase polishing stone
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Where did you purchase the blue stone from? I have an 800 and 1200 king waterstones and was thinking of purchasing either a 3000 waterstone, synthetic blue stone, or a natural blue stone. Any recommendations?

Thanks!
 
Either I use a 220 DMT and the Sharpmaker including the UF rods, or I use a combination of three waterstones: Bester 700, Nonparaille Blue 2500, and Naniwa 10000. That is pretty much all I need. For really heavy reprofiling I use a pink 220 waterstone that has a name that I can not remember for the life of it, even though Yuzuha once wrote it down in a post. I tried the Shapton slipstones in 1000 and 5000 and have a King combination stone in 1000/6000 but non of that really gets much use. Depending on my mood and the edge that I want I might finish with Veritas green on a paddle mounted leather strop.
 
registrationsucks said:
Where did you purchase the blue stone from? I have an 800 and 1200 king waterstones and was thinking of purchasing either a 3000 waterstone, synthetic blue stone, or a natural blue stone. Any recommendations?

Thanks!
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The synthetice (non-paraille) blue stone is very, very soft. It's not everybodies cup of tea. I struggled with it in the beginning quite a bit, now I really like it. I have not been able to get decent results with it with a leading edge stroke. The stone develops too much mud and your pushing the edge through abrasive and it is very easy to dig the edge into the stone. With a trailing edge the stone cuts pretty fast and if you let the mud build up, gives a finer finish than you would expect from a 2500 stone. Just keep that in mind.

May I ask, why you are spacing the grids so closely? For woodworking tools where you have to polish large bevels that is sensible but on a knife you can easily transition from a 1200 to a 5000-8000 grit.
 
registrationsucks said:
Where did you purchase the blue stone from? I have an 800 and 1200 king waterstones and was thinking of purchasing either a 3000 waterstone, synthetic blue stone, or a natural blue stone. Any recommendations?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I got mine here http://www.japanwoodworker.com/product.asp?s=JapanWoodworker&pf_id=04.001&dept_id=13119 though epicurian edge also carries them. Judging from other people's descriptions, the natural stone seems to be harder than the artificial one (I have no trouble doing a push-pull stroke on it) though it is soft and makes a lot of black mud so is a bit messy. Very enjoyable to use because of the sound and smooth buttery feeling of sharpening on the mud. It will dish faster than your King's but a quick scrub on a diamond plate keeps it flat. The Shapton 2k also produces a nice finish but makes no slurry and is very hard. I've heard that the 3k Naniwa super ceramic (pink) is also very nice and considerably harder than the green 10k (which is almost like chalk), and I know people who favor the King F1 4k stone. That 220 pink brick that HoB mentioned is an Arato Kimi PA 220 and looks almost identical to one that Suisin distributes. I got my natural Awase stone from Shinichi Watanabe when I ordered some knives from him.
 
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