What is the most minimal, low-cost sharpening setup that still lets you get a good edge?

probably just make a sticky mess. with some of my stones like this, I put them in loaf pan, covered with mineral oil and left overnite. no more issue, i guess they drank enough

I actually wondered about this idea of immersing the stone in oil for a while to preload it. Do you only have to do that once?
 
it looks that way, stones were soaked 5 years ago and don't drink oil. if you are going to go with oil stones, buy 6 or 8 cheap hand towels, you can find them on eBay for less than $10 a dozen. i try to keep one under the stone or stone holder to pick up any loose oil.
 
David,

Just an idea, not having the Norton. Would putting on vaseline on the surface before the oil help reducing the 'drinking'?

It might. I'm pretty sure some here have tried that. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've seen it mentioned, of heating the vaseline somewhat, and then letting it soak into the stone. I don't remember what the consensus was afterward; whether it's really worthwhile or not. I've considered it, but probably won't do it myself. I've noticed the untreated (dry) stones, used only with mineral oil, are very easy to clean up, when it's needed, with dish soap & hot water, as the detergent & water will flush fully through the stone, and it can still dry out thoroughly afterward. I'd think a vaseline-soaked stone would be a bigger mess, in trying to clean it in a similar manner. So, I've decided I can live & work very easily and comfortably with a 'thirsty' stone. :)


David
 
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probably just make a sticky mess. with some of my stones like this, I put them in loaf pan, covered with mineral oil and left overnite. no more issue, i guess they drank enough

I may still try that with one or two of mine. I bought a suitably-sized, air-tight covered pan a while back, in anticipation of filling it with mineral oil and storing my stones in there. Haven't done it yet, but I probably will at some point, at least with a couple of them.

I do have a very small, 3" pocket SiC stone from ACE, that has been living for 2-3 years in a salsa jar, immersed in pharmacy-grade mineral oil. Haven't used that stone heavily, since it's just a pocket stone. The oil that's already in it, when I do pull it from the jar, is obviously enough for any touch-up jobs I do with the stone. I wipe the dirty oil from it, when I'm done, and just drop it back in it's jar.


David
 
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Well if you are talking MINIMAL then use a ceramic coffee mug. Flip it upside down and the non-glazed portion like "O" that is ceramic and it will give you a good edge. Mind you the time to sharpen will depend on the steel and whether its a touch up or other.

Probably wont cost you anything considering you did not but it for that reason.
 
Currently, I like 1K ws and 12-15um diamond edge with and w/o finer grit micro. Just ordered a cheap small 1K 5.9x2.5" diamond plate for in-hand sharpening. dmt8e & dmt6e are too heavy, and interrupt dmte diafold isn't friendly to tip and tight radius belly. If this 1K works well, I probably would grab: Big Horn 19394 Double Sided Diamond Stone 400/1000 Grit - 8x2.75" combo plate. With a diafold e/ee be a good travel sharpening kit. I think - if it proven as durable as dmt or better, this almost continuous diamond surface 400/1000 could be a good single stone for sharpen all mid-to-high end steels. Low-mid end steels, a decent ~$35 8x2.5" ~600/1.5K waterstone would be a competent minimalist sharpening gear.

Is this the 400/1000 combination diamond stone from CKTG for $US 35 that you are talking about? I always wanted to try that one out given the price but I have not gotten around it yet.
O.k. got it, it's not the one I mentioned but looks very similar in size and grit. The CRKT has good review on their website but mostly for lapping Waterstones. I agree with the weight of the DMT stones. I ordered the dualsided bonded diamond stones from Hapstone in 6x1 size for the table but also in hand sharpening. They come in a set of 3 stones, so 6 grits. Will see how they perform. If they are light enough, this could be a perfect handheld/traveling stone for the harder steels together with the Baryonyx Arctic Fox two sided field stone for all other steels.
 
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Correct, 400/1000 listed on amazon, not cktg. It has 6 sided raised grain vs cktg 4 (diamond shape).

My ~ 2.5x6"1000 plate is very thin(~1.5mm thick) and light. After lapped a 2K waterstone and set 3 blades (s90v, 10v, zwear) initial bevel - it retained coarseness equiv to dmt 400 (between C & F). Under 22x, my broken-in 400/600 is quiv to dmt XC/C. No bare spots on them.

Instead of 400/1000 3x8", I found newly listed: 400 3x7" for $6 and 1000 2.5x8" $10. Maybe 2000 grit 2.5x8" show up soon. These grit particle is about twice as large as DMT mesh. My dmt8 X & XX are so worn out (rusting away some where) - looking forward to testing this $6 400.

Is this the 400/1000 combination diamond stone from CKTG for $US 35 that you are talking about? I always wanted to try that one out given the price but I have not gotten around it yet.
O.k. got it, it's not the one I mentioned but looks very similar in size and grit. The CRKT has good review on their website but mostly for lapping Waterstones. I agree with the weight of the DMT stones. I ordered the dualsided bonded diamond stones from Hapstone in 6x1 size for the table but also in hand sharpening. They come in a set of 3 stones, so 6 grits. Will see how they perform. If they are light enough, this could be a perfect handheld/traveling stone for the harder steels together with the Baryonyx Arctic Fox two sided field stone for all other steels.
 
Two sided stone and a leather belt...just like Grandpa. Our past generations (G.I. Generation, Silent Generation, Baby Boomers) put in effort and time to achieve outstanding results. Our current generations (Gen X, Gen Y, Millennials) figured out faster and easier ways to do things "better" with devices and machines. I think our innovations have left the "soul" out of work.
 
(Link to non-BF dealer removed.)

I have the Foss branded version of this ^. Its holding up great.
 
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Once been messing around with my Norton Economy stone and a DMT Aligner clamp. $25 for all of you buy the clamp by itself.
 
Well if you are talking MINIMAL then use a ceramic coffee mug. Flip it upside down and the non-glazed portion like "O" that is ceramic and it will give you a good edge. Mind you the time to sharpen will depend on the steel and whether its a touch up or other.

Probably wont cost you anything considering you did not but it for that reason.

Yep good, I've used this approach before in a pinch but never tried to get really serious using it as a standalone/complete sharpening tool. But you are right: it is minimal.

Can you walk me through what approaches you use, what sharpening motions given the rounded and small sharpening surface? Do you use a push or pull sharpening motion? Do you go clear across so that each pass is hitting both sides of the ceramic circle on the bottom of the cup? Etc. Interested to hear how you do this. I like the idea of "improvised sharpening systems" that you can use when nothing else is available. I.e., I'm stuck at uncle Jed's house for thanksgiving, need to sharpen my folder, and forgot to bring my $900 Wicked Edge Pro system. :)
 
Yep good, I've used this approach before in a pinch but never tried to get really serious using it as a standalone/complete sharpening tool. But you are right: it is minimal.

Can you walk me through what approaches you use, what sharpening motions given the rounded and small sharpening surface? Do you use a push or pull sharpening motion? Do you go clear across so that each pass is hitting both sides of the ceramic circle on the bottom of the cup? Etc. Interested to hear how you do this. I like the idea of "improvised sharpening systems" that you can use when nothing else is available. I.e., I'm stuck at uncle Jed's house for thanksgiving, need to sharpen my folder, and forgot to bring my $900 Wicked Edge Pro system. :)

I have used it very little. Pull thru, start from pivot area towards the tip while pulling towards and moving the tip of the blade inward towards u. I would not do this on my folders though since i have a wicked edge and some benchstones. Just occasionally use it with like 10 passes on each side before i cut some veggies. U can see that it works because the coffee mug turns black (removing steel).
 
It's a very fine action only usable for light touchups on basic steels, because there's very little abrasive grit in stoneware and the small contact area loads up quickly. But, in a pinch...
 
Yep good, I've used this approach before in a pinch but never tried to get really serious using it as a standalone/complete sharpening tool. But you are right: it is minimal.

Can you walk me through what approaches you use, what sharpening motions given the rounded and small sharpening surface? Do you use a push or pull sharpening motion? Do you go clear across so that each pass is hitting both sides of the ceramic circle on the bottom of the cup? Etc. Interested to hear how you do this. I like the idea of "improvised sharpening systems" that you can use when nothing else is available. I.e., I'm stuck at uncle Jed's house for thanksgiving, need to sharpen my folder, and forgot to bring my $900 Wicked Edge Pro system. :)

I should've remembered these earlier. This demo by BF member 'jackknife' (a.k.a. Carl, seen) and posted by member 'Downhill Trucker' in a collaborative effort between the two, are pretty good tutorials for coffee mug sharpening, as well as a few other very simple methods:



The vids were originally posted to this older thread:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/new-to-sharpening-need-help.1029230/

{ The original links to the vids, in Downhill Trucker's post (#43) in that thread, are now broken as a result of the recent platform software conversion, so they don't work there. Had to tweak 'em to post it here. }


David
 
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^OK, that is admittedly cool. :thumbsup: You gotta love it: sharpen on a coffee mug, light bulb base, rock, brick. Great to see somebody able to demo improvised sharpening when necessary. Definitely belongs in the minimalist thread.
 
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