Which stones should I buy next?

K

knifeandgun

Joined
Aug 10, 2013
Messages
1,041
Currently I have been putting on pretty good edges on my knives, but I feel like my lower grits aren't very strong atm
My currently progression starts with a coarse dmt-fine dmt and than I usually skip straight to a Shun 1,200 and 6,000 combo whetstone than stropping on my stropman
The whetstone is quite good and I love it. But my dmts feel abit lacking ( they are the dotted ones)
I have been doing a lot of research recently and here's what I have been considering

Getting a DMT Extra extra coarse and some type of combo whetstone to make up the gap up to the 1,200

Or getting a shapton/atoma in the lower grits and a combo whetstone in the gap

I'm still unsure on brands but I do know a lot of ppl praise the dmt extra extra coarse

Any suggestions would help
I'm not looking to spend a lot of money atm but more so looking for something to complete the circle until I can save up for more. I'm looking to put mirrored edges on and atm it's been hard because I still have micro scratches from the lower grits.
Thanks guys!
 
A mirror finish is going to require a much tighter stone progression, which will require more stones and a bigger budget to afford them.

In the meantime concentrate on getting the best tools for the money.


On the low end you have the Atoma 140 and DMT XXC, the Atoma is the better diamond plate but they both work very well. Main differences come when lapping, the structured surface of the Atoma prevents the sticking you are more likely to find with the DMT. From there I would replace your medium grit stone with a Shapton Pro 1000. The SP1k will remove the scratches from the Atoma 140 in most cases but a trip to the Coase DMT will sometimes be needed. If looking for an actual stone in this range the SP320 works very well.

To get that mirror edge you are looking for you would likely need to add a 2k, 5k, and 8k stone at a minimum. Probably some strops and compound too.
 
Jason B. said:
A mirror finish is going to require a much tighter stone progression, which will require more stones and a bigger budget to afford them.

In the meantime concentrate on getting the best tools for the money.


On the low end you have the Atoma 140 and DMT XXC, the Atoma is the better diamond plate but they both work very well. Main differences come when lapping, the structured surface of the Atoma prevents the sticking you are more likely to find with the DMT. From there I would replace your medium grit stone with a Shapton Pro 1000. The SP1k will remove the scratches from the Atoma 140 in most cases but a trip to the Coase DMT will sometimes be needed. If looking for an actual stone in this range the SP320 works very well.

To get that mirror edge you are looking for you would likely need to add a 2k, 5k, and 8k stone at a minimum. Probably some strops and compound too.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice Jason!
Since I have a 1,200 and 6,000 stone shouldn't I do the atoma 140 and than a stone around 600?
Or just straight up to 1,000 from the atoma? ( sorry if I'm getting what you said confused..I'm insanely tired ha)
Until I can buy more stones to tighten the group
 
The Shun stone is low quality so that's why I recommended replacing the 1k with a Shapton. Adding the Atoma would give you a lapping plate and because you have a Coarse DMT I didn't think you needed a stone between, if you want an actual stone in this range then look to the Shapton Pro 320.

This would give you good quality stones to the 1k level and from there you could continue to use the Shun 6k for refining the edges.

An important question though, what type of knives are you sharpening?
 
Ahhhh gotcha haha
Ok I'll look into them!
I'll be sharpening mainly folders ( Benchmade, spydie ect..)
 
In that case you would want to look into the Shapton Glass stones, they are formulated for harder and more wear resistant steels. The 500 and 2000 might be a better fit for you, the 2000 is a better finishing point for many knives and is probably a finer edge than you would expect. The Glass stones being a very hard ceramic have a little bit more polishing effect so even at 500 grit you're likely to see more shine to the bevel than with most 1000 grit stones. Same goes for the 2000, some would even consider this a mirror edge on harder steels, but unlike a polished edge it still has some tooth to the edge for good cutting performance.

The 500 by itself can produce some very sharp edges but if you can swing it I would recommend going for the double thick 500. It's worth it in the long run.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top