Will a cheap whetstone kit work for me

R

RigPie2005

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Feb 20, 2021
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I have set of wustoff classics in my kitchen that desperately need sharpening, plus a few pocket knives (benchmade, crkt, and kershaw). Will this set work for me? I've always used a cheap diamond stone and then honed on the ceramic rod from an HPS lamp. But after spending the money on a benchmade, plus my good kitchen knives being in need I'm thinking of buying something more suited to the task but don't want to break the bank. Would this do what I need?

https://www.amazon.com/Sharpening-A...FhUl4VwMzbE4fw/w==&smid=AQE5JIUAGARXP&sr=8-13
 
That is dependent on the steels that you are working off of. Do you know what steel your pocket knives and those kitchen knives are in?
 
Wustoff knives use 1.4116 so they would be fine. Like c7m2p3 said, it depends on the steels in your other knives. Any high volume carbide steels will struggle on those sort of whetstones.
 
I would never condone buying cheap no name stones off of Amazon. Looking at the kit you link I would imagine the majority of the money you spend is going on the strop.

I can bet that the stones will either load or dish and the grits will not be representative.
IMO you are better off buying a decent make at the outset. The cheapest decent make is likely to be the king series.

I make this assertion from experience rather than hearsay.
 
I know the benchmade is S30V. The kitchen knives just say high carbon steel. The CRKT is 8Cr14MoV and I’m not sure about the others. What would y’all recommend?
 
RigPie2005 said:
I know the benchmade is S30V. The kitchen knives just say high carbon steel. The CRKT is 8Cr14MoV and I’m not sure about the others. What would y’all recommend?
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Diamond plate would probably be the most cost effective: DMT, Eze Lap, Atoma are all decent.

You could probably get away with something like a King Neo 800 grit water stone if you just want one fairly cheap, multi-purpose stone. I would still incorparate a strop as well for finishing and you may want something coarser as well if you let your knives get too dull or have edge damage.
 
I bought a set of DMT diamond stones (course, fine, extra fine) and a strop. I may get something nicer in the future, but hopefully that will get the job done for a while. Thanks for the info.
 
I see you bought some abrasives already but I might as well post this since I already wrote it. I think you made a good choice with the DMTs. I usually briefly strop on denim, copy paper, cardboard, or some other medium but of course leather is fine, too.

Some good advice on the posts here.

I suggest you first decide what kind of edges you want: coarse, smooth, or somewhere in between. Otherwise you may spend money on higher grit stones you don't need.

You may need a coarser grit than 400 at some point, unless you want to spend a lot more time grinding metal than you need to.

Waterstones are too messy for me and require too much maintenance, although that is just my personal preference.

You didn't mention the need to strop razors. If not, why spend the money on a razor strop? Have you priced how much some of these cost alone?

Even though I prefer DMT DiaSharp plates, if I were starting out with a limited budget I'd shop around for a good price on a DMT 8" DuoSharp (or diamond plate of equivalent quality) in whatever grit sizes you decide on, then add onto this as money allows.
 
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RigPie2005 said:
I bought a set of DMT diamond stones (course, fine, extra fine) and a strop. I may get something nicer in the future, but hopefully that will get the job done for a while. Thanks for the info.
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Nice, they will set you up well. Remember light pressure and in particular the EF will take a while to properly break in.

Make sure you spend enough time on the C at the outset
 
DMT Diamond stones will last decades if treated right I think you made a pretty good choice.
 
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