Your favorite stone

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Spartan00

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Feb 4, 2016
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Curious as to what the free hand guys or gals here consider their favorite stone ? Not really talking about a brand or a progression I'm talking one stone . I know I have one it's the dMt coarse .

Coarse enough to take out minor damage ,but gives probably my favorite edge . I will say as my dmt XC gets older and more worn it behaves like the coarse did when new well all the dmts I have perform like a higher grit now but they are old .

Just curious as to what you guys consider to be your favorite stone? The one you use the most and regardless of steel or knife you know it is going to produce an amazing edge .

My runners up in no order are the Spyderco medium stone, and UF . Favorite waterstone is the shapton 320
 
I have course and fine diamond stones and medium, hard, and black Arkansas stones. My favorite stone to use is the black Arkansas stone. It's a real pleasure to use.
 
Lapped Norton Economy stone. The loading smooths out the fine side. I can even get hair whittling edges right of the fine side if I do it right.
 
Chosera 400. It gives good feedback, cuts pretty quickly, and leaves a good utility edge. I use the one mounted for the Edge Pro.
 
What a hard question. So many stones . . . don't make me choose . . . NOOOOOooooooooo

If I had to choose one that thrilled me and was very useful, on the high alloy steels now, I would have to say . . .
one of two :
The Norton 4000 white (one of the old American made ones thank you very much). The little white stone in this photo. Often for a pocket knife, when free handing I just use these little "cut offs" from the main big stone. See it cutting that ZDP-189 at 65 hardness (the black stuff on the stone) . . . no problem.


or
The Shapton 120 white (I haven't cut off the end to make a small stone; probably won't on that one).


They geeeeter done.

But I never stop there on either one it is just that they cut the steel so well.

Then there is my big(ish) translucent Arkansas stone. I don't use it much but I love owning it and looking at it. It's the go to for sharpening 1095. The company is "Best" brand.





And I must say I am in love with my Shapton 16,000 cause it makes such glassy mirrored edges.
the creme colored stone on the right.


What's my favorite stone ? ! ? !
I can't answer a question like that . . . I just can't.
 
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My go-to stone is an 800 grit ceramic I got from Lee Valley, I've used it enough to need to lap it a couple times, just to bring back the bite. Does a pretty good job on most stuff.
 
I don't know if I can ID a favorite stone, mostly because I have too many...

It used to be hands down my 1200 grit King - I can lean on it and it will recondition like an 800 grit with light pressure, let it build up a little mud and with careful finishing it can get close to the edge I get off the king 4k.

I've always liked the Norton 4k.

The Juuma 800 is a fantastic all around stone.

Ultimately the combination Norton Crystalon is the favorite - the last one I'd part with and the first I'd grab if told I had to choose one. I have the 2x8 and a puck, and would like to pick up one of the biggies.
 
I don't think I have a single favorite stone. But, I do have certain stones that really fill a sweet spot for specific blades and steels. Overall, in terms of universal effectiveness on any steel and speed and ease of use, a diamond hone can't be beat. I've used them on any and all steels; with a very, very light touch, they've always left the best bite on my edges, in the least amount of time and with the least physical effort expended. They're also by far the simplest to clean up after the work is done, and most convenient for pocket carry. Not to mention, a pocket-sized diamond hone can often do the same work in the same or less time, than a bench-sized hone in another lesser abrasive might do.

When I'm in the mood to take a little more time and get the hands a little messy, I've also liked using SiC stones and a specific little pink & white medium Arkansas stone. The Arkie has proven to be a perfect fit for my Case CV blades' edges, and a pleasure to use with a little bit of Norton honing oil. The SiC stones, such as Norton's Economy stone and equivalents from ACE and Sears, all have been steady & reliable performers. Sometimes I use them with oil (especially when doing heavier grinding), and sometimes not. I've even found a certain, narrow sweet spot for a couple of inexpensive hardware store aluminum oxide stones, both ACE-branded, which have at times worked well with certain knives in steels from CV & 420HC up to VG-10. Those stones seem to do better with oil to prevent loading up, and they're more temperamental to maintaining just the right touch & use of pressure (too heavy tends to create burring issues). But they have still surprised me, in the sense that they've worked a bit better than I expected from such stones, and there's also a very satisfying feel & sound to them when they're oiled up and the right 'rhythm' of sharpening is working. I take a lot of enjoyment and pride in figuring out what works with each type of stone, in terms of pressure used, and how or if they're lubricated or not, and which steels seem to respond to them. There's an awful lot to be learned about sharpening in general, in taking time to figure these things out; and I usually find most of them are decent tools for sharpening, even excellent at times. It forces me to keep an open mind about things that might otherwise be written off too soon, and that's always a good thing; it means I'm always learning something new, and it never gets boring or mundane as a result.


David
 
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[/url]Untitled by Carl Levitan, on Flickr[/IMG]
My old boy scout stone. It's a plain old 1950's era "carborundum" stone that everyone used back then. Today it would be a plain Norton economy stone. Gets a very good edge fast and with a stropping after it will shave hair. Almost all I use anymore if a nice coffee mug or soup bowl isn't around.
 
jackknife said:
14211539277_6e5e6c318e_c.jpg
[/url]Untitled by Carl Levitan, on Flickr[/IMG]
My old boy scout stone. It's a plain old 1950's era "carborundum" stone that everyone used back then. Today it would be a plain Norton economy stone. Gets a very good edge fast and with a stropping after it will shave hair. Almost all I use anymore if a nice coffee mug or soup bowl isn't around.
Click to expand...

That's pretty cool . My grand dad has an old "whetrock" as he calls it . It was his dad's and probably his dad's before him . Thing is literally a dished out rock . However that being said and as crude as it is . When grand daddy takes a knife to that stone I struggle to match his edges with modern equipment.
 
At first, I thought what a silly question. how can or why should anyone have a favorite stone.

As I mentally went through my stone inventory and considered a particular stone, then I understood how it can be my favorite stone, not because of what it is but what it means when I'm using it.

My most favorite stone is my Shapton GlassStone HR 16000 grit. It's my smoothest grit stone at 0.92 microns apart from my strops. It's my favorite because when I'm using it, it means I have successfully gone through the previous sharpening stages and am near the end. The knife I'm honing on it must be special enough to me to take it through that stage when I'm normally fine with stopping at my extra extra fine dmt stone with its 3 micron grit since I just maintain with the spyderco UL stone. In between the Shapton 16000 grit and the extra extra fine dmt is my Shapton 8000 grit and that's just simply a means to an end.

So thank you for asking the question and getting me to think about it.
 
Not my best or even most used, but for some reason I have a fondness for the Norton IB8 India stone. Maybe because most of my knives are pretty basic steels and that one does a good job of quickly getting a bevel set at the angle I want, so I can then progress to finishing stones.

Most times I don't have a lot of time to spend on sharpening so something that doesn't take too many passes to get the edge apexed is a blessing.
 
I pulled out the old UF spyderco ceramic earlier . Man oh man I thought I had favorites . Dmt 325 is still my favorite all around stone but as far as finishers go my UF is better than anything I've ever used .

Those who say you can't lap a UF or it doesn't do anything ,that may he true 99 times out of 100 but I did it .

Stock side leaves a nice polish but the other side takes it to the next level..
 
My favorite stone is the spyderco double stuff. Nice to maintain my edges and the finish is great for my use. Easy to take with you anywhere.
 
An old hard arkie. Not because it's the best but because I used it for years to get razor sharp edges on knives before I learned about progressions. Now I have hundreds of dollars worth of stones but the edges don't get any sharper :) they just get there much quicker.
 
My favorite stone is Nubatama. I take no discounts or deals on stones or equipment from any vendor. I imagine that isn't true of all who post their views. So anything I may say, comment on, or recommend is the truth as I see it.
 
Spartan, you sound exactly like me. At home, my favorite stones. One of them is this cheap coarse diamond stone that has gotten very smooth on one side, and medium smooth on the other. I usually use the fine side, then go to my spyderco medium stone, then UF spyderco.
I bought a ultra fine DMT diamond plate the other day, but it needs to be broken in. My $10 diamond stone that has been very broken in that I was describing above is probably my favorite, seems to put a great edge on every steel I have.

I love my black and traslucent arkansas stones, usually on the go. Those are close favorites too.
 
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