Help sharpening with a whetstone?

K

KnifeWizard

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Aug 16, 2017
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Hello everyone, I'm new here on blade forums and to be honest I'm not entirely sure I'm asking this in the right category. Sorry if I'm not, but I need help. Ok, so I'm new to knife sharpening and need some advice. I want to start sharpening with a whetstone, but don't know where to get started. I am going to purchase a benchmade 940 with cpm s30v steel and would like to know how to sharpen it using a whetstone. I obviously don't want to ruin a $200 knife, so I have a Kershaw Volt 2 and a Buck 113 skinner knife to practice on. So with that info out, how should I go about this? What sharpening stones do you guys recommend? I have a budget of about $100-150. Any tips? Any information is appreciated, thanks!
 
An edge ruined on a whetstone can always be fixed on a whetstone. If your blade happens to be coated and you pass at too low of an angle, well that is another matter :) . All I can say with regards to a recommendation is that I strongly prefer to use water over oil as a whetstone lubricant as cleaning up after water is far tidier than cleaning up after oil. YMMV.
 
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For S30V, a simple diamond hone in a Coarse/Fine grit range (or 2-sided combo) will do the best. The 'whetstone' won't work as well on such a steel, if it's just a natural (like Arkansas) or even a simple aluminum oxide stone, which won't handle the vanadium carbides very well in that steel. A diamond hone makes it essentially worry-free and easy, used with light pressure, and perhaps some water or mineral oil for lubrication. Won't need to spend anything near the $100+ budget mentioned, either. A large, 8"-10" bench-sized double-sided diamond hone can approach that range in better brands like DMT, but you don't necessarily need that large a hone to simply maintain such a knife's edge. For simple maintenance, a pocket-sized double-sided version (like a DMT Dia-Fold or similar sharpeners from EZE-Lap) can be had in the $30-$50 range, or even a 6" bench hone from the same brands.


David
 
I'm a fan of WorkSharp's Guided Sharpening System + Upgrade Kit... gives you a variety of diamond stone abrasive levels (XC,C,F,XF), leather, ceramic, etc.... guides to get you started... freehand as you learn and get better (plus a decent base to work from). Everything you need in a setup under $100 for both the sharpener and upgrade package.
 
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For a good basic set,

Naniwa Professional 400: new name for the old Chosera line. my go to coarse stone

Bester 1200 { Imanshi }

Suehiro Rika 5K for general home kitchen use no need to go finer.

If your not careful, you can end like this
Mt3mUqeufCizSo-tqccAAfMTm-kQnTyDTO4ek_xs69tai2rQjPwehlToQAhjyxOAawIz8kOlQXZWtzxLBg=w413-h275
 
Thanks for all the answers, I just have one more question. Do you guys have any tips for using a sharpening stone? Is there a trick to holding the knife at the same angle, etc.?
 
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Dmt diafolds are the easiest, and most affordable for me. The extra fine and extra extra fine, would be all you need if you don't let your blade get dull. The trick with any stone is to not apply pressure, letting the stone and gravity do the work. Also only use water, soaking according to instructions. The combination stone I like best is the King K-80, don't know if it's still available. My total cost was $30 for the 2 dmt's, $18 for the stone. By the time you've practiced a few hours with your budget knives; dulling the edge at 90 degrees, then resharpening at your desired angle, repeat, you shouldn't have any worries about ruining your high end knife. Good luck and have fun!
 
Firstly welcome to BF!

As far as holding the knife at a consistant angle ... it takes some practice ... if you have a couple cheaper beaters to practice it helps.

Also the marking your edge with a sharpie and then as you sharpen you can see where you are making contact with the stone by where the marker is worn off.

Also they do have guides you can buy that strap to your stones with a simple rubberband in various angles which can give you a good starting point ... they aren't very expensive and available from several places that sell sharpening equipment.

I don't know if where I saw them is a supporting member of BF here but if you pm me I will send you the link for you to look at them.
 
I have to disagree a bit with some of what's been said. First a good Aluminum Oxide stone, like a Norton India, should eat through S30V perfectly fine. Ankerson has demonstrated again and again that his India stones will sharpen just about any blade steel without issue. The carbide issue seems to be rather microscopic to me and doesn't affect basic sharpness. Meaning that you can get a high carbide blade screaming sharp using an India stone.

Making a highly polished edge on high carbide steels will probably require something more "advanced" than an India stone.

Second, I am of the opinion that the larger the stone, the better. Small stones are limiting if you sharpen, as I do, with the stone fixed in place on a table or otherwise. You want a stone at least as long as the longest blade you will sharpen. This is why 8" stones are so popular.

Other people, including our own "Obsessed with Edges" like to sharpen "on the go" and prefer to hold the stone in one hand and the blade in the other. It's certainly an entirely valid way to sharpen and these guys can produce good edges with this technique. I don't like that technique and prefer to do bench style sharpening. David and the others here probably think I'm crazy. I have my preference and they have theirs.

I'm mentioning this because knowing this might influence the size and/or types of stones you purchase.

I think DMT's plates are fantastic; I own a set of the 8" diasharps myself. I also own a really decent set of waterstones. I haven't touched them in more than a year. That said, I have WAY too much sharpening gear. ...and I want more. :) I've been eyeing those Baryonyx stones recently.

Brian.
 
At the coarser grits of the alumox stones, such as the India, they'll do OK on S30V. You'll see many brag about those results at around ~320 grit and coarser, and some of the same will then admit to doing the refining on such steels by stropping with diamond/cbn abrasives; that's telling, if one is paying attention. At finer grits, alumox stones don't do as well as something with a harder, cleaner-cutting abrasive, as the hardness and size of the vanadium carbides will start to be an impediment at finer grits. Diamond will be, by far, the best at that, being much quicker with a lighter touch and minimal burring issues to clean up (or none at all, with a good touch), as will happen with alumox stones on the same steel. When trying to learn sharpening in the first place, it'll be more a handicap with a lesser stone on a more wear resistant steel like S30V.

Alumox stones can be very useful on mainstream, middle-of-the-road knife steels not too high in very wear-resistant carbides, and I like them for those uses. But the improvement in ease of sharpening on S30V with a diamond hone, as compared to other stones, is no-brainer night & day obvious. The difference comes in the form of much quicker-to-the-finish results, with a cleaner, sharper edge and little or no stropping necessary when the blade comes off the hone. The differences in working speed of the abrasive are all the more obvious if working only on small stones 6" or less in size.

I do finishing strokes with stone in one hand, blade in the other; that's where my best touch lives. It's how I initially trained my hands for sharpening from beginning to end; I put the most effort into learning it that way, and it produces the best results for me. Part of that is in discovering that my best-finessed touch came in my non-dominant hand, which I would've never discovered, had I not approached it in that manner. It's the best thing I could've ever done for my own learning path, and I've never regretted it. That being said, at heavier grinding stages nowadays, I've been using stone-on-bench, for the most part, and the means by which I learned to sharpen has benefitted that approach as well.


David
 
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My best edge angles occur with both hands holding the blade and the stone held firmly on a table. This does several things; it allows more
hand control on the blade and focus & concentration on the angle. Not worrying with the stone. Wedges can be procured from Sharpening Supply, to assist a new freehand sharpener with the angle. Rest the blade on it and just push. Stones are a deep rabbit hole and everyone
has their favorites. Plus, this will change over time. But for a new comer a Norton SiC combination grit coarse/ fine in 2X8" size is a good economical place to start. Put some of the slurry on a smooth pine OR hardwood board and you have a good strop for finishing. Good luck, DM
 
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