A Four Stone GP Bench Stone Kit

Eli Chaps

Eli Chaps

Joined
Apr 20, 2018
Messages
4,458
Hello Sharpeners,

I thought it might be fun to see what you all would recommend as a general purpose (GP) four stone sharpening kit.

Disclaimer: I don't have enough experience with different steels to feel like I can give my own recommendation. That's part of the reason I'm posting this. :)

Criteria:

1. This is a "do it all" kit. From 1" traditional pocket knife blades to 8" chef's knives. The kit should be suitable, perhaps not ideal, but able to handle a broad range of steels from 8Cr to S110V.

2. Please give your size preferences (LxWxT).

3. Please be specific with manufacturer, grit, model name whatever.

4. Strops are not considered and can be thought of as add-ons.

5. You can include one combo stone that will count as one of the four stones. Only one. If you do include one, please explain why.

Educate us. Have fun. Discuss and debate. :)
 
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I am far from an expert, but no novice either.
Logic alone says for sharpening most any and all knife steels, diamond stones would probably be the choice to go with. Many of the super steels are going to shrug off attempts to sharpen with a soft stone. Your choice of grit. Most would go with coarse, medium, fine, and extra fine. Though some might want to extend one way or the other, perhaps a extra coarse stone if you are trying to rehab something that currently resembles more rebar than scalpel.

Will be interesting to hear more specific recommendations from some of the freehand masters here.
 
Dan of Bazz Clazz said:
I am far from an expert, but no novice either.
Logic alone says for sharpening most any and all knife steels, diamond stones would probably be the choice to go with. Many of the super steels are going to shrug off attempts to sharpen with a soft stone. Your choice of grit. Most would go with coarse, medium, fine, and extra fine. Though some might want to extend one way or the other, perhaps a extra coarse stone if you are trying to rehab something that currently resembles more rebar than scalpel.

Will be interesting to hear more specific recommendations from some of the freehand masters here.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm hoping folks will give specifics.
 
If you are going S110V you will want diamond stones. You can sharpen everything else on those.
Personally I don't like S110V, I don't like diamond stones. I have sharpened quite a few S110V edges to hair whittling using the diamond stones. No prob.

It is just that I prefer other steel alloys and I prefer water stones of various hardnesses depending on the alloy.

That said if you want to reprofile / thin behind the edge you will want the DMT Coarse / Extra Coarse combo stone. May as well get the ten inch for the larger knives.
Looks like this. Ignore the stone with the grooves.
IMG_4747.jpg

From there get finer stones that are similar.
If you want toothy probably a 1000 stone to refine the edge at a steeper angle that comes off the 320 (coarse) stone in this first photo is all you will need.

I prefer going up to 8,000 even with diamond for a polished edge.
For that I tend to put Aligner stones in my Edge Pro Apex. This sucks don't try it. Too small for your kitchen knives in any case.

In fact I would recommend loosing the S110V
Getting an Edge Pro Apex with Shapton Glass stones : 220, 500, 1000 and 4000 and just use that for most everything else (obviously not for the high vanadium alloys like S90V, S30V ect you are back to those nasty diamond stones for that stuff).

Kind of depends if you want to beat yourself up learning hand sharpening or you want seriously sharp knives with out all the squintin' and butt puckering (Edge Pro).
I prefer the latter.
 
When I started this, my initial thought was:

1. DMT 8"x3" DuoSharp XC/C Combo: Good for most any steel. Can handle the edge setting, re-profiling, etc. And it is at decent price point for it's intended purpose. I've never used this stone though so maybe that combo is overkill?

2. DMT 8"x3" DiaSharp Fine: Again, I've never used this one but was thinking that combined with a decent strop, it probably produces a suitable edge for my tastes. Thoughts?

3. 8"x3" Soft Arkansas: Honestly, this stone currently does the bulk of my sharpening. Since I prefer the lower-carbon alloys and I don't let my knives get all that dull, this stone works great. I very much like the edge I get off of it as well. But, I wonder what a good substitute is?

3. 8"x3" Black Arkansas: I know, I know but I love 'em. Mostly the same reasons as the Soft Ark but I do find, provided it is already properly sharpened, that I can hone the "hard" steels on one of these as well. I reckon a Spyderco UF would be a good substitute.

I'd love to hear some thoughts on that setup.
 
I'd say the DMTs, the ultra fine and one of the Arkies would take care of you. I have those, plus more, but those 4 would be enough to get a fine edge.
 
So many different groups of four...

DMT Coarse (or XC), Shapton Glass 500, 2000, 4000

Norton Medium Crystolon, Fine India, Soft Arkansas, Hard Arkansas

DMT X-Coarse, Fine, XX-Fine, Spyderco Ultra-Fine ceramic

Venev Double Sided (Bonded Diamond) Bench Stones: 100/240 - 400/800 (Or 1200 /2000 if starting with the 400/800 and seeking a more polished finish)

The possibilities are endless.
 
I guess I use completely different stones for different steels and prefer not using diamond plates unless needed ... but if you want to sharpen the likes of S110V you'll about need diamonds ... so DMT Polka Dot pattern over continous stones would be my choice in extra coarse ... coarse ... fine ... and extra fine ... and you can either get the DMT bench stones or less expensive but just as good the DMT Diasharp folding stones ...

just my opinion ... I'm not a professional sharpener.
 
...

Norton Medium Crystolon, Fine India, Soft Arkansas, Hard Arkansas

...
Click to expand...

That's more less my current bench stone setup. I'm not sure I'm real happy with the Crystolon though. For some reason i just don't get the kind of edge off of it that I would like. I know it is me so I'm not knocking the stone, I just don't seem to be clicking with this particular one.
 
Eli Chaps said:
That's more less my current bench stone setup. I'm not sure I'm real happy with the Crystolon though. For some reason i just don't get the kind of edge off of it that I would like. I know it is me so I'm not knocking the stone, I just don't seem to be clicking with this particular one.
Click to expand...

In that case, were it me, I'd be tempted to try one of the stones from our friend (and site supporter) FortyTwoBlades at Baryonyx.
 
For nearly everything I do I find myself satisfied with my Manticore, American Mutt, Bull Thistle, and Arctic Fox stones. For some specific tasks I'll need a more polished edge and will go finer, but for ironing out damage or major blunting, the Manticore works great--almost as fast as a file, in fact, except it can cut steels a file will skate off of. For stuff that's still pretty bad but not so bad as to need the Manticore, I use the Mutt, which is still aggressive and fast-cutting, but leaves a more polished edge. The Bull Thistle is what I use for ironing out rolls and for setting a nice slicing edge on stuff since it does a good job of being coarse without being overly aggressive in the metal-removing department which gives a lot of control while setting up a toothy scratch pattern. For anything fine, the Arctic Fox polishes and cuts quickly and gets me to hazy mirror territory. Sometimes I'll finish with a few strokes on a sintered ceramic. I'll be adding other blends in the future, but those really cover the bulk of my needs--I rarely need anything else. :)
 
Silicon carbide and aluminum oxide will cut ZDP-189 just fine since its carbides are basically all chromium carbides. For S90V, the Arctic Fox should still work pretty ok since it's an ANSI 400 grit, even though it leaves a finer finish than its grit rating suggests. It's mostly over 400 where aluminum oxide and silicon carbide struggle, due to the change in scale between the size of the abrasive grains vs. the size and density of vanadium carbides. But if you want to put any fears to rest, finish S90V on fine diamond. High-carbide steels usually do better with toothy edges anyhow, though.
 
Another 4.
Manticore for stock removal; you can use more pressure than you would on a diamond. Arctic Fox next. I use mineral oil on these.
DMT coarse/fine. For the harder steels and more refinement.
Ultra fine ceramic.
 
Both the Manticore and American Mutt stones were designed for use with firm pressure. You can really lean into 'em. :)
 
They're compatible with either. I use water, personally, but it's a matter of preference. Oil is good for if you prefer using lighter pressure.
 
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