Good sharpening stones for beginner?

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rc3mil

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Hi all. Im looking to learn to freehand sharpen but the only thing i know about it, is watching my Dad doing it when i was a kid and he used a stone with oil on it. He got his knives pretty sharp though. So my question is, what is a good brand and type, grit, etc, water or oil or dry:confused: type of stone to learn on?

I would like to get my knives pretty dang sharp too like shaving since this will be my primary sharpening device
 
I find I prefer the Razor Edge Dry Hones best. The two stones I have from RE are 6" long each. They make an 8" also but I find the 6 to be more than adequate for all my folder needs. They come in different grits and cover all the needs of any knife nut in my opinion. These stones cut well without mess and are not expensive at all so overall I'd say give them a shot. Japanese water stones work well and wear away much faster but I like those also.

http://www.razoredgesystems.com/index.php/Hones.html

STR
 
I would say start out with a nice quality Tri-Hone system, they give you 3 stones, coarse, Med and fine.

I used one when I was in the Military to sharpen a ton of knives for people, they work well.
 
if you have like 20 bux. Get a diamond hone. Diamond is better than stone because it is always flat and lasts forever. There is a lot of good info in the maintenance forums and a lot of really knowledge able people to help you.

Remember, you don't need to spend a lot of money to get a sharp edge.

God Bless
 
kidwholaughs said:
Remember, you don't need to spend a lot of money to get a sharp edge.

God Bless
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My first sharpening stone was a piece of sandstone that is found locally and you can just pick up off the ground if you know where to look. The only problem is it tends to wear out very quickly. It was great practice though and tought me to appreciate a good quality shapening stone.
 
a soft arkansas stone I'ts what started with they don't seem to mess up your edge when you mess up like some others will
 
i would advise you to look at the dmt diamonds. get a stone at least 8 in. long since its much easier to sharpen longer blades. if you can afford it the double grit stones such as red & green will put you light yrs. ahead in time saved. when honing with diamonds light pressure is best.
 
I just bought a duel sided sharpening stone at Ace Hardware for like 5 bucks. It has a coarse side for grinding a new edge and a fine side for finely shaping the edge. I treat it with baby oil for a couple of sharpenings, and then I just use water. The stone holds the oil well, and floats the metal shavings away from the stone. This gives me a razor edge on all of my knives. I also have a ceramic rod for the extra fine polishing of the edge. The ceramic rod is also like 5 or 6 bucks. The most important part is getting the angles down. No matter what kind of stone you have, if your angle is off you won't get that good edge.

To get the angle of the knife, place it flat on the stone. The lift the blade until the "shadow" or edge touches the stone. That is your angle on that blade. If you want it sharper. Just don't lift it as much. Lower the angle. I hope this helps.
 
I used this one for years. Good to practice, but a little small.

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I have a bigger Norton stone, but the fine side is not as fine as on this one. Ok, it's a bad Norton stone :P
 
I'd generally recommend one decent combination waterstone to start.

I used to use one of these for all of my sharpening:
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=33010&cat=1,43072,43071&ap=1

Just a basic 220/1000 grit combination waterstone which isn't the cheapest option out there, but will definitely get the job done and will serve you for a long time. Personally, I'd avoid cheap diamond stones - I've heard that high-end stones like DMT's selection are just fantastic, but I've found that cheap store-brand or bargain-bin diamond stones are a great way to mess up your knife.

As for Norton stones, I have nothing but good things to say about them. For the price, they work really well.
 
Diamond stones are easily portable, and (assuming you don't use too much pressure) they do indeed last forever, and are especially valuable for their capabiliities to remove much material and work while dry, but I've never been able to produce a functional edge using diamond stones alone.

I would compliment any diamond stones with a fine-grained ceramic, or a fine-grained tungsten-carbide.

If diamond stones can do the job by themselves, I've yet to discover it.

(BEAR IN MIND THAT TOO MUCH PRESSURE IN YOUR SHARPENING MOTION CAN DISLODGE THE DIAMOND GRIT AND MAKE THE HONE USELESS)
 
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Go cheap with wet and dry sandpaper. 220, 400, 600, 800, 1000 grit paper is dirt cheap. Put it on a block of wood for flat grind, or leather for a convex edge.

Either way it works great and gives you a nice finished edge.

for taking out on the road the fallkniven diamond ceramic stone is great to touch up
 
Jason B. said:
+1 for diamonds, They do things a cheap stone could only hope to do.
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I just read all of you signature link posts. Your blades look awesome. Could you recommend a solution for someone who just wants a very sharp knife for all around use? My crkt ripple 2 with acuto+ steel came from the factory shaving hair and cut through everything I threw at it for a very very long time. Now it no longer shaves hair and although probably as sharp as most general knives, it isn't really as effortless anymore to cut things like packages, Etc.

I don't have a lot of money, but I want to keep my knife at least as sharp as the way it came. I don't mind learning technique, but i prefer the simplest method possible. For instance a stone or two that doesn't require oils or water. Is this possible?

I'd essentially like to get to the point where further sharpening (while still useful) has hit a point of diminishing returns. While I might one day want mirror finishes in my blades, my main concern at this time is utility.

I get the impression that I might be good with a "coarse" stone to shape my blade gently and then a "fine" stone to further refine the edge? Followed by a finer stone or perhaps a leather strop to tidy up the remaining burr? But I can't get a sense if this theory is really true and if so, what grit or number stones to get for this purpose. I could then use the finer stone or strop to "maintain" my edge regularly...

Any help and stone recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
 
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Pop down to your local hardware shop, head into the aisle for sharpening stones, grab a double sided coarse/fine one.

Really there's not much magical in the stone. If you have the right technique you can get a good working edge on the side of a brick. I used to worry a bit, but really sharpening just involves setting your angle, locking your wrist, and rubbing on the stone till you get a burr on the other side of the edge, flipping over and doing the same. You can clean the edge by dragging it through a cork, or a couple of strokes on a leather belt, or just don't worry about it, any remaining burr will come off when you cut with it for the first time. I use stones with water or dry myself, it's less messy than oil.
 
I like ceramic stones, Spyderco's Profiles and benchstones are the ones I use the most. I find diamond stones to ge far to coarse, even the finer ones, and I only keep a couple around for when I need to remove a lotmof metal. Otherwise, I do most of my (non convex) sharpening with three ceramic stones (medium, fine, ultra fine) and a loaded strop.
 
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