For decades, I have almost exclusively used natural Arkansas stones (with honing oil) to sharpen my knives; however, I have also used synthetic Norton stones when re-profiling a bevel or to remove chips. I have found that natural Arkansas stones are a marginal choice for sharpening these new "super steels" such as Elmax, M390, S30V, etc. due to the toughness/hardness of these steels. I am able to get a decent edge with medium & hard Arkansas stones on these super steels, but of it takes me many, many hours to due so and I am not overly happy with the final results & I feel I could do better if I had appropriate stones.
Note: I have watched that Japanese Doctor on boobtube and although his sharpening technique produces good results, I'm not sure I agree with his method of back & forth sharpening at such a low angle - almost essentially flat. My technique (generally) is to take 2 "slices" across the stone away from myself and then 2 slices towards myself at a 15-23 degree angle (depending on the knife) as many times as necessary to obtain the desired results and then finish with a leather strop to remove the wire edge.
I believe I would get better results sharpening super steel blades with a set of professional Japanese water stones and I would like to give them a try and I need to know what to look for. What brands of professional Japanese stones are the best quality and if I were to purchase 2 of them (i.e. a medium and a hard stone), what would be the best grit ranges? I would also like to get a decently sized stone - i.e. 3"x10". I also want a stone that will last a long time and will not wear quickly.
From my limited research, it seems like the Japanese grit ranges vary considerably and I have difficulty equating these grit ranges to the Arkansas Medium and Hard stones with which I am most familiar - the best I have come up with is that an Arkansas medium is equivalent to a Japanese stone in the 3,000-5,000 grit range, and a Arkansas hard stone would be equivalent to a Japanese stone in the 6,000-8,000 grit range. Correct?
What say you?
Note: I have watched that Japanese Doctor on boobtube and although his sharpening technique produces good results, I'm not sure I agree with his method of back & forth sharpening at such a low angle - almost essentially flat. My technique (generally) is to take 2 "slices" across the stone away from myself and then 2 slices towards myself at a 15-23 degree angle (depending on the knife) as many times as necessary to obtain the desired results and then finish with a leather strop to remove the wire edge.
I believe I would get better results sharpening super steel blades with a set of professional Japanese water stones and I would like to give them a try and I need to know what to look for. What brands of professional Japanese stones are the best quality and if I were to purchase 2 of them (i.e. a medium and a hard stone), what would be the best grit ranges? I would also like to get a decently sized stone - i.e. 3"x10". I also want a stone that will last a long time and will not wear quickly.
From my limited research, it seems like the Japanese grit ranges vary considerably and I have difficulty equating these grit ranges to the Arkansas Medium and Hard stones with which I am most familiar - the best I have come up with is that an Arkansas medium is equivalent to a Japanese stone in the 3,000-5,000 grit range, and a Arkansas hard stone would be equivalent to a Japanese stone in the 6,000-8,000 grit range. Correct?
What say you?
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