Sharpening stones really necessary?

Q

QiQi

Joined
Jun 29, 2014
Messages
7
Hi
i wanted to ask if its really necessary to have rough/fine/extra fine sharpening stones
what if you only use an extra fine sharpening stone?
i mean can you skip the rough/fine and just go straight to the extra fine sharpening stone?
because i want to buy only one sharpening stone (going for the extra fine one)
do you REALLY need the other ones?
thank you in advance
 
No, but if you have an edge that needs some repair then the fine stone takes a lot longer.
 
ah ok
what if you only use the extra fine stone for a knife that only cuts paper and cardboard and such? (not wood or any hard materials)
and howmuch longer will it take?
will it damage the stone if you take a real dull knife and sharpen it with an extra fine stone, skipping all the rest?
 
Cardboard is actually surprisingly rough on blades. I go with a rough, a medium, and an extra fine stone. Usually I don't let my knives get bad enough to require the rough stone but sometimes I roll or chip an edge and break it out.
 
Why not just buy something like a Spyderco Double Stuff? It's medium ceramic on one side and fine ceramic on the other. Most of the time, it's what I use rather than set up the Sharpmaker or go to the diamond bench stones.

No, you won't damage a knife by using extra fine stones but you might damage your resolve when you come upon a really dull knife that needs an inordinate amount of time to get sharp again.
 
Well, the unfortunate answer is and always will be, it depends...

If you are cutting cardboard which is rather wearing in a blade and you hit a staple, or some foreign inclusion, you will have a ring or roll to straighten out.
On top if that, some steels respond to a less polished edge better, or at least some prefer a toothier edge.

On my D2 BK24 or my ZT770 in M4 I prefer to stay at my medium and rarely go beyond my fine stone. I will strop it still, but I don't often remove material beyond that.
But on my BK15 (1095crovan) or my Sodbuster in O1, I will take them to a 12k+ ceramic rod and then strop.

So, there is the long version. The short one remains as, it depends.
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Also, you Can use just a fine stone, but some dings will require more time spent, and to me, I would rather have the versatility of two stones and have more free time than risk not being able to keep a constant angle on a lesser aggressive stone over a longer period of time.
 
You could probably get by with one stone if you really wanted. A 320 or 400 grit stone is fine enough to get a good apex and coarse enough to repair a normally used edge. Use makeshift strop to remove any leftovers from sharpening. Other stones make certain things easier, but they're not truly necessary.

The stone should be silicon carbide or harder though if you want to tackle carbide rich steels without a big headache.
 
Like many things in life, you only really NEED them when and if you actually NEED them.

Even if all one does with their knife is open mail, what if they should accidentally drop that knife and ding or chip the edge?

Sharpening stones will suffer wear through extended use. If all a person were going to do is touch-up their edge a little, then an extra-fine stone may be all they ever need. But if you need to repair your edge (like after a drop), then you might wear out that extra-fine stone, and it could take a long time to get the job done.
 
After all, some people carry knives for years without sharpening them. Just throw the old one away when it gets really dull...
 
QiQi said:
and howmuch longer will it take?
will it damage the stone if you take a real dull knife and sharpen it with an extra fine stone, skipping all the rest?
Click to expand...
A real dull knife on an extra fine stone? hmmm ... hours?

How much is your time worth?

Get 2 diamond stones, an Extra Coarse or Coarse and an Extra Fine.
 
QiQi said:
because i want to buy only one sharpening stone (going for the extra fine one)
do you REALLY need the other ones?
Click to expand...

Yes and No. As other guys have said, if you have enough time you can achieve a good edge with a 12,000 grit stone. Probably. The problem is that for an edge to be sharp, you must be consistent with the angle of the knife to the stone. A fine grit stone will require many, many strokes to achieve what a coarse stone can do in just a few. The more strokes you need to make, the less consistent you are likely to be. In some ways, a coarse stone is more useful than a fine one.

But, you could use a hard flat surface--say a piece of glass or tile--and some sandpaper to grind your primary edge, and then a fine stone to polish it. With sandpaper you could begin with a 220 grit and work your way down to a 600 grit or 1000 grit. Then you could use a fine or extra fine stone to polish the edge.

Regardless, I recommend you get a strop as well. Strops really make a difference to the final edge and burr removal.
 
IMO, no, you cannot use just a fine stone to maintain an edge. You would eventually get to the point where the stone would be simply too fine for the amount of metal that would need to be removed. It's not something you can just spend more time doing, you need a coarse or medium grit.

For just one stone I would rather have a coarse stone and strop as it's far more useful. The DMT Coarse and a balsa strop with 1 micron diamond would be my choice. You can produce some scary edges with these two items.
 
Just today I decided to touch up a chisel, I started with fine but one edge of the blade had a ding. I tried to get it but after a while I got tired of the futility and dropped back to medium. Medium fixed it quickly and made me wonder why I had messed around with fine for so long.
 
thx all for the very informative posts!
guess i will go for a medium and a fine grid stone since i will never use a knife untill its uncutable dull
are dmt aligner stones any good?
 
I would recommend a worksharp for $65 bucks and an old leather belt to strop on
 
Have you already read the sharpening stickies at the top of this forum? That would be a good place to start

QiQi said:
Hi
i wanted to ask if its really necessary to have rough/fine/extra fine sharpening stones
what if you only use an extra fine sharpening stone?
i mean can you skip the rough/fine and just go straight to the extra fine sharpening stone?
because i want to buy only one sharpening stone (going for the extra fine one)
do you REALLY need the other ones?
thank you in advance
Click to expand...
 
I worked in factory where we cut cardboard quite frequent, I carried a $100 Spyderco in my pocket and a $2 boxcutter in my hand. Moral of that story is, why ruin your knife when a tool designed for the job is quite cheap. It will also keep your knife sharp and ready to cut when it is needed and your knife will like you more.:)
 
QiQi said:
are dmt aligner stones any good?
Click to expand...
Yes, DMT Aligner stones are good, very good.

But you'd probably be better served by the DMT Double-sided DiaSharp 6" stone in Ex-Coarse/Fine or Coarse/Fine.
D6FC.jpg
 
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