What do you think of these stones?

BJE

BJE

Joined
Apr 12, 2006
Messages
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I am wanting to go back to the older days in both knives (already in progress and lovin it) and sharpening equipment. I have considered water stones, but I think I would like to try natural arkansas stones for a while, I have a cheap set of smiths that are pretty dished and I get decent results with those. I have been looking for a complete set (except for a silicon carbide stone, I already have one) and I think this might be it. I would like your opinion on it before I pull the trigger. For the record, I will be mostly sharpening small case slippies in CV, but I might take a fixed blade to the stone on occasion. It is the set of three in a box near the bottom of the page.
http://www.naturalwhetstone.com/productssharpening2.htm
I already have a small pocket translucent stone from ProEdge that I like, but I really want to try the black arkansas as it looks interesting. I will strop the edges after sharpening, so I don't think I would notice any difference between the translucent and the black in terms of edge refinement. I am open to other suggestions. Let me hear your opinions, and quick because I want to have a new set of stones on the way by the end of this weekend.
 
Go for it. Looks like a resonable deal. I like freehanding on Arkansas stones.
 
Find a fine (brown) India stone. They are extremely useful stones.
 
Native Justice said:
Norton's got a spectacular Lilly White Arkansas that Tools for Working Wood sells that is terrific. I'd suggest looking at this stone before buying those stones. Take a look ....

http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/...hop&Product_Code=NO-LILY.XX&Category_Code=CNO

NJ
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I don't really see how that would fit in to a collection of stones without taking the place of a hard arkansas. I would like a set do that I can get a very fine edge from a dull knife with as little effort as possible and that isn't too repetitive. In other words, I would like a wide selection of grit sizes instead of a couple that are very close. I am also trying to keep the cost down if possible. I see the lily more as a water stone. I am not sure of the quality that set and that is the main reason I havn't ordered yet, I want a good set, not perfect but good. For those people that do sharpen on arkansas stones, what is your stone selection? I also don't know that an India stone would be needed as I have a silicon carbide for stock removal, once again, just trying to get a good set without a lot of different stones. I would like to keep it around four stones and strop.
 
Those prices listed on the Natural Whetstone site are certainly reasonable. You could pick up both the soft (medium) and hard (fine) Arkansas, 7" block mounted, for only $13 plus shipping. Probably worth a try, and along with your silicon carbide stone and a strop, it might just be the setup you're after.

Now I'm not a connoisseur of Arkansas stones, but grew up around people who are (cabinetmakers) and they swear there are big quality differences. Supposedly this is why Norton Arkansas stones or those from a place like Dan's Whetstone, cost more. I think it might have to do with consistent density of the stones; might be more variation with inexpensive Arkansas stones, but again for just a few dollars I think those you're considering are worth a try.

Bill mentioned India stones, and I think you should consider this. India stones just don't tend to dish like Arkansas, and being harder will work better with high hardness blades than Arkansas. Personally I like a medium Norton India stone which cuts pretty fast and doesn't tend to load up at all if you just keep a little oil on it. I jump directly from medium India to fine ceramic, 1200 grit, for most my sharpening, and it's rare that I need anything else. If you like silicon carbide for major sharpening, which is harder and cuts faster than India, then the fine India like Bill suggests could be a good choice instead of the medium Arkansas (fine India is actually more coarse than medium Arkansas, although the Arkansas being friable makes the two somewhat comparable, I think.) For about $20 you can pick up a quality 8" Norton India benchstone that will last you a lifetime.
 
headroom said:
I like the Halls stones. These are really fine quality stones, but you will pay a bit more for them. Lots of options for sizes and such.

http://www.hallsproedge.com/bench.htm
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I already have the soft and translucent pocket stones by them and I like them ok, but they are a little smaller than I want for fixed blades and the full size bench stones are a little out of my price range.
 
I'll cast another vote for the Norton India stones. We used them in the machine shop for all kinds of touch ups on cutters. Very good stuff.
 
I ordered the set of three and I also ordered a Norton 8" India stone, small arkansas pocket stone, and a ceramic stick from SMKW. I will let everyone know how I like them when they arrive. I will probably try water stones in the future, but right now I am really liking the arkansas variety. They are just neat to use, they have history that sythetics lack I guess. Don't let this thread die yet though, I would still like to hear what you all like to use. Thanks for the help.
 
I got the stones today, well actually only the ones I ordered from Natural Whetstone. Overall I really like them, I would have liked the box to have been of highter quality, but it will do just fine (I plan on staining it and woodburning something on top). The stones look great, but the hard Arkansas has little dimples in it that I havn't seen before, almost like a worm groove? The Black looks great and it feels a little more aggressive than my translucent. The stones have a good bit of bite to them, which I like. Some natural stones tend to feel smooth when sharpening and I can't tell what is happening. I don't like to use oil, so I took out the bottle of oil that came with it and made my own water bottle out of a bottle of nasal spray, I dumped the salt water out and put freshwater in it, works great. I think it is a very good setup for the money. I tried using sandpaper for stock removal, and it works perfectly, it will help save my stones for sure. Thanks for the tip. I have gotten a feeling that Natural Whetstone is a VERY small company, the picture they show of their warehouse is a little metal building and the box they shipped the stones in was packed with newpaper instead of foam peanuts, I rather like dealing with small companies. Here are some pics.
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BJE, those look like very decent quality stones, especially at such reasonable prices. FWIW I've used novaculite stones with very large imperfections and have never seen it affect sharpening performance.

If you're going to use water instead of oil, just watch a little more closely for metal starting to load up on the stone; as long as it's only light, it shouldn't be a problem to clean off.
 
I have been using these stones all day and I love them so far. They work very well and feel great while sharpening, they are the perfect size and they look so good, they have character and history. I especially like the black arkansas, once it gets wet, it turns solid deep black and it looks perfect. Is it a bad thing when you start to think that the stones you use look better than the knife you are sharpening? Once I get my India stone, I think I might just have a perfect set-up. I will start will silicon carbide or sandpaper for making a new edge or sharpening a very dull knife, then move to the India stone, and then the Arkansas in order coarse-fine, and then ceramic rod or strop depending on the edge I want. It has worked well so far, except for the India stone as I don't have one yet. I havn't tried it on any super steels yet, I think this is where it might take a while, I have heard that arkansas stones don't cut the super hard carbides well, but I am not worried because I edc carbon steel. I would really like to get a belgian stone, those look nice but the prices...not so much. This might become worse for my wallet than knives, bying the rocks that make them cut:)
 
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