You can get the kit...three stones mounted in a triangular base that are coarse, medium and fine...I started with this kit and still use it for my kitchen knives. It works fine and I think I paid a bit over $30.00.
Hi, What is the name of this kit, what brand is it?
Are you talking about Smith's TRI6 6 In. Three Stone Sharpening System?
Thanks for the reply and i did see a 3 stone kit like you describe on walmarts website. It is smith's diamond trihone it says and there is also just a trihone version that is cheaper and actual stones and not diamond. Would the diamond one or the regular stone one be better?
Hi,
Do you own any sandpaper or other abrasives?
Have you tried sharpening anything? Even using bottom of coffee cups?
How many minutes per day or week are you going to practice sharpening?
What is your budget how much do you want to spend?
Are you only shopping online, or ship to store?
or are you within walking distance to one of these stores: ace hardware, lowes, sears,
dollartree, or harbor freight ?
I think its best to try sharpening first before buying sharpening equipment,
you learn the most by doing not by reading
The stores I mentioned above should currently stock sharpening stones in store , today, no waiting, you can walk over, bicycle over, to one of them,
and get a basic coarse/fine double sided stones for $1, or $3-$12 usd,
$13 four sided diamond (harbor freight 200/300/400/600 ),
lowes has smith's tri 6 3 stone sharpener for $30
lowes has Smith's Standard Precision Knife Sharpening System $26.98
$3-$6 buffing compound or automotive sandpaper for high grit shaving comfort
Still a good idea to check online or call store cause sometimes they run out of stock cause they stock low amounts of items (sears) but not a problem if ship to store
There are other stores that carry higher grit and higher priced stones, like japanese/korean/asian groceries (400/1000 diamond paddle $17-$19, 1k waterstones), knife shops (smith's, sharpmaker, dmt), wood working stores (everything
), luxury kitchen/housewares stores (expensive japanese waterstones)...
if you use google shopping to search for "sharpening" stuff that is filtered by "available nearby" you'll see some of the luxury offerings, they have some kind of three stone sharpening system for $50 they say they stock in store
my main advice is try sharpening today
If I was getting into sharpening today I'd start with coffeecups, then go to dollartree and get
one non-skid shelf liner (huge sheet)
some ducktape ($1 roll will do if you dont have any)
permanent markers (you can get 3 big chisel ones for $1)
two $1 dollar tree stones (in stock over here , they come and go out of stock few times a year last two years)
reinforce the corners of plastic box stone comes in inside and out
then reinforce the bottom inside and out
then cut out shelf liner and tape to bottom and up the sides a little
put a few soda bottle caps inside the stone holder to raise the stone above the LIP
now you safely hold stone in your hand, or put it on kitchen table/counter/anywhere,
and it will keep your left hand dry and keep the water/swarf off your kitchen table
get stones wet and take 5 minutes to rub the two stones together to make sure they're flat (thats why you get two)
then practice sharpening, take 5 minutes to sharpen a 3-4inch kitchen paring knife
and repeat this 5 minute practice session up to three times per day
and repeat sharpening practice three times a week, or seven times a week
always the same knife,
think about what you're doing,
ask yourself questions
and ask others (us) when stuck,
by the end of the day/week/month you'll have huuuge experience and a sharp knife,
and when you read stuff about sharpening
or sharpening stones/equipment
you'll have a better idea of what these internet knife guys are talking about,
and be better able to decide just how much and what kind of equipment you want, where to spend your next $$$
reading doesn't exercise your hands, if you can drink a glass of water without spilling the whole thing you can learn to sharpen
after 1st sharpening (5minutes) you'll have questions, write them down, type them up, ask them it only takes a little knowledge and a little practice to increase/improve sharpness
on a personal note, having spent many years cutting with mostly dull knives, only experiencing sharp knives every few years when we buy new ones, and having only spent 2+ years sharpening with sharp knives,
my family could get by with a single $1 sharpening stone for the next 100 years and I oversharpen all the time, I sharpen as a hobby,
heck, after lowering the angle with the $1 stone, I could get by with coffe cups sharpening for the next 2+ years easy,
we just dont do that much cutting and food is soft,
combined family knife cutting time is barely 20 minutes per day
and we don't have fancy/fast knife skills, we mostly slow chop food, slow slice food , slow peel food, none of which requires high grits or high sharpness (hair whittling)
for us freshly sharpened knives just means maybe bandaids today, but by tomorrow the knives wont shave
It takes some 1000 slices into hardwood for knife edge to stop shaving, and thats with ~320grit finish knife edge , the fine side of basic coarse/fine stone,
I've only done that much whittling wood cutting at one time once or twice in the last 2+ years,
just for fun, and it was quite a workout for my hand/wrist/arm ... and I'm a guy who doesn't work out
To take a huge leap in push cutting ability ,
talking about wood working, wood chopping, wood slicing, face shaving, head hair whittling,
all it takes is light stropping on about $3-$6 dollars worth of buffing compound or high grit automotive sandpaper or metal polish which lots of people own already (flitz, simichrome,
Mother's Mag & Aluminum Polish, blue magic ...)
I've still got a dozen knives that have never been sharpened!
