What's Your Favorite Piece Of Sharpening Equipment?

Excuse me the right to list 2. For convex fixed blades, it's just the board with mouse pad and wet/dry sandpaper. For the majority of my pocket folders it's the Edge Pro. I do occasionally use a couple diamond stones and water stones as well. As you can tell I am a sharpening junkie.
 
HeavyHanded said:
You can do a pretty good job with those if they're tuned up nice:

The 6 dollar carbide scraper and you! (with micrographs)

Howdy, decided to take a quick and closer look at the common carbide scraper, have never used one before and was curious about the near universal disdain exhibited by many on the forum - folks act like they're warding off the 'evil eye'. Was hoping to come up with a best practices should someone...
bladeforums.com bladeforums.com
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Now I want to experiment with my Sandrin Torino, to see if I can use its spine as a sharpener for 60 HRC and below knives. If it can do as well or slightly better as the bottom of a ceramic mug I will be happy.
 
My favorite is not my most used, since it is a 3X8 Norton Lilly White Washita. I got one of the last of these fine stones. It cuts pretty fast, yet produces a very fine edge on high carbon tool steels. I prefer my Norton Hard Arkansas stones to the Dans. The Norton stones are flatter, and I tend to only use the natural stones for tool blades.
I use my DMT 1200 grit stone far more often for kitchen knives. It works and is fast, but not my fave.
 
I just ordered the Norton IM313 tri-stone sharpener from Sharpening Supplies. Looking forward to getting it next week. Therapeutic to be sure.

We all end up with many different types of sharpening supplies/systems. Lord knows I have. Lol
 
AndrewH60 said:
I did use oil stones many years ago. Switched to water stones to get away from the oil. Switched to diamond to get away from the water. Much simpler process for me.
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lol, I did the opposite.
Switched to diamonds to get away from water, and then found that I still needed some lubricant and wasn't happy with oil or water on my diamond plates, so I switched to oil stones (which, for me is less messy than waterstones actually).
Now I use mostly natural water and oil stones. But a diamond plate is a necessity... I just keep wearing the darned things out so quickly. Durability and longevity are a real issue with diamond plates for me. That, and finding diamond plates that are perfectly flat can be challenging (why do so many people manufacture warped plates? Gah.) But then I probably do a lot more coarse grinding, and grinding of very hard steels than most people as I tend to restore old tools and stones.
 
Luke Dupont said:
lol, I did the opposite.
Switched to diamonds to get away from water, and then found that I still needed some lubricant and wasn't happy with oil or water on my diamond plates, so I switched to oil stones (which, for me is less messy than waterstones actually).
Now I use mostly natural water and oil stones. But a diamond plate is a necessity... I just keep wearing the darned things out so quickly. Durability and longevity are a real issue with diamond plates for me. That, and finding diamond plates that are perfectly flat can be challenging (why do so many people manufacture warped plates? Gah.) But then I probably do a lot more coarse grinding, and grinding of very hard steels than most people as I tend to restore old tools and stones.
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Yeah, nothing like a fresh diamond extra coarse for stock removal.

I'm switching to spyderco bench stones, but funnily enough I've been using pocket stones for reprofiling.
 
Luke Dupont said:
lol, I did the opposite.
Switched to diamonds to get away from water, and then found that I still needed some lubricant and wasn't happy with oil or water on my diamond plates, so I switched to oil stones (which, for me is less messy than waterstones actually).
Now I use mostly natural water and oil stones. But a diamond plate is a necessity... I just keep wearing the darned things out so quickly. Durability and longevity are a real issue with diamond plates for me. That, and finding diamond plates that are perfectly flat can be challenging (why do so many people manufacture warped plates? Gah.) But then I probably do a lot more coarse grinding, and grinding of very hard steels than most people as I tend to restore old tools and stones.
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Yes I can understand that. Looking back it was the soaking time and all the slurry that eventually turned me.
That’s interesting I wasn’t aware that plates could come warped, I will look next time I’m buying. Any brands in particular?
 
AndrewH60 said:
Yes I can understand that. Looking back it was the soaking time and all the slurry that eventually turned me.
That’s interesting I wasn’t aware that plates could come warped, I will look next time I’m buying. Any brands in particular?
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Mostly it's the lower price point, made in China ones, or thin ones that don't have thick metal bases. But, I've even seen diamond plates with a thick metal base that were not flat -- indeed, I even had a DMT that wasn't perfectly flat, though I'm sure it was flat enough for most people's use.

I'm in Japan now, so some of the brands available are different from what's in the US and other parts of the world, but I frequently check the reviews on Amazon, for example, and find people complaining about this or that plate not being flat. I always just buy my diamond plates in person now and check them with a straight edge (if the packaging or store allows). Unfortunately I don't know which brand is safe, and some brands appear to be a little bit hit or miss. If anyone else knows, I'd love to hear also.

I recently got a Kanaban and some loose silicon carbide to see if it might partially substitute for my coarse diamond stones when doing things like flattening the backs of chisels, plane irons, and sharpening stones (as all of these activities have worn out expensive diamond plates in my experience)
 
Luke Dupont said:
Mostly it's the lower price point, made in China ones, or thin ones that don't have thick metal bases. But, I've even seen diamond plates with a thick metal base that were not flat -- indeed, I even had a DMT that wasn't perfectly flat, though I'm sure it was flat enough for most people's use.

I'm in Japan now, so some of the brands available are different from what's in the US and other parts of the world, but I frequently check the reviews on Amazon, for example, and find people complaining about this or that plate not being flat. I always just buy my diamond plates in person now and check them with a straight edge (if the packaging or store allows). Unfortunately I don't know which brand is safe, and some brands appear to be a little bit hit or miss. If anyone else knows, I'd love to hear also.

I recently got a Kanaban and some loose silicon carbide to see if it might partially substitute for my coarse diamond stones when doing things like flattening the backs of chisels, plane irons, and sharpening stones (as all of these activities have worn out expensive diamond plates in my experience)
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thanks. I only have DMT and DC4
 
I have a very limited amount of kitchen knives, probably a dozen. Most of mine are big, thick outdoor hard use knives. I actually do have a Tormek T4 Bushcraft system & it works fantastic but I mostly use it to fix uneven grinds or less than perfect edges and during the summer. It is cumbersome & I do have to bring it in during the winter so the stones don't freeze & crack. Plus, as many have said, to me hand sharpening that final edge is very therapeutic. I like oil stones because they don't freeze & crack & have the therapeutic bonus value. I have an old oil stone from when I was a kid of 12 (pushing 60 now), a Gatco diamond system, ceramic rods, butchers steels, small belt grinder, the puck for my axe. they all have their purpose & do get used. But I am looking forward to the IM313 system to get back to my roots of hand sharpening.
 
TwinStick said:
I have a very limited amount of kitchen knives, probably a dozen. Most of mine are big, thick outdoor hard use knives. I actually do have a Tormek T4 Bushcraft system & it works fantastic but I mostly use it to fix uneven grinds or less than perfect edges and during the summer. It is cumbersome & I do have to bring it in during the winter so the stones don't freeze & crack. Plus, as many have said, to me hand sharpening that final edge is very therapeutic. I like oil stones because they don't freeze & crack & have the therapeutic bonus value. I have an old oil stone from when I was a kid of 12 (pushing 60 now), a Gatco diamond system, ceramic rods, butchers steels, small belt grinder, the puck for my axe. they all have their purpose & do get used. But I am looking forward to the IM313 system to get back to my roots of hand sharpening.
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I am sure that it is possible for a water stone to crack if totally saturated, especially a porous course one, but I still have a King 1K that spent an entire winter in a bucket freezing and thawing and it still works fine.

Oil stones are for the most part a lot more sturdy than most water stones though especially if they get banged around a lot.
 
SwissHeritageCo said:
That would be my spyderco fine pocket stone, with one side lapped to ultra fine.

It see's the majority of my touch ups and honing as I've gone off the practice of stropping.
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I've kinda been doing the same thing. It's helps improve your sharpening skill to do touchups on a stone instead of rely on the forgiveness of a strop. I use a fine Spyderco bench stone and I keep a Spyderco double stuff in my pocket every day.
 
Tough one. Either my microscope or my wet belt grinder. Wet belt saves a crazy huge amount of time setting bevels and thinning out blades without danger of harming blade temper. Microscope is just plain awesome and fun. I think it's a tie.
 
Mister Coffee said:
E eKretz Care to recommend a few microscopes, E?
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Need some criteria... Digital USB? Plain optical? Optical trinocular (with camera port?) I have used a few different types. I like the good optical scopes best, you may have seen a couple of mine in the microscope images thread.

The main thing I can say is that when using almost any microscope, no matter the type, getting a good informative view or image is maybe 90% about lighting and subject positioning, and 10% about the scope. Lighting and positioning of your subject are absolutely critical to getting any useful information from the scope. I have seen so many scope photos here and elsewhere that really convey no more information than "shiny." Used incorrectly, lighting can very much obscure any available and useful info about the blade/edge.
 
eKretz said:
Need some criteria... Digital USB? Plain optical? Optical trinocular (with camera port?) I have used a few different types. I like the good optical scopes best, you may have seen a couple of mine in the microscope images thread.

The main thing I can say is that when using almost any microscope, no matter the type, getting a good informative view or image is maybe 90% about lighting and subject positioning, and 10% about the scope. Lighting and positioning of your subject are absolutely critical to getting any useful information from the scope. I have seen so many scope photos here and elsewhere that really convey no more information than "shiny." Used incorrectly, lighting can very much obscure any available and useful info about the blade/edge.
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Good point. Half the time, I can't tell what I'm looking at. I angle the blade under the scope, the light changes, and I'm lost. Not quite lost, but it's difficult.

Criteria: I'm willing to get into the water to about ankle-deep. Under $50. Plain optical or digital USB. I need something better than an 8x loupe. I don't need an $8,000 microscope for big boys in white lab coats.
 
eKretz said:
Need some criteria... Digital USB? Plain optical? Optical trinocular (with camera port?) I have used a few different types. I like the good optical scopes best, you may have seen a couple of mine in the microscope images thread.

The main thing I can say is that when using almost any microscope, no matter the type, getting a good informative view or image is maybe 90% about lighting and subject positioning, and 10% about the scope. Lighting and positioning of your subject are absolutely critical to getting any useful information from the scope. I have seen so many scope photos here and elsewhere that really convey no more information than "shiny." Used incorrectly, lighting can very much obscure any available and useful info about the blade/edge.
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With the inexpensive USB scope I have, that's what I've spent the vast amount of time on, getting set up. It's almost all about the lighting and getting it in just the right location, from just the right angle. Then, secondarily, getting the focus just right as well, with depth of field being so very limited.

In general terms with magnification of edges, even at 3X, I also emphasize the lighting as being more important than the actual magnification itself. So much more is revealed, if the light is good.
 
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