Whetstones

Gary McCarthy

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For those of you sharpening your own tools, what is a good source for whetstones? What size grits are you using?

Thanks!
 
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I cannot sleep and this is an interesting topic, so I'll offer my opinion. I use dmt diamond stones for any steel (high carbon 1084 etc- martensitic stainless) with a flat edge. They are not insanely expensive, don't need to be trued, and will last forever. I have also used various aluminum oxide stones (oil/water) that served the same purpose yet need to be trued (flattened) from time to time - albeit not anywhere near as often as natural arkansas or Japanese water stones. Use a coarse stone only when reprofiling a truly dull edge or grinding out chips (think of a coarse stone as the hand tool version of a belt sander or bench grinder- you are simply making a bur and stopping when one (chisel edge) or both sides are flat. Use medium - fine -super duper fine stones to polish your flat bevel(s) and working that bur back and forth -making it smaller as you progress through the grit sizes of whatever various stones you get. Once you can barely feel the bur anymore stop. For some cutting tools it is beneficial to leave that tiny bur (shears/scissors most garden and bonsai tools fall into this category, having an extremely fine edge on something that needs to be used often and aggressively means you will need to sharpen more frequently and increases the risk of chipping/dulling and having to reprofile. For grafting knives of anything that you just want to have a hair popping sharp edge: the use of a strop/strops and stropping compounds (ie chromium oxide/green buffing compound, what is inside semi chrome, and micron sizes of diamond paste) is the next step. You can buy premade strops or make them. I have multiple diy strops that are simply lengths of tanned tooling leather glued to a board with the compound smeared on. You can treat strops and the various micron sized compounds that go on them as higher grit stones, making the bur smaller on a microscopic level until you have an edge one atom thick if desired. To maintain: grafing knives -strop through the various micron sizes after every use, for other tools use medium or fine stones after use and leave the bur or strop it down. For anything with a concave or rounded edge you have to buy stones specifically for that purpose or wear the stones down to a rounded shape yourself. Alternatively you can use a round mill file for reprofiling and then use various grits of sand paper or emery cloth wrapped around a small length of pipe. A length of compounded tooling leather can also be wrapped around a length of pipe etc. If stropping is desired.
I have used natural japanese water stones in the past, they work fine on high carbon steel 10xx series however they are very expensive and wear quickly if used properly and frequently. The stropping compounds make all the difference when you are after a mirror polished edge etc.
 

Gary McCarthy

Chumono
Messages
548
Reaction score
717
Location
Buffalo/Rochester NY area
USDA Zone
6a
I cannot sleep and this is an interesting topic, so I'll offer my opinion. I use dmt diamond stones for any steel (high carbon 1084 etc- martensitic stainless) with a flat edge. They are not insanely expensive, don't need to be trued, and will last forever. I have also used various aluminum oxide stones (oil/water) that served the same purpose yet need to be trued (flattened) from time to time - albeit not anywhere near as often as natural arkansas or Japanese water stones. Use a coarse stone only when reprofiling a truly dull edge or grinding out chips (think of a coarse stone as the hand tool version of a belt sander or bench grinder- you are simply making a bur and stopping when one (chisel edge) or both sides are flat. Use medium - fine -super duper fine stones to polish your flat bevel(s) and working that bur back and forth -making it smaller as you progress through the grit sizes of whatever various stones you get. Once you can barely feel the bur anymore stop. For some cutting tools it is beneficial to leave that tiny bur (shears/scissors most garden and bonsai tools fall into this category, having an extremely fine edge on something that needs to be used often and aggressively means you will need to sharpen more frequently and increases the risk of chipping/dulling and having to reprofile. For grafting knives of anything that you just want to have a hair popping sharp edge: the use of a strop/strops and stropping compounds (ie chromium oxide/green buffing compound, what is inside semi chrome, and micron sizes of diamond paste) is the next step. You can buy premade strops or make them. I have multiple diy strops that are simply lengths of tanned tooling leather glued to a board with the compound smeared on. You can treat strops and the various micron sized compounds that go on them as higher grit stones, making the bur smaller on a microscopic level until you have an edge one atom thick if desired. To maintain: grafing knives -strop through the various micron sizes after every use, for other tools use medium or fine stones after use and leave the bur or strop it down. For anything with a concave or rounded edge you have to buy stones specifically for that purpose or wear the stones down to a rounded shape yourself. Alternatively you can use a round mill file for reprofiling and then use various grits of sand paper or emery cloth wrapped around a small length of pipe. A length of compounded tooling leather can also be wrapped around a length of pipe etc. If stropping is desired.
I have used natural japanese water stones in the past, they work fine on high carbon steel 10xx series however they are very expensive and wear quickly if used properly and frequently. The stropping compounds make all the difference when you are after a mirror polished edge etc.
LOTS of good info. Thanks!
 

Maiden69

Masterpiece
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Don't waste your money on strops for what we do. Unless you are going to be doing a lot of grafts, then, the strop will help to remove the burr created while sharpening and to maintain the edge until you need to re-sharpen. Other than that you can strop with your last grit stone. I don't have a strop right now, I use my 3000 Suehiro Cerax to clean the burr after polishing. Also, any grit higher than 1300 will only provide polishing of the edge, great when cutting fresh and raw salmon for sushi, or polishing a fine Japanese wood planer, the one used to shave hair think wood. but useless for shears and cutting tools. Again, maybe ok to use for a grafting knife.

I have a combo 1000/3000 water stone from Suehiro, that I bought here for my cooking knife, and I used the 1000 side to sharpen my shears one time, and that left the edge more polished than how Joshua Roth sent them out... which means they probably use something between 600-800. Other than that, a coarse diamond plate or flattening stone around around 320 will be needed to true up the stones after quite a few uses, especially when learning how to since beginners tend to gouge the stones while sharpening.
 
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