Sharpening stone advice from those who know

[waterdownredneck]

Hi All, not really a fishing question but we all sharpen our knives some how so I thought there may be a few folks that are into sharpening in a big way that can help me with my purchasing questions.

I’m looking to get into a low impact non-physical activity to help fill my time and I like razor sharp knives, but when I take them to a store, they remove too much material with the machines. 

I have numerous chef quality knives as well as hunting, fishing, bush craft and general purpose knives, I also want to sharpen my hair cutting steel blades.  My current sharpening experience is limited with the Arkansas stones + 1 diamond stone from Lansky and I do ok with them but they are a pain on larger knives.  I also have the 3 credit card size DMT diamond stones from Lee Valley for router bits and things like that. So I am building my collection and learning much as I go. 

I would like to buy no smaller than 8”x3” stones, and am deciding between a set of water stones and stone flattener, a couple DMT diamond stones, (double sided) or TREND diamond stones, or, maybe some wet stones and a high grit diamond stone for finishing. Added to any of these I would buy a quality strop and some compounds to round out the razor sharp edge. So I guess it comes down to which ones and which grits to get as a newbie. 

From what I understand, diamond stones are simply faster at removing material therefore saving time.  It seems they don’t necessarily provide a better edge, it’s the user and perfecting the angles that does this.

So if anyone is into sharpening with stones I would appreciate any advice you have.  Thanks and I hope the lake is treating you all well. 

[SpoonPullers.com]

[joes13]

I agree with you on the use of diamond stones. They are good for quick removal of metal when you are repairing a damaged edge or a  very dull knife. I’ve been using a Kingston two sided water stone from LeeValley. It has 1000 grit and 6000 grit and is great for most of your knife sharpening. If you want a super razor sharp edge then you will need to polish the edge with something like 10000 grit and then a leather strop with polishing compound. Water stones need to be soaked before using them and never use oil on a water stone. Also you should be using a steel to align the edge every time you use your knife. It will keep your edge sharp till you need to resharpen. Hand sharpening takes some practice but it’s not difficult to learn and once you know how, it only takes a few minutes to bring the edge back again. Stay away from power sharpeners or those carbide edged things because they remove too much metal and really don’t sharpen as well as a stone. Ceramic sharpeners aren’t bad for tuning your blades when you’re  travelling and don’t want to bring expensive stones. There are some good videos on YouTube that show how to use water stones.

[rockin-steelhead]

Almost the same issue I had the previous weekend.

[waterdownredneck]

Ok thanks.  So you find the 1000 & 6000 get you where you need to be?  I just want a good sharp knife, nothing that will split an atom . That may be just what I need then.  I do have a diamond steel and it’s amazing the before and after sharpness after a couple of draws. 

Do you re-flatten your stones that often?