Knife sharpening- Japanese whetstones anybody?

[ErfurtLuger]

I want to by a set of Japanese sharpening stones -coarse, medium and fine. I was thinking #800, #1200 and #6000. Any brand recommendation? I know some are softer, some harder, what works best for general purpose knifes? Also was looking at the so called Nagura stones with #10000 grit for extra blade polishing, any info would be much appreciated!

 

[jeffdt]

Look under accessories also has good videos. I've bought from him before, good people.


http://www.chefknivestogo.com/accessories.html

 

[ErfurtLuger]

What kind of stones did you buy? How are they performing?

 

[dial1911]

Honestly, I don't know much about Japanese sharpening stones. But as far as I know, normally a "coarse" stone is around 200 grit and will regrind the edge of the blade. A medium is around 400 and is meant to remove the marks from the coarse stone. After the medium is around an 800 to put a finished edge on the blade. Polishing beyond that is probably a 1200 or more.

10,000 grit stones must look like polished granite. I kind of doubt you'd remove much metal with something that fine. I haven't used something that fine, but I have worked for a Japanese company before. I will say they're kind of famous for overkill.

 

[VC94]

I have recently changed from a lifetime of swiping my blade on diamond hone to using leather strops with polishing compound.
what an amazing difference it makes to have a truly sharp knife!

No matter the medium you choose, I would get a #3000 grit as my finest stone.
Later, you can add a #6000-8000 for a mirror finish.

Just don't skip the #3000 after using a #1200, or you will find it an exercise in frustration.
At #6000 and above, you are polishing and hardly removing any metal, so the imperfections left by the #1200 will take forever to remove if you skip the #3000.

A "must have" with strops and fine stones is atleast one diamond sharpenner. DMTs are great. You use the diamond "stone" to remove any nicks or jagged edges from you knife, so you don't ruin your finer sharpenning tools.

If you intend to reprofile any of your blades or you have axes to sharpen, the 3-pack of diamond hones at Harbor Freight are inexpensive and effective.
BUT, their idea of coarse/medium/fine is on the lawn mower blade sharpenning scale!

The Nagura is not for sharpenning knives.
It is an @ #10,000 grit stone of polishing compound that is used to build a layer of wet polishing compound (called mud) on your super fine japanese stones.
The layer of mud works with the stone to polish your knife.

 

[ErfurtLuger]

Great info VC94, and yes, the Nagura would be in combination with #6000 or #8000. I looked at the Japanese King and Naniwa stones, not sure what to get yet!

 

[Fire4Effect]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001DT1X9O...=UTF8&colid=CLUAP6STVZA9&coliid=I3LNGKA826CIM

 

[Fire4Effect]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001DT1X9O...=UTF8&colid=CLUAP6STVZA9&coliid=I3LNGKA826CIM

This should be all you need, plus you can stromp if you like. Unless there is no edge left you can work with this.

 

[jeffdt]

What kind of stones did you buy? How are they performing?

I bought the Apex Pro system from Mark and I love it. Use it on my Wusthoff kitchen knifes and on my edc's

http://www.edgeproinc.com/Videos.html

 

[Fire4Effect]

I bought the Apex Pro system from Mark and I love it. Use it on my Wusthoff kitchen knifes and on my edc's

http://www.edgeproinc.com/Videos.html

These are great systems, but pricey. In my own personal opinion, if you are willing to take the time to learn to sharpen a knife without all the guides it will save you a lot of money and time. You reduce the setup changes and once you have what you need there is nothing you can't sharpen. You could do axes and lawn mower blades if you wish. You could have the finest cut lawn in the whole neighborhood. And any size knife or sword once you have the technique down.