Sharpening stones?

[LFS19]

Wondering which sharpening stone brands people like.

Thanks!

 

[undergroundhunter]

A little vague, depends on what kind of stones, oil, water, diamond, films, papers??

Matt

 

[LFS19]

Sorry, I thought I'd written that; must've missed it out - Diamond stones

Thanks allot

 

[Beau]

Best I have had are DMT. It's never worn out so never replaced it

Maybe other good ones out there though just cant fault the one I have.

 

[MattRoberts]

I have the XMS faithful from Amazon. Really pleased with it.

 

[undergroundhunter]

I use eze-lap plates, they work for me. If you're after a good and easy sharpening stone go and buy a norton 2 sided oil stone. For the money you cant get better, top it off with a strop and you're set for life. My wife's father gave me his norton oil stone today that he has used almost daily since the 70's, still works just as good as the day he bought it.

Matt

 

[LFS19]

Best I have had are DMT. It's never worn out so never replaced it

Maybe other good ones out there though just cant fault the one I have.

I'll check those out, thanks.

 

[LFS19]

I have the XMS faithful from Amazon. Really pleased with it.

I think I've come across those; will have another look.
Thanks.

 

[LFS19]

I use eze-lap plates, they work for me. If you're after a good and easy sharpening stone go and buy a norton 2 sided oil stone. For the money you cant get better, top it off with a strop and you're set for life. My wife's father gave me his norton oil stone today that he has used almost daily since the 70's, still works just as good as the day he bought it.

Matt

I actually have an oil stone already.
My dad inherited it from my grandad; he said he's pretty sure the thing is 40 years old.
I'll check out the brands you mentioned.

And on the topic of oil stones, I was under the impression you needed a set of diamond stones, then the oil stone and then a strop for finishing.
It's possible to get by with just the oil stone, then?

I believe mine also is a two sided one - not sure which ones which.

Thanks.

 

[Jacob]

Oil stones are brilliant. But they do need refreshing every now and then, to de-clog the surface and remove embedded debris. I do it with a 3M diapad, which is bendy so it'll follow the dips on a hollow stone. Just a quick rub-up with white spirit. They last forever.

 

[LFS19]

Oil stones are brilliant. But they do need refreshing every now and then, to de-clog the surface and remove embedded debris. I do it with a 3M diapad, which is bendy so it'll follow the dips on a hollow stone. Just a quick rub-up with white spirit. They last forever.

I'll be sure to check those out, thanks.

So would you say I needed diamond stones too or not?

 

[undergroundhunter]

Oil stones are brilliant. But they do need refreshing every now and then, to de-clog the surface and remove embedded debris. I do it with a 3M diapad, which is bendy so it'll follow the dips on a hollow stone. Just a quick rub-up with white spirit. They last forever.

I'll be sure to check those out, thanks.

So would you say I needed diamond stones too or not?

No you don't need diamond stones at all, woodworkers have managed for centuries with just an oil stone. Most of the time you don't even need to strop, straight off the stone with the burr removed will be fine for most things, strops only really become necessary when you are carving of for really fine work.

My personal set up is I have 3 diamond stones (med, fine and extra fine), I then go to a washita oil stone (got it from a car boot for £3), and then to a piece of leather glued to MDF with chromium oxide. 99% of the time I just use the washita and then strop a little to remove the burr, doing this will pop hairs off my arm with ease.

One piece of advice I will give is don't get drawn into all the fancy sales pitches for films, stones etc. I have tried almost every method of sharpening at a huge cost and still I came back to an old oilstone that cost me £3. In my opinion it makes no difference weather you take the edge up to .5 micron with diamond paste or a quick strop on some leather the edge will still cut the same.

Matt

 

[bugbear]

woodworkers have managed for centuries with just an oil stone.

Probably worth pointing out that the pre-1900 oil stones were natural, fine and quite soft; the modern(ish) india stone which is what most people now think of when they hear "oil stone" is quite a different beast, harder and coarser.

(and then, of course, there's Arkansas, which are both ancient, and hard, and fine, but they're rather pricy)

BugBear

 

[undergroundhunter]

woodworkers have managed for centuries with just an oil stone.

Probably worth pointing out that the pre-1900 oil stones were natural, fine and quite soft; the modern(ish) india stone which is what most people now think of when they hear "oil stone" is quite a different beast, harder and coarser.

(and then, of course, there's Arkansas, which are both ancient, and hard, and fine, but they're rather pricy)

BugBear

BugBear is quite right. And thinking about it its probably more like millennia not centuries.

 

[ED65]

It's possible to get by with just the oil stone, then?

Well put it this way, what did they use before diamond plates were introduced?

Few people really have a need for diamond plates, most choose to use them for one reason or another. They might be sick of the watery mess from waterstones and the constant need to reflatten, or they're sick of the oily mess from oilstones and maybe want something that cuts faster (although the difference is not always that great).

I like diamond plates but stones will do more than 90% of the sharpening jobs most woodworkers require, with a bit of help from the strop if needed (it isn't always). While you can substitute diamond plates for stones I think where they really shine is at the coarse end if you have need of removing lots of metal and you want to do it manually.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Sharpening is a 'three stage' process. Grinding to shift bulk unwanted metal to repair chipped edges, re-establish primary bevels or shape a new tool (a stage you don't need every time), honing to get a sharp working edge (which is something you do pretty well every time), and polishing to refine the edge for when you need extra sharpness (again, don't need this every time). A strop is also handy to chase off the last of the wire edge from honing.

Grinding can be done by high-speed powered bench grinder, slow-speed wet grinding machine, belt sander or posh variants thereof, by hand-cranked grinder, or by rubbing on a coarse abrasive of some sort. They all work.

Honing can be done by diamond stones, oil stones, Waterstones, ceramic stones or by abrasive sheets on a flat surface ('scary sharp'). They all work. Either jigged or freehand - they both work.

Polishing can be done on ultra-fine versions of all the above. Again, they all work.

You can happily 'mix and match'. For example, I currently grind with either my grandfather's old hand-crank or a wet-stone slow-speed grinder, hone on a fine Norton India oilstone, and polish on a Welsh Slate hone obtained from Inigo Jones (at very reasonable cost). At various times, I've also used ceramic hones (not quite as quick as the India, but probably a slightly better edge), and water stones (very quick, good edges, but messy).

Which methods you choose really depend on personal preference. The oilstones, ceramic stones and diamond stones are 'bench-friendly', whilst the Waterstones and 'scary-sharp' work best on a separate sharpening station, so that might influence the decision.

If you have any blades of 'hard' steels like A2 or D2, they respond better to diamond hones or ceramic stones, which might also be a factor.

That apart, just choose one and stick with it for a good few months until you're really familiar with it. Then decide if you want to change - it can get very expensive chasing after every method under the sun looking for some elusive magic (which doesn't exist).

Good luck!

 

[Jacob]

Oil stones are brilliant. But they do need refreshing every now and then, to de-clog the surface and remove embedded debris. I do it with a 3M diapad, which is bendy so it'll follow the dips on a hollow stone. Just a quick rub-up with white spirit. They last forever.

I'll be sure to check those out, thanks.

So would you say I needed diamond stones too or not?

Not.

NB polishing (as mentioned by CC above) is good because it reduces friction near the edge where it is being wedged tightly into the wood. If you happen to have one a lathe is handy here - with ply discs for flat, or the rounded/shaped edge of ply discs for gouges etc. turning quite slowly and charged with Autosol or similar. Too fast and the autosol goes all over the place

 

[Droogs]

I use Ultex combination diamond plates from ITS Tools. They come in coarse (300grit)/medium(600) and fine (1000)/ ex fine (1200) and can be had for around 30 quid usually but they do have them on sale every now and then. I've found them to be excellent and true enough on the faces for what a woodworker needs. They are very aggressive the first couple of times you use them but soon settle in nicely. If I want to go higher for a keener edge I have a 3000/8000 Japanese water-stone I got from Amazon for £20 in the knife sharpening section and this is really nice to finish off with for the micro-bevel before using my old razor strop and jewellers rouge

 

[Simo]

I use an Atoma diamond plate to repair damaged blades, and to flatten my water stones. They're not cheap, but they're by far the best I've used.

 

[LFS19]

Lots of info, thanks so much everyone,
Looks like I'm set for what I need - just need to practice now!