Norton - Multi-Oilstone IM313 (Rating: 5)

I have been looking at this system for a couple of years now. I finally decided to click the buy button and I'm glad I did.

Like most of you, I have tried a lot of sharpening systems. Here are the ones I have tried and the reasons I decided to buy this one and lay the rest aside.

  1. Scary Sharp - A good system if you like buying sandpaper all the time. I used it for a long time. The cost of consumables quickly adds up.
  2. Work Sharp - A good system but ditto on the consumables.
  3. Water Stones - I own two. They work great. They cut fast. They also dish quickly and even get gouges in them with my smaller chisels. Bottom line, they are hard to keep flat. I intend to buy some gouges soon. I can't imagine what a round edge would do to a water stone.

So the two problems I am trying to solve are the consumables of sandpaper methods and the need to flatten water stones.

My approach

  1. Get a system I like
  2. Learn to use it
  3. Stick with it

Here are two links that actually convinced me to go down this road.

Oil Stones

Guide to honing and sharpening

This system works for me and I am very happy with it. I even tossed my Veritas sharpening jig in a drawer and decided to put a little effort into learning to sharpen without it. That's another lesson though.

- The Crux of the Biscuit -

I ordered the IM313 from The Best Things

It is the Norton IM313 Multi-Oilstone with Hard Translucent White Arkansas and medium Crystolon, fine India.

The system consists of three 1/2" X 11 1/2" X 2 1/2" Norton oil stones all mounted in a rotating holder sitting in an oil bath tray. Included is a bottle of Norton sharpening oil.

The item arrived in good shape via UPS ground. It was well packaged too.



Here are the three stones from medium to fine.



A Medium Crystolon (Brown) - This synthetic stone cuts very quickly without leaving a lot of scratches that need to be polished out.



a Fine India (Orange) - This synthetic stone leaves a very nice almost complete polished surface.



a fine natural translucent arkansas oil stone - This is a beautiful piece of rock. It feels like glass to the touch. It doesn't cut as fast as a water stone but it doesn't dish either. It will last a couple of lifetimes.

I used the system to re-sharpen all my chisels yesterday evening. I am very happy with the outcome. I made a video that I'll be posting in a blog in a little while.

I can highly recommend this product if you want a system that does not require consumables, is always ready when you are and gives fantastic results. It is a little pricey but arent they all?

-Video update-

I shot some video of my third attempt at free hand sharpening on this system. I'ts not very impressive and there are a couple of things I have changed since shooting it. The biggest one is that I don't do the round and round pattern when flattening the backs any more. I just go back and forth. Removes material faster and produces better results.

In the video I keep saying that "it really isn't that hard". Well that's probably true but I haven't mastered it yet either. Once I get more proficient I'll try to post a video blog. I just thought it might be interesting to record one of my initial attempts with the product.

So here it is complete (and too long) with the sound of the neighborhood mocking bird included free of charge. By the unknown sharpener.

http://blip.tv/play/AfnOCIyTMg