Sharpening stones

4000 is fine to get started with. 4000 hones shaving sharp.
Your constraint will be your skill at honing more than the
stone’s grade. Anything 4000 and above is an excellent
finishing stone.

I recommend getting a naugura stone to remove glazing and
speed up your honing. Without one, the polishing stones
clog up pretty quick.

Do not use mineral oil on the stones.

Hence the name water stones.

You’re going to love sharp cutting tools.

Good call Thomas.

Thanks alot Loren, The naugura stones are used to rub the polishing stones clean?
Waho, i will ! :)

-- -Thomas -

There ae stones for oil. Been around for a long time. There is a whole process that should be adheard to with the water stones. You can check out you tube or Liam Neilson has put out a book on sharpening. I’d suggest getting as much information as possible before using the stones. ???? I finally figured out the safest cutting tool is a sharp one. LOL! Hope you take less time than me to figure it out.. :-)

-- Cau Haus Designs, Thomas J. Tieffenbacher

They make a milky slurry on the stone’s surface. It’s supposed
to make the edge better but I think the major advantage
is it makes stone maintenance easier.

Tag, welcome to the world of water stones, which I also use. The 4000 “grit” works well. Somewhere down the road you may want to invest in an 8000 grit. For honing, I use 1000, 4000, then 8000. When I first started, I did not use the 4000 and got by just fine without. I got a good deal on it so now I use it. Books that I read on sharpening suggest using 8000 to 12000 for final polishing.

I tried the Nagura stone a couple of times, I noticed no difference in performance by using it. Maybe you will have different results?

I highly suggest you use something to keep your stones flat. There are some out there that try to use the whole stone when sharpening to avoid dishing it out, but I find it is much easier and more practical to use something to keep the stones flat. I have the Shapton diamond glass lapping plate (which is expensive as hell. Luckily I got mine for a hell of a deal a couple of years ago). A less expensive alternative is a diamond stone. Either way, you are going to want something to keep them flat. Water stones abrade quickly and will dish out big time, especially if you are using them a lot. When they dish out, they will mess you up and give lousy results on your blades. Diamond stones are not cheap either, but you will be happy with flat stones.

Good Luck!

-- Mike

4000 is fine, but you can get a sharper edge by stropping afterwards. It’s cheaper than adding another stone to your arsenal. Next time you are placing a Lee Valley order, make sure to drop a green polishing compound bar ($10) into your cart. Rub it like a crayon on some MDF (or leather glued to a substrate) and use like a stone (except only with backward strokes). One bar will last you a lifetime.

-- Optimists are usually disappointed. Pessimists are either right or pleasantly surprised. I tend to be a disappointed pessimist.

thank you all so much! great tips.

-- -Thomas -