Budget Sharpening Stones
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- This topic has 26 replies, 19 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 2 months ago by Paul Sellers.
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Don’t get the cheapo ones shown in the first links. Get “real” diamond stones, waterstones or oilstones. Of the three, diamond stones are probably the lowest maintenance choice. The 3×8 EZELap stones are decent as are the DMT, both of the “continuous diamond” type. King Waterstones are good and inexpensive. Norton oil stones are also a good choice. All three “systems” will last you a very long time.
You don’t need EVERY available grit either, a coarse (could substitute sandpaper for this one) for shaping, a medium grit for honing and a fine grit + strop for polishing.
Pick a method and stick with it for a year before making a final decision.
Thanks Rob, My main issue is making limited funds stretch as far as possible. There are a few other things I’d like to get, like a No 4 Plane, the one I have will suffice for a while If I can get it sharp, long term though, thats top on my want (“need” to my wife 😉 ) list after the sharpening solution.
I have to admit the cheese graters do look odd and an actual stone seems the best idea. Just got to find the right ones and who doesn’t enjoy virtual window tool shopping!
Hey Simon,i use the Eze-lap daimond plates(250,600,1200) and a DMT daimond stone(8000) and a leather strop.
I have always used waterstones and a honing guide and got good results with them,but because water stones need to be soaked in water before sharpening and flattend after sharpening and sometimes even during sharpening i found that i was skipping sharpening more often.
After entering the Masterclasses i bought the daimond stones and tried sharpening freehand,in the beginning it took some time to get used to but now i get the same (sometimes even better) results as with the guide and it is a lot faster , in my opinion,than waterstones.
13 February 2013 at 9:54 pm #7902The first question is what will you sharpen? Only the blades of chisels and planes? How often have your blades to be sharpen?
If you only will sharpening chisels and planes and not your knifes or your straight razors and you only sharpen them once a week I think scary sharp is good for you. If you will sharpen your knifes too or have to sharpen more times a week it will be better to buy diamond or waterstones. The most used stone will be the 1.000 for building the edge, so spend the money to get a good one. Shapton glasstone or Naniwa Chosera are realy good stones which don’t need to soak much water, just spritz and go. The same is for DMTs too. It’s your decision. Next step is a 6.000 to 8.000. For this you can buy blue belgian waterstone or arkansas. I think the belgian will work faster but needs to be flaten from time to time. Then strope like Mr. Sellers shows in his video. With this setup you can work for years and not only your woodworking blades. But be warned: sharpening could become addictive 😉
Sorry for my lousy english.
Simon, I’ve used a single diamond stone 600 grit (I’m not even sure of the manufacturer) for roughly 10 years to sharpen knives, lawnmower blades, hatchets, you name it and it’s still going strong. The grit is probably finer now than when I first got it but it’s still working. At first the outlay of cash seems high, but if my new 220 and 1200 DMT plates last as long as my 600 I will have saved a ton of money over the long term.
13 February 2013 at 10:25 pm #7904LIL I started with scary sharp, it worked but sandpaper adds up. I have and use oil stones for certain applications. But about 2 years ago I was introduced to Sigma Power Water stones from Tools from Japan and haven’t looked back, cuts about anything stay’s reasonably flat and I use a Atoma 400 for flattening after every use, it only takes seconds.
I haven’t tried Paul’s method but it does seem he gets great results.
Steve
I use sandpaper stuck to cheap ceramic tile with Super 77. I work through 220 – 400 – 2000 – 2400 and strop on a strip of balsa wood charged with green honing compound. I used Paul’s method so the base for the sandpaper doesn’t need to be exactly flat. I was surprised what a difference the stropping/honing step made. I had always heard of being able to shave the hairs of your arm with a chisel, but could never do it. Well … now I can – and have.
I was half way through a dovetail template when I stopped to sharpen my chisel. When I went back to work I accidentally plunged the chisel deep into my knife wall. Until then I hadn’t realized how much I was pushing harder to force my dull chisel through the wood.
My plan is to replace the sandpaper with the diamond plates one at a time, starting with the finest grit and working back to the coarsest. I may replace the balsa wood with leather, but the balsa is working pretty good.
14 February 2013 at 7:27 pm #7942Initially, the least expensive system I know of is sandpaper and a flat substrate. However, the cost of paper adds up over time. A bit more expensive but less than water stones and diamond plates is oil stones.
A medium India is pretty cheap and followed with either a hard Arkansas or hard black Arkansas and then followed with a strop does a good job after a bevel has been ground. You’d need a grinder or something to do the heavy work with. Also, the oil stones, especially the med India, will need to be flattened periodically, but not nearly as often as water stones.
Simon @daddychief
Did you see this post … https://woodworkingmasterclasses.com/topic/eze-lap-81f-3-by-8-fine-diamond-stone-on-sale/
Robin HC
Simon, I think here are lots of good advises already been given by many people in this forum. As you have seen sharpening systems are a very subjective matter and as many say there is a thousand options that will get your edges sharp – it’s up to your preference and what you are convenient with.
My own experiences have been very frustrating in the beginning and in the end it was expensive, too. I think it is an excellent idea to ask folks in forums and I should have done so as well. The problem though is you are getting lots of different opinions and to make it even more divers here is mine:
First you need to determine what do you want to sharpen: Chisels (what is the max width?), plane irons, knifes??? This will determine the width of the sharpening device (e.g the widest plane iron of a #8 is 2 5/8 inches so a 2″ stone is a little slim especially if you intend working with a honing guide)
Second do you already have some systems available or do you start from scratch? I would not recommend switching between lubrication regimes or in other words: If your currently sharpening on a oil based system do not go for a water based addition to that (e.g you already have a a 220 grit oil stone then do not add 1000 grit water stone)
Third what is the condition of the tool you are going to sharpen? Is it mostly brand new quality tools that just needs to be touched up or do you intend to sharpen older used tools that may require a lot of grinding?
If it is new tools you are going to sharpen assuming you currently have NO sharpening equipment and you want to be able to sharpen all widths I would recommend going for scary sharpening. Sure it is going to be expensive in the long run but initial investments are not too huge. Go with those micro abrasives as they hold up much longer (3M products work great) and produce nice edges!
If you are planning to restore old/vintage tools get a decent coarse diamond stone (220 grit) for grinding the initial bevel and flattening. For honing I still would recommend micro abrasives though having another 600 to 1000 grit diamond stone is preferable before hitting the micro abrasives. One trick will do here: If you have ground an initial bevel with the 220 grit start working on a micro bevel with the micro abrasives and do not care about the main bevel any longer.
In your case I would nor recommend water stones. Not that I do not like them or they are not working as good but they require you to have the grinding / honing stones and a flattening stone in place. That means adding to your expenses for the stones you are facing additional cost for a flattening device that costs you as much as an additional grit in your sharpening regime. A great but expensive system…
All of these suggestions are based on a tight budget. Overall I agree with many people that scary sharp / micro abrasives will not save any money in the long run but I understand that it makes a tremendous difference in getting started. With this in mind the above ideas will get you started working with sharp tools and investing in an additional nice stone from time to time will be a good idea whenever your budget allows…
A good idea is start creating a strategy how your sharpening system should evolve over the time and how you can cope with the expenses.
18 February 2013 at 10:28 pm #8132Well done everyone. I respect your willingness to help a friend and that’s what will make the greatest difference in our sharing knowledge and skill. Consider effectiveness, cost, and practicality. False economy always results in more expense but if costly sharpening plates or off the budget for a season, do what it takes to get the sharpness you need so you can indeed work wood.
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