Are expensive whet stones worth it?

[Willb2862]

I  should note that I go to the strop more frequently than I would if I use the stones every time, but it's a few seconds and back to work with a super sharp blade.

[philg9]

As far as my harness tools go.  I never use any of what is termed as the traditional oil sharpening stones,also known as carborundum stones  if you want to ruin your tool edges, go right ahead. The only one I use now is an Eze Lap diamond stone, it is a slab of stainless stell with doamoind dust coating embedded in the top surface. to create a new edge or re edge, this is the only one I'll use. If i caught anyone putting my tools on an oil stone thye would end up wearing it.   i only go to the Eze lap when an edge really does need re doing. After that and for general everyday maintenence, it is the leather strop board.  On one side I have a piece of something like 1.5 MM panel hide glued onto the board, flesh side up and I rub fine jewellers rouge onto the leather, this keeps half round knives ( head knives), skiving knives, clicker blade knives lovely and smooth with no burrs, once been over this, on the other side of the board i have another piece of panel hide glued on, flesh side up woith nothing on it, just plain leather, I then put the blade on thos for a final polishing. Nothing else keeps my tools toip top razor sharp so they are ready to go whenever i need to use them.

Then after that, if they do need a final polish to really take out and final marks to really get a high polish and  avery keen edge, I have another strop board, again with a pice of panel hide glued on flesh side up, and I alwayskeep the brand of metala polish called " Autosol "    this is widely available everywhere, it comes in a toothpaste size tube, smear a little blob onto the leather and smea rit around a bit to cover the sized area the blade will need then goive it a final stropping on the Autosol, nothing I have found will take out and final scores and marks you cant see with your naked eye and will take off any final tiny bits of burr to then leave your tol gleaming, polished and if you done it right with the right angle for whatever blade you are working on,  be careful of your fingers.  I use the above methods on my splitter blades, works a treat, takes a bit more work as these blades are old and harder steel but the Autosol does good for the final few sweeps.   With the leather strops and jewellers rouge,you do not need to apply hard pressure,  it's better with a lot more gentle sweeps rather than a few hard grinds.

[MikeRock]

"Anyhow, what I've gleaned is that the DMT diamond stones have an uneven distribution of diamond sizes, which leaves random large gouges in the knife bevel."

Years ago at the SHOT Show in Vegas I told the DMT guy that I just rubbed two of their stones face to face to get rid of high diamonds and he said that was a great answer to the high diamond problem.  I bought the kit of three 2x6 inch stones a did the two finer ones on the coarse (Red) one.....problem solved on all three stones at once.   It doesn't knock the life down at all.  I have a 15 year old stone right here on the desk and it still works, every day.

God bless

[Retswerb]

On 10/2/2018 at 4:22 PM, DonInReno said:

A few years ago I ran into some images taken with an electron microscope showing what’s going on when we sharpen a knife blade and it really changed my perspective.  This is just an example of some of those - the factory new Victorinox edges are pretty sharp in use, but the edge sharpened by a professional knife sharpener on stones is even better.  The scalpel blades are interesting

https://scienceofsharp.wordpress.com/tag/knives/page/3/

check out how the removal rate of different stones and how coarse stones need additional pressure or they don’t take off more metal than finer ones!  

https://scienceofsharp.wordpress.com/2016/12/21/abrasion-rate-vs-grit/

Saw this post the other night and boy howdy have I fallen down the ‘science of sharp’ rabbit hole! He’s got a ton of fascinating experiments and pics on there. Cool resource, great in-depth reading for anyone interested in what’s actually going on when you sharpen or strop a blade.

[Spyros]

   I hate sharpening.

[DonInReno]

3 hours ago, Retswerb said:

Saw this post the other night and boy howdy have I fallen down the ‘science of sharp’ rabbit hole! He’s got a ton of fascinating experiments and pics on there. Cool resource, great in-depth reading for anyone interested in what’s actually going on when you sharpen or strop a blade.

It’s been almost two years since I read that and after a reread it’s just as interesting - this is definitely a must read!

[Hardrada]

7 hours ago, Spyros said:

   I hate sharpening.

It can be frustrating, specially with round blades. A necessary hassle, though; and with the right tools/stones, it can even be enjoyable.

[Spyros]

On 7/22/2020 at 5:12 AM, Hardrada said:

It can be frustrating, specially with round blades. A necessary hassle, though; and with the right tools/stones, it can even be enjoyable.

The world invented replaceable blades, no reason to go back to the 19th century.   Utility knife, X-acto, rotary blade, strap cutter, safety skiver, anything I can do to eliminate sharpening I will absolutely do

Round knives look really cool but I wouldn't take one for free.

[Frodo]

.....

 

 

 

Edited July 23, 2020 by Frodo

[chuck123wapati]

6 hours ago, Spyros said:

The world invented replaceable blades, no reason to go back to the 19th century.   Utility knife, X-acto, rotary blade, strap cutter, safety skiver, anything I can do to eliminate sharpening I will absolutely do

Round knives look really cool but I wouldn't take one for free.

LOl kinda ironic statement since people have been working leather since the stone age. I sharpen my disposables too No need wasting the earths valuable resources is my outlook. But to each his own is my motto. I use so many different cutting tools that its a necessity kinda like washing dishes imo just hum a tune while doing it and its over before you know it.