Affordable sharpening stones

[matthewsutton]

Hi all. I am looking at moving from a worksharp system to a stone sharpening setup and want some advice on affordable stones to buy. I don't do a lot of woodworking much anymore but know the importance of a sharp blade. I have my chisels, a LN low angle block, and a LN #4 to sharpen. I've seen rob cosman sharpen blades with a micro bevel in a very short period of time using stones and add camber to the edges and just think that would be a quicker, cheaper, and easier setup for me. there seems to be a large number of choices from water/ceramic/diamond, then what grits to buy, etc. looking online, you can spend a small fortune I've found out but have read of people having good success with import stones they bought on eBay. So I'm open to any advice to sharpening stones that will help keep everything nice and sharp and stay flat on a budget. Thanks

[Carl Grover]

Get a Norton 4000/8000 waterstone and use it for final honing and a 1000 grit stone for medium work. You can still do bevels and shaping type stuff with sandpaper. Nortons are fairly cheap and will serve you well. they also last a long time. You might put up a request for them in S&S. they come up for sale occasionally.

Carl

[Joe Connors]

+1!

[JimBelair]

Carl Grover said:

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Get a Norton 4000/8000 waterstone and use it for final honing and a 1000 grit stone for medium work. You can still do bevels and shaping type stuff with sandpaper. Nortons are fairly cheap and will serve you well. they also last a long time. You might put up a request for them in S&S. they come up for sale occasionally.

Carl

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+2

[Timberwolf]

Keep in mind that you cannot do "quality" woodworking with Norton India and Carborundom hones, finishing with an Arkie....even tho most of the really legendary "old tyme" craftsmen did...or so I'm told....

[Rob Young]

Timberwolf said:

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Keep in mind that you cannot do "quality" woodworking with Norton India and Carborundom hones, finishing with an Arkie....even tho most of the really legendary "old tyme" craftsmen did...or so I'm told....

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Combo coarse and fine India stone plus good strop gets you a long way down the slippery slope. And cheaply.

(Just in case he was to subtle for you...)

[JR1]

As you have the woorksharp to set bevels and do course sharpening you really only need a 3000x Sigma Power Select II Ceramic Water Stone to get the micro bevel nice and sharp. You could also get a 10000x for further sharpening but you don't really need it. The Sigma will out perform and outlast the Norton. You don't want to keep these in water just dunk them before use. You will eventually want a flattening plate but likely not for a year or more. Checkout the Tech link as well.

I've tried oil stones, worksharp, scary sharp, diamond paste and Norton. These are the best that I've found so far. Some folks will say that you need to go to 10000x grit or finer but I have a 10000x and rarely use it. Yes it does make a difference but not worth the trouble unless you are working burl or really tough wood. Diamond paste works better but is much messier and way more expensive.

BTW I sharpen after every use even if its only a few strokes.

[clydeone]

JR1 said:

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Diamond paste works better but is much messier and way more expensive.

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I have a hard time finding a burr when sharpening with diamond paste - it is definitely messy - but was not that expensive to start - I like the finish with .25 micron paste on MDF

[Wilbur Pan]

Since you already have a Worksharp, and are looking to limit your spending, why not just get either a strop or an 8000+ grit waterstone? Use the Worksharp as you currently do, and then finish up on the waterstone/strop.

[Tony Z]

To the OP: you're opening a real can of worms here with your question! Everyone will have their opinion that works for their methods and the wood they work. I would suggest you pick one method and stick to it, disregarding the latest, greatest from the blog-o-sphere woodworking world. I would also suggest getting one of the DVD's offered by "Tools for Working Wood". One deals with waterstones, if that trips you trigger, the other deals with oitstones, if that's your poison.

After a few years, you can choose if you want to experiment, but the fact is, mostly every suggestion made will get you acceptably sharp.