I am waterstone curious

[clovishound]

I've always avoided waterstones, due to the mess, and the number of problems I have seen others having with them. I've also always wanted to try them due to the hype surrounding them.

I see that Woodcraft has them on sale right now, it ends today, for a price cheap enough that I could toss it without flinching.

It's a King combo stone 1000/6000 8" x 2"

What say you?

Woodcraft

[Timberwolf]

I've always avoided waterstones, due to the mess, and the number of problems I have seen others having with them. I've also always wanted to try them due to the hype surrounding them.

I see that Woodcraft has them on sale right now, it ends today, for a price cheap enough that I could toss it without flinching.

It's a King combo stone 1000/6000 8" x 2"

What say you?

Woodcraft

........................
They sharpen quickly...but they also wear quickly......You can buy two diamond laps from Amazon for the price of that stone...They cut even quicker and they don't wear hollow. Plenty of space on the lap for hand sharpening on the bench, not powered...

https://www.amazon.com/uxcell-Diamond-Gr...172&sr=8-4

[MarkSLSmith]

I've always avoided waterstones, due to the mess, and the number of problems I have seen others having with them. I've also always wanted to try them due to the hype surrounding them.

I see that Woodcraft has them on sale right now, it ends today, for a price cheap enough that I could toss it without flinching.

It's a King combo stone 1000/6000 8" x 2"

What say you?

Woodcraft

I'm a very long time user of King waterstones and have always gotten along very well with them.  I don't have any combination stones, I assume they must be of equivalent quality.  That said, wouldn't you rather have something 3" wide instead of 2", so that you can sharpen all plane blades?

Mark

[clovishound]

I'm a very long time user of King waterstones and have always gotten along very well with them.  I don't have any combination stones, I assume they must be of equivalent quality.  That said, wouldn't you rather have something 3" wide instead of 2", so that you can sharpen all plane blades?

Mark

Yes, I would prefer wider, but not willing to spend the money on a larger one just to find out I don't like waterstones. 

OK, just looked on Amazon and they have a similar King that is 2 1/2" wide for $10 more, and I can get free shipping. I may hold off for now and perhaps get that instead. I can manage with 2" wide stones, most of my plane irons are 2", but prefer wider.

I have a couple of DMT diamond stones. A course and an extra fine. Not happy with the extra fine. I thought it would settle down with use, but still has a prominent scratch pattern that doesn't match the grit it is supposed to be. It's like there were a handful of coarse diamonds thrown in the mix. It was bad at first, and settled down some after some breaking in, but hasn't gotten where I want it to be. Thus, I was looking for something in the finer grits. I like sandpaper, but hate continuously buying new sheets, or working with a worn out sheet to keep from having to go buy more. I get good results with a hard arkansas stone, but it cuts very slowly. It works very well to touch up knives, but too slow for plane irons and chisels.

[hbmcc]

I have used many stones over the years for various steels; and the grinder wheels helped or ruined the process. King Stones were my first water stones. I think they are typical introduction to water slurry. Only they were more work than oil stones, which was the previous 'Slow Mo' of sharpening. King stones are pretty hard and water stones need to reveal a fast fresh grit constantly. 

Speed sharpening is actually a combination of rotary wheel and honing stone. The wheel brings the bevel to a fine tip and the stones touch a very narrow surface of the tip--think 1/64th width. Look at the process that way and 20 strokes on the first stone becomes too many. This is when a water stone shines. And a leather strop is the final whip.

On the other hand, cut Japanese laminated steel and their flat bevel requirement creates far more manipulation of the process. It's why many cheat and pretend an 8" or 10" wheel is fine for those steels.

[AHill]

I started with a King combo. As noted above, they wear down quickly. My favorite waterstones (and I've tried a lot) are Sigma Power Select stones. Prior to that I used Shapton Pro's. I liked the Shaptons, but the stick-tion from those stones was a nuisance. The Sigma stones cut faster and have nearly the same durability as Shaptons.

I've also tried Norton stones. Somewhere between King and Shapton, but closer to Shapton.

[identity_crisis]

If you get in the habit of flattening the waterstone at the end of each sharpening session or at the beginning, waterstones become less cumbersome (it doesn’t take long to flatten) -not to mention waterstones such as oishi that don’t require presoaking make it easier as well.

I have oishi and norton and when the norton grits wear down ( 4k and 8k )enough, I’ll replace those 2 with just a single 6k oishi.

[AHill]

If you get in the habit of flattening the waterstone at the end of each sharpening session or at the beginning, waterstones become less cumbersome (it doesn’t take long to flatten) -not to mention waterstones such as oishi that don’t require presoaking make it easier as well.

I have oishi and norton and when the norton grits wear down ( 4k and 8k )enough, I’ll replace those 2 with just a single 6k oishi.

Ohishi is the proper spelling.  There is a Japanese word "oishii" which means delicious.

[rwe2156]

I've used King they are good stones.

I am now using 4/8000 Norton + 10K & 15K Shaptons.

I don't know what the "mess" so many complain about. Its no big deal you just need to develop a system. I spray everything with light WD40.

You can't use anything totally dry.....

[cputnam]

I once had a King 8K grit stone - hated it. I love the Sigma Power Selects that Stu was selling. A 1K, 6K and 13K. I truly love the latter two since they need only a spritz of water. I also have expanded the range to lower grits (different brands) which I do not like as much as the DMTs in the lower grits.

I have come to learn that the abrasive is not as important as how one uses it Some abrasives are faster cutting them others and some will provide a nicer polish. It is easy to go chasing the NEXT stone in hopes that it will make the rubbing of steel on some a more delightful experience. It is still rubbing steel on stone at the end of the day, the only variables are time and mess.

JMO