Thread: KING Wetstones?

King waterstones featuring 2 grits for $30? What size are they? I would have thought that anything around $60 for a 185mm x 63mm stone would be a good price.

Japanese whetstone KING combi 800/4000 sharpening water stone KW65P | eBay

Dont know if this link would work.

180x64x26 mm $33 inc shipping AUD.

Are they a good stone, for beginners?

It says 22 USD +10.99USD shipping.

I have a 1200 king stone and 6000 kingstone. I still use the 6000, but use diamond plates for lower grits now. The 6000grit works fine but smells funny when you flatten it while dry. kinda smells like dog poop, but I am pretty sure it doesn't contain any dog poop

I used the king stones before I went to diamond, nice finish from the 6000 although I have since migrated to a 12000 Shapton for the final polish because shiny

I would not recommend King stones. I used them many years ago - they were all we had then. Times have moved on. The King stones I used tended to be soft, which meant they needed flattening often. I still have a 8000 Gold, which is a nice stone, but really more for someone versed in these stones. More modern designs, such as Shapton, stay flat longer and cut harder steels more easily than King. If they are cheap on eBay it is because someone wants to get rid of them.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Yep, I remember the 1200 was quite soft. Didn't use the 6000 enough to notice it

I've got a 4k King water stone for kitchen knives and cleavers.
Never use anything finer as there's no incremental benefit in the kitchen.
For shine/honing I use CrOx/AlOx on box card, taped onto a slab offcut counter top stone.
Those things just leave the surface so finely scratched that you can't see it with the unaided eye.
The surface is never smooth.

Right, US$33, so that will probably cost you just under AUD$50 for the #800/4000 or AUD$60 for a #1000/6000. If you use the SS system do you really need the lower grit on the stone? A #6000 provides a very acceptable edge, so if you just got a single #6000 I think you would find that very satisfactory. The lower grit King stones are quite soft, but once you get to #6000 they're quite a bit harder and you can use the SS system to keep it flat. As a value proposition for a hobbyist a #6000 King stone for comparable money would seem well worth considering to me. Once you get in to the higher numbered grits it's worth getting a Nagura to go with them. As you can see in that sellers store the Shaptons are considerably more expensive.

Hi Aldav, Thanks for your valued responses. However i am looking to reduce the amount of W&D i use in the SS System and therefore looking to move to stones of some form. I do not have a huge budget and therefore was looking for a combo stone which would to medium and fine, followed by a strop. I am not going to be a super heavy user of the stones. Sharpening a couple of chisels and then some plane blades.

I am going down the track of making my own tools, marking knives, plane blades, chisels, and knives. All of these are in a traditional laminated style (I HOPE). Actually conducting my first forge welding tonight and hoping to turn out a nice Kiridashi by the end of it.

Anyway back on track. Is the shapton stone the glass ones? Any further advice / recommendations highly welcomed.

Thanks in advance.

Great to hear that you will be another toolmaker on the site, look forward to seeing posts on your progress. To your question, I use diamond plates, oil stones, a Tormek and I also have a King brand stone that put's a mirror edge on a blade. Overall no complaints, everything is as sharp as I need it to be.

I have no personal experience of the Shapton stones CCS, other than to know that they are held in high regard. No doubt some other members can help you. My sharpening regime includes a double sided diamond stone (#400/1000) and #1200 and #6000 King waterstones. I use the #400 side of the diamond stone to flatten the waterstones. I agree with others that the #1200 stone particularly is fairly soft and flattening is a regular requirement. That being said I'm quite happy with the results I get, I've never considered sharpening an end in itself.

CCS, I advise against combo stones. They may appear to you to be a saving right now, but once you become more dialled in to using tools, you will find them an inconvenience. Flipping a stone may not sound a big deal, but having the right stone (and tool) when needed will be appreciated.

If you prepare your blades with a hollow via a high speed grinder, then I would advise that your first stone is a fine DMT (600 grit)or Ezy-lap diamond stones. The diamond stone will mean that you do not worry about flatness, and flatness is especially important when working with the coarse end. If you are not using a power grinder, then you are going to need coarser diamond stones to do so.

If you were experienced I would suggest a 1000 Pro Shapton as an alternative (forget about the glass Shaptons - you get half the stone for more money!). The next (finishing) stone could be a 6000 Sigma (bloody good). This is good enough to finish on and stays flat. If you were an advanced user, I would recommend the Medium and Ultra Fine Spyderco ceramic stones. These are very hard and keep their shape.

After this you could just use Lee Valley green compound scribbled on a piece of planed hardwood or MDF.

Good to hear that you are interested in building your own tools. I am not sure how familiar you are with handtools, but I suspect that you are a newcomer. If so, learn from the tools that have been around a while before being tempted to re-invent the wheel - which comes later.

Regards from Perth

Derek

I have a swag of assorted King/Japanese waterstones that I don't use any more (gone over to Sigma/Shapton) - I think there is an 800, 1200, 6000, and a 4000/8000 combo in the mix. PM me if you'd be interested in picking up the lot for a suitably seasonal price....

Someone else may as well get some use out of them, and they did me fine for many years until I became totally anal about sharpening

Some good suggestions from Derek if you're looking at more expensive (and better) stones. You can't go too far wrong with Sigma or Shapton, and a lot of the choice comes down to personal preference. I'm currently on a 1000 grit Sigma (possibly the best stone of any grit I've ever used), followed by 5000, 12000 Shapton stones. I also have some new roo tail hide from eBay to try as a strop with LV green compound.

All the bits for my CBN setup on slow speed grinder arrived from CWS last week, so the next job is building the new grinder station.......