Thread: Recommendation for where to buy waterstones?

This is a fairly contentious subject as I've recently discovered, as everyone has an opinion of what "sharp" means . But at the risk of being flamed I'll relate my experience as a new plane blade sharpener.

I started off with a cheap oil stone, and it didn't work that well until I discovered cheap honing guides. At least that gave me a reliable way to get the right angle (25°). So the plane worked the way it was designed to - sort of.

Fast forward to today (6 months later) and I now have:

. Scheppach Tiger 2000 waterstone wheel (Tormek copy from Hare and Forbes - $149 on special)
. Honing guide (eBay $6)
. 150/600 diamond plate (eBay approx $80)
. 1500 Shapton waterstone (eBay $71)
. Leather Strop (eBay $7.15)
. Green Compound (eBay $3.50)

So what do I achieve with that? Well the waterstone wheel allows me to easily create a new bevel at 90° (with no real skill). Then I use the diamond plate to refine the edge and finish off on the waterstone (using the honing guide again no real skill). The beauty of using the waterstone last is that because the edge is already square and straight there is little wear on the stone, and no need to flatten as often.

So how sharp is sharp? It's hard to find a definitive measure but for arguments sake I can easily shave hairs from my arm, and the shavings I can produce from a piece of pine I can measure at 0.01mm as that's the smallest measurement my calipers will indicate.

So coming back to your original question you don't say how much you have to spend. Sharpening can be an expensive business. I believe my solution is about as cheap as you can go for someone who is inexperienced to achieve the level of "sharp" I describe.

If you need guidance with online shopping I'm happy to help. BTW a Stanley No.4 base is 60mm wide. The 4 1/2 is wider (75mm I think)

I think your on the money with Timbercon or Carbatec. They should both have them.

Or online there is probably hundreds of options.
https://www.japanesetools.com.au/col...rpening-stones

https://www.cwsonline.com.au/shop/ca...ng-waterstones

I also found hairdresser supply shops are good:
https://www.beardandblade.com.au/collections/sharpening

Shaving Strops - Straight Razor Strops & Hones | MEN'S BIZ

Or abroad:
https://www.fine-tools.com/japwas.html

As for what way to go??? Ask 10 people and you'll get 11 answers.
I've got a few "King" Waterstones from Carbatec and they work fine, and if thats what you've got and like them and get the results you want. Stick with it.

Good luck
cheers
Shane

Considering the limited state of your finances maybe you should be looking at things like these. If you want Japanese -
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/JAPANESE...4AAOSwFMdaVCMC OR
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/JAPANESE....l4275.c10Same seller, but one is listed in US$. The conversion rate is overly optimistic, but the US$ listing would be the better buy at the moment.

If you can't stretch to that some of the Chinese stones are an acceptable alternative, for instance this -
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Professi...8AAOSwXPNZ-HHu

Regardless of what you buy I would strongly suggest you buy a cleaning and slurry stone to use on stones finer then 3000 grit, one of these -
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/King-Jap...4383.l4275.c10

As suggested by Tccp123 a honing guide is a must unless you're one of the rare people who can sharpen by hand. For times when you have to establish an initial bevel something as simple as quality sandpaper on a flat surface can do the job. You don't have to spend a fortune.

If searching online for any of these things be careful not to get ripped-off. For instance there's some sellers on Ebay who want over $40 for the same King Nagura stone.

Mnb, there are a number of ways to get Stanley irons sharp. These blades are a simple high carbon steel, and do not require anything special to hone them.

The cheapest option is to use wet&dry sandpaper glued to glass. 240 grit for grinding, 600 grit for the primary bevel, 1200 for a secondary bevel, and polish on 2000 grit or finish on Lee Valley green compound.

Diamond paste is another option. These pastes are available on eBay. Use them on a cast iron plates (I used the soles of broken Stanley planes). 15 micron, 9 micron and 1 micron. Do not take this as a recommendation for diamond stones. They are too coarse (and expensive), and the highest only goes to 1200 grit.

In the waterstone area, the most cost effective option is a combination stone, such as 1000/6000. The 1000 is for the primary bevel, and the 6000 for the secondary bevel. Polish on green compound. The trouble is finding decent inexpensive stones. I do not recommend King (which are stocked by both Carbatec and Timbecon) as they are very soft. Lie Nielsen (Australia) sell a 1000/8000 stone, which looks promising. Ordinarily, I'd suggest Stu at Tools from Japan, but he is away at present. Japanese Tools sell a combination set as well.

Regards from Perth

Derek

If you end up deciding to buy a King stone have a look at this offer - https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Nagura-a...cAAMXQVERS7zCt - includes the 1000/6000 stone plus the Nagura. You would land it for less than A$50. I've bought off this guy in the past, he's quite reliable.
I couldn't find his listings last night due to Ebay's new improved crappy search feature. No wonder sellers are deserting them in droves!

Just to reinforce the need to be careful to not get ripped-off take a look at these two listings:
- https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Japanese...item5b42b8467f
- (1, classic) - King Japanese Nagura Stone #8000. Free Shipping | eBay
It's the same product!! The expensive one comes up when you search 'King Nagura stone', the other one doesn't. Ebay seems to be very happy to support sellers like this, there's one based at Robina on the Gold Coast called 'itsaloverlydayforshopping' that has thousands of listings all at prices well over twice the normal price. So make sure you do your homework and be careful.

Mnb, why don't you put an advert in the wanted section of this forum and see if anyone has any water stones they no longer need. The suggestions of wet and dry paper and diamond paste are also worthy of consideration, don't get hung up on one method being better or THE best because as sure as God made little apples you will experiment and change your mind if you stick at wood work.

My journey started with oil stones, then W&D paper, diamond paste, a Worksharp 3000, The water stone set from Japan Tools, (one stone of which I still use every time I sharpen), Glass Shapton ceramic stones combined with hollow grinding on a CBN wheel and I finally have decided that this last method is the quickest and easiest of the lot with the best results when combined with two water stones and green honing paste.

Along the way I bought the complete Veritas Mk2 sharpening system which I now never use but still keep adding to when a new addition for it comes simply for completeness and I have recently thought about selling the whole thing but I hate selling tools and it just might come in handy one day. I also bought the Veritas grinding tool rest which I might also sell due to never using it. I doubt if I am any different to any other person who is a long term woodworker as many discussions on sharpening will show.

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

Mnb, why don't you put an advert in the wanted section of this forum and see if anyone has any water stones they no longer need. The suggestions of wet and dry paper and diamond paste are also worthy of consideration, don't get hung up on one method being better or THE best because as sure as God made little apples you will experiment and change your mind if you stick at wood work.

Actually, I have a selection of 3 or 4 stones (some King, some others) ranging from 1000 grit up to a combo 1000/8000. Haven't used them in years, so the OP is welcome to the lot if he's happy to pay the postage?

My sharpening regime has been drastically simplified to CBN wheel, 1000, 5000, 12000 Sigma ceramic stones. I'll certainly never use the waterstones again.....but great for someone just starting out.

You'll never do better than that! Good on you MB.

Mnb - please PM me if you want these.

Just saw new post, will absolutely PM. I deleted my long winded reply because I was having trouble with the formatting and it is kinda irrelevant now.

I handn't actually properly noticed the wanted section. Thanks for the suggestion.

I want to say thank you here for the offer. Really generous and Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou

With any luck it could be as soon as next month that you start posting about cutting yourself all the time. Nah, that's not true, much better chance of injuring yourself with blunt tools.

So I have managed to lose the reply I had but a couple of things I wanted to ask were:
first about honing compound. I was wondering if there is much difference in the quality of the different products? I've seen a far bit of variety in the price.

Jumping from say a 2000 grit wet and dry (which is what I was considering before asking on the forum) to the honing compound, will that get the same result but take longer than going to a higher stone first?

I bought a cheap version of Dremel when I thought I might have to do some sort of woodworking sitting down and it included a green polishing paste. Is it the same thing?

And, the stones I have are 50mm wide but my blades are 51mm. I can't quite get the whole blade on at once and it makes it really difficult. Is that normal or because I have cheap stones?


BTW; I really appreciate all the replies. It was a real help.