Thread: Sharpening setup

How about this setup?
Suehiro 'New Cerax' ceramic stone, #400 grit.
Suehiro 'New Cerax' ceramic stone, #400 grit. : Tools from Japan, Japanese woodworking tools direct from Japan.

Suehiro 'Cerax' ceramic stone, #1000 grit
Suehiro 'Cerax' ceramic stone, #1000 grit. : Tools from Japan, Japanese woodworking tools direct from Japan.

Sigma Power ceramic #6000 baseless 'Jinzo-renge-suita'
Sigma Power ceramic #6000 baseless 'Jinzo-renge-suita' : Tools from Japan, Japanese woodworking tools direct from Japan.

or this:
some cheap ebay 400ish grit stone and:

https://www.japanesetools.com.au/col...sharpening-kit

Buying from Tools of Japan I have and recommend the three stones he recommends for starting and you absolutely will not be disappointed. See here

Sigma Power ceramic 1000-6000-13000 special set. : Tools from Japan, Japanese woodworking tools direct from Japan.

And this Atoma diamond plate.

Atoma diamond plate with rubber base, #400. : Tools from Japan, Japanese woodworking tools direct from Japan.

Word of warning currently buying from Toolsfromjapan, order processing seems to be taking ages. According to Stu's blog, he's run into personal hardship recently which is understandable but just as an FYI, shipping may take several months as it seems to be the case for my order.

I use atoma plates for flattening stones and really coarse work then swap to shapton glass stones with a few japanese natural stones thrown in for some of my japanese planes....

thanks, several months is a long time he probably should stop orders

what are people's thoughts on "king" brand of stones - quite a few people talking about them - they seem cheaper is it a case of you get what you pay for?

I am not sure whether the current King stones are different to those I used about 20 years ago. They were quite soft and quick to dish. I still have the 8000 Gold in a drawer. It is a nice stone, but requires constant flattening, and is better suited to O1 steel.

Regards from Perth

Derek

The King stones are on the soft side, but I still prefer to use them. For the beginner they are easily gouged, but this applies to all water stones. If you are competent on an oil stone it's not difficult to master the water stone. A single double sided stone is a good place to start.
Re flattening is dead easy on these softies.

Originally Posted by qwertyu

what are people's thoughts on "king" brand of stones - quite a few people talking about them - they seem cheaper is it a case of you get what you pay for?

what sorts of steel are you sharpening?
O1, A2, one of the exotics, or whatever my flea market find is made of?

if your aim is to cry just the once, I'd point you towards the Spyderco ceramic stones. http://www.everten.com.au/spyderco-u...mic-stone.html
Derek has both the medium and ultra fine -- I keep the ultra fine on my bench. IMO, Derek's 0.5 micro diamond mesh is optional.
(because Spyderco stones are primarily intended for knife sharpening, some need an initial (once off) flattening with a diamond plate.)



and what's wrong with this image from the link in your original post?

Thanks guys.

Rustynail, what are you using to flatten your king stone?

Everyone - what does everyone use to flatten your stones?

ian - no idea what type of steel I will be sharpening. Atm I have 2 old chisels, I think they are made by stanley. Also have an old block plane. I dont plan on doing much handtool work once I get the shed sorted and can jump right into woodworking, but on the odd occasion where I want to use the plane to take the sharpness off an edge or use a chisel to clean up a groove I dont want to waste time with blunt tools.

The picture - the chisel is on the wrong way? haha

I've got an unused stone-flattening stone sitting in a cupboard. Not going to do me much good with diamond plates, so it's yours if you want

That's a nice gesture, Elan. Is this a diamond stone? Other types need to be flattened, just like waterstones.

Qwertyu (I hope I typed that correctly ), the blades you are using are almost certainly an O1 type of steel. I have the Spyderco stones to which Ian referred. They are excellent.

Regards from Perth

Derek

No, not a diamond stone. It's basically a very coarse whetstone with some large diagonal grooves cut in it

I hate to rain on your parade, but those flattening stones have a reputation for going out of flat. Best to either use a diamond stone or sandpaper on glass when flattening a waterstone. Back when I used King, I used 220 grit plasterboard mesh (drywall sanding mesh) on a kitchen benchtop off cut. It worked a treat.

Regards from Perth

Derek

I wasn't expecting it to be fantastic for the $20 I paid, just thought I'd pass it on to someone who might have a use for it

Originally Posted by qwertyu

Thanks guys.

Rustynail, what are you using to flatten your king stone?

Everyone - what does everyone use to flatten your stones?

ian - no idea what type of steel I will be sharpening. Atm I have 2 old chisels, I think they are made by stanley. Also have an old block plane. I dont plan on doing much handtool work once I get the shed sorted and can jump right into woodworking, but on the odd occasion where I want to use the plane to take the sharpness off an edge or use a chisel to clean up a groove I dont want to waste time with blunt tools.

The picture - the chisel is on the wrong way? haha

I use sand paper on a piece of 6mm plate glass. The water stones stay flatter longer by using a figure eight motion when honing chisels and plane blades. The more surface area covered with each stroke the better.