Thread: waterstones

Yep:
http://www.knivesandstones.com/sharpening-stones/

Thanks Fence Furniture. Will follow it up next week.

Originally Posted by safari

Does anyone know where I can get a 2000 or 3000 grit stone? None of the usual suspects such as Timbercon, Timberbits, Carbatec. Get Woodworking, and Major woodworking list them as far as I can tell.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Stu tierney (tools from japan dot com) has some stones in that range. Chosera 3k is a good stone, but choseras are temperamental.

He's got a shapton 2k and a bester 2k also, the later two are very inexpensive as far as those things go.

Thanks for the tip DW. Had a look at the site and I think I will try the Suehiro 3000 ceramic which seems reasonably priced which is good for me.

Presume you're talking about the cerax 3000? I've never tried any of that series, but presume they are medium or softer side of things and fast cutting due to it.

You can let us know how it is if and when you get it.

This is the one DW.(New Cerax 3000) As it is a ceramic stone I thought it might be a little harder and therefor wear a little slower.

http://www.toolsfromjapan.com/store/...th=335_404_573

I believe those are probably not very hard stones. Ceramic is a term that's thrown around now for a lot of stones, but the coors ceramic stones (spydercos) are the only ones of any quality level that I'm aware of that actually have a ceramic binder. Not sure what the vitrified bond stones are made of.

For harder, I'd go with bester 2k, shapton 2k, chosera 3k for middle stones, and shapton or gokumyo for the fine stones. Chosera and gokumyo are very expensive for a little better.

I believe ceramic refers to the type of alumina in most of the stones. The choseras have a magnesia binder, the shaptons resin, superstones are reisin, and I'm not sure about some of the others, but the abrasive in them is not terribly different - it's similar durability and hardness in all of them. Only the diamond and silicon carbide stones have any significantly different abrasive quality, and they really don't yield the best of edges per micron size (they're both kind of hard and harsh, alumina is a little better, etc). You can, of course, get diamonds and other abrasives in small enough particles that it doesn't matter much that they're brash on an edge.

Unfortunately, experimenting with a lot of different stones gets expensive, and you only get a % of your money back unless you are only trying things you chance on for a deal - not something most of us can do.

Thanks for your advice DW. This is my first venture into waterstones and as you guessed I don't know much. A friend has a 3000 Sigma that he is happy with but I was trying to save a few dollars( probably false economy). I will place an order for a New Cerax stone and let you know how it goes.

Which sigma, the sigma II 3000? I've actually had that in the past. It's a soft stone, it's silicon carbide and it's probably the opposite of what you'll want for carving tools. The select II stones (not including the 1200 and 13000) are sintered silicon carbide and very fast cutting, but they are consumed very quickly, too.

I haven't got any perfect suggestions because sharpening vintage carving tools and modern highly alloyed irons is two very different things.

Good question. Don't know. This just emphasises what a minefield it can be choosing woodworking gear.

Thanks for your help, my knowledge is further advanced.