Cheapest stone for thinning

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Dhoff

Dhoff

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So, as the title states I am looking for the very cheapest options for thinning knives. Lifetime of the stone is not real important as this will likely not be done often.

Please help, I appreciate any advice
 
The smoothest brick you could find would probably be free. You'd have some work to do to clean it up if you are after a pretty finish, but it would work for thinning in a pinch. I'll second @stringer and suggest that the King Deluxe 300 at $28 online is a good bet too.
 
Automotive sandpaper on linen, P120. In Europe, Bosch 'Metal'-series. Use a hard rubber or soft wooden backing to avoid facetting.
 
I think Ben has the best answer for you - as long as you come up with an idea how to attach and remove sandpaper from the surface you will be attaching it to reasonably fast, but each piece will not last you more than a few minutes (at most). Otherwise Bester 220 does a decent job and it is a big stone. Another option is Sigma Pro 240.
 
I thin with W&D sandpaper on the Kasfly. You can put one of the (included) soft rubber backings underneath if you want to maintain a convexity.
 
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The King 300 is hard. The crystolon is hard and an oil stone. The cerax is softer and muddier. I don't have one yet but it's on my short list for next couple of months. For thinning knives of my own creation I like the harder stones. I need something softer and muddier for clad knives. It kind of depends what you're thinning. The crystolon or sandpaper is going to be the items that work with the most kind of steels. But they'll also do the most damage you have to fix with later stones.
 
Thank you very much everyone. I really appreciate your knowledge.
 
The atoma 140 is a great option. Stays flat, cuts fast and you won't need to replace anywhere near as quick as a stone.
 
Seqmt said:
The atoma 140 is a great option. Stays flat, cuts fast and you won't need to replace anywhere near as quick as a stone.
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You can also find other knock off diamond plates cheaper online.
 
Sigma Power Ceramic #120 is very fast, stays flat, and is relatively inexpensive. The downside is that it can load, particularly if not thoroughly soaked.

However, if I weren't set-up for flattening coarse stones on loose silicon carbide, I don't quite know how I'd go about conditioning and lapping it.
 
Seqmt said:
The atoma 140 is a great option. Stays flat, cuts fast and you won't need to replace anywhere near as quick as a stone.
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I hate removing the deep scratch marks from a 140 diamond plate. Doesn't really save any time from a coarse stone in the long run.
 
The King 300 is slow compared to other 300's, and there seems to be a trick getting it to cut to it's full potential that I really haven't mastered yet, but like other 300's is easy to clean up after. Geshin 230 is a much faster cutting option that I understand is also relatively easy to clean up after.

At this point if I were looking for faster I'd get the Geshin 220 and use the King as intermediary for the next up. But something like Geshin 220 and 400, or a 120 and 400, seems a much better option.
 
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Thank you everyone, I'll see about that gesshin 220 or follow the advice of Ben and Matus with sandpaper :)
 
JNS300 is not particularly fast stone. Not for a 300 grit I mean. I have it and it has its use because it wears rather slowly and is thus more precise. But in speed it is roughly comparable to Shapton Pro 1000. It also leaves scratch pattern that looks finer than what I would expect from a 300 stone and MUCH finer than what Bester 220 makes.
 
Matus said:
JNS300 is not particularly fast stone. Not for a 300 grit I mean. I have it and it has its use because it wears rather slowly and is thus more precise. But in speed it is roughly comparable to Shapton Pro 1000. It also leaves scratch pattern that looks finer than what I would expect from a 300 stone and MUCH finer than what Bester 220 makes.
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The JNS300 seems to be a good stone to first use as a bevel setter. The King 300 also.
 
JNS300 is a good stone. Just that it’s strength is not in the speed. I think it is it’s relatively high hardness and fine scratch pattern that makes it more suitable for a more precise work (like working on wide bevels or straight razor repair and similar). And it surely can be well used to set edge bevels.
 
Sidewalk works well, concrete steps are even easier...just have to find one w right grit..and cheapest option available
 
theres no sub 300 grit stones that are cheap that i like to use honestly, including the ones already mentioned. Sigma power makes a 240grit stone that i can tolerate but it cost more.
Cerax 320 is my fave low grit, king 300 isnt bad either...but prefer the cerax. Some say Cerax or King are fast or slow but it depends what were comparing them too. Either way theyre both pretty easy to use.
 
A recent Amazon.ca shopping cart of mine inadvertently had a few cheap stones fall into it -- somehow... Seeing as they were as so inexpensive, I figured -- why not...

Long story short, the green DeBell #500 Grit stone is very decent for the $9 CAD it cost me. Looks to be made of green carborundum; scratches seem slightly coarser than 500 JIS, but finer than what I'd expect from a 320; anyway, the scratches are very regular.
31Nl-HaRrxL._SX90_.jpg

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51h4uv-VUTL._SL1047_.jpg

I see that there's a similar black carborundum version of the stone, but it's nearly twice the price for some reason, so I likely won't be trying it. On the other hand, I was looking through Amazon.co.uk, and over there the cheap stone is the black version; whereas the green stone which is cheap in Canada is more than double the price -- for whatever unfathomable reason...

Very decent stone, considering its price. Excellent for taking out the coarse scratches from the Sigma Power Ceramic #120 and getting set up for an #800 or coarse 1k. The scratches from this 500 are a bit coarse to go right to a finer 1k.
 
Benuser said:
Any idea of the JIS grit of the JNS300?
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Reason I ask, is that for those few strokes needed to set a bevel after good thinning, a JIS 300 would be quite too coarse and detrimental to final edge stability. I prefer something in the 600 range. With a Naniwa Pro/Chosera 500, I can easily jump to stropping and deburring on the 2 or even 3k. A bit minimalist, but it works.
 
Benuser said:
Reason I ask, is that for those few strokes needed to set a bevel after good thinning, a JIS 300 would be quite too coarse and detrimental to final edge stability. I prefer something in the 600 range. With a Naniwa Pro/Chosera 500, I can easily jump to stropping and deburring on the 2 or even 3k. A bit minimalist, but it works.
Click to expand...

I'd use the JNS300 after doing the heavy metal removal. Then move to like 500 or so.
 
Benuser said:
Reason I ask, is that for those few strokes needed to set a bevel after good thinning, a JIS 300 would be quite too coarse and detrimental to final edge stability. I prefer something in the 600 range. With a Naniwa Pro/Chosera 500, I can easily jump to stropping and deburring on the 2 or even 3k. A bit minimalist, but it works.
Click to expand...
I agree-I use the chosera 400 after thinning to set the edge.
 
Knife2meatu said:
A recent Amazon.ca shopping cart of mine inadvertently had a few cheap stones fall into it -- somehow... Seeing as they were as so inexpensive, I figured -- why not...

Long story short, the green DeBell #500 Grit stone is very decent for the $9 CAD it cost me. Looks to be made of green carborundum; scratches seem slightly coarser than 500 JIS, but finer than what I'd expect from a 320; anyway, the scratches are very regular.
31Nl-HaRrxL._SX90_.jpg

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51h4uv-VUTL._SL1047_.jpg

I see that there's a similar black carborundum version of the stone, but it's nearly twice the price for some reason, so I likely won't be trying it. On the other hand, I was looking through Amazon.co.uk, and over there the cheap stone is the black version; whereas the green stone which is cheap in Canada is more than double the price -- for whatever unfathomable reason...

Very decent stone, considering its price. Excellent for taking out the coarse scratches from the Sigma Power Ceramic #120 and getting set up for an #800 or coarse 1k. The scratches from this 500 are a bit coarse to go right to a finer 1k.
Click to expand...

I might pick up the 100 and 500 grit for thinning.
 
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