Do I need any additions to my stones?

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Now that I have 6 different grits of Shapton stones I am beginning to see that certain blade steel do best with just one or two of the stones I have.
I have a GS500, plus these Kuromaku stones; 1000, 2000, 5,000, 8,000, and a 12,000. Is there anything grit size I need to add to this?




 
Now that I have 6 different grits of Shapton stones I am beginning to see that certain blade steel do best with just one or two of the stones I have.
I have a GS500, plus these Kuromaku stones; 1000, 2000, 5,000, 8,000, and a 12,000. Is there anything grit size I need to add to this?




Atoma 140 or something like it for the stones eventually prolly.
 
Need is relative. Depending on what you want to do, would depend on what you "need".

Knife repairs? Polishing? High wear resistant steels?

Each of those requires different stones with different qualities.
 
A very coarse stone can be quite useful.
Also some way of keeping your collection flat.
Been thinking about a 320, and maybe a 1500. The Kabar BK-62 1095CV does really good with the 2000, but the OKC Small Game & Fish with it's 1075 CS might do well with something between the 1000, and the 2000. I have a course stone used for sharpening sickle's it works great to flatten japanese whetstones. I suppose I should get a tool dedicated for this use but this carborundum stone does a real good job.

sharpening-stone.png
 
Been thinking about a 320, and maybe a 1500. The Kabar BK-62 1095CV does really good with the 2000, but the OKC Small Game & Fish with it's 1075 CS might do well with something between the 1000, and the 2000. I have a course stone used for sharpening sickle's it works great to flatten japanese whetstones. I suppose I should get a tool dedicated for this use but this carborundum stone does a real good job.

View attachment 321756
Carbide stones are harder than alumina, but quite friable. I’ve read disappointed accounts of even that very large Naniwa carbide flattening stone.

A diamond plate lasts longer and does not go out of true. They can be had for not much money.
 
As @M1k3 said above, there are a couple of different answers to this question:


1.) No, you don't need anything else. That sounds grand.



2.) YES! Having more things is better. You should get...



- A Norton Crystolon or India Coarse n Fine Combi.

- A King 800.

- 5 or 10 Coticule x BBW. Unfortunately the yellow sides will be so thin that you can't use them for sharpening in any significant way. The main reason of acquiring a coticule is so you can post pictures online, and talk about how wonderful it is.

- Another 10 or so Jnats. Nine of these should be very niche and very expensive stones that excel in one particular area of polishing but can't really do anything else. Plus one regrettable Binsui that you bought cos it was cheap, and you didn't really believe how bad everybody said they were.

- 1 Turkish/Cretan Oilstone. Though like most people; you'll probably conclude it isn't as great as I reckon they are.

- 1 Washita. Cos that's what all the cool kidz actually use.
 
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Carbide stones are harder than alumina, but quite friable. I’ve read disappointed accounts of even that very large Naniwa carbide flattening stone.


(Fwiw - SiC flattening stones aren’t anything like as friable like most SiC whetstones are. It’s simply a matter of how they get made. Manufacturers can make either of em more or less friable very easily).
 
(Fwiw - SiC flattening stones aren’t anything like as friable like most SiC whetstones are. It’s simply a matter of how they get made. Manufacturers can make either of em more or less friable very easily).
I’ve used SiC sandpaper glued to strips of wood for years to treat the calluses on my feet. The sharpness gets knocked off the abrasive in an annoyingly short time. Under a lens, the particles are still there.

Alumina lasts much longer in this application, but has lower initial sharpness.
 
I’ve used SiC sandpaper glued to strips of wood for years to treat the calluses on my feet. The sharpness gets knocked off the abrasive in an annoyingly short time. Under a lens, the particles are still there.

Alumina lasts much longer in this application, but has lower initial sharpness.
Can we extrapolate this model to vanadium carbides in high speed steel?
 
I’ve used SiC sandpaper glued to strips of wood for years to treat the calluses on my feet. The sharpness gets knocked off the abrasive in an annoyingly short time. Under a lens, the particles are still there.

Alumina lasts much longer in this application, but has lower initial sharpness.


Interesting…

I won’t deny your empirical experience, both in use and under a scope (which I’ve never done myself). Though it’s not something people talk about much in terms of SiC vs Al2O3 abrasives.

It would definitely make sense though, with regards to why manufacturers make vitirified SiC stones more friable than AlOx equivalents. So I’m absolutely prepared to believe it. As I say - very interesting to hear!
 
Interesting…

I won’t deny your empirical experience, both in use and under a scope (which I’ve never done myself). Though it’s not something people talk about much in terms of SiC vs Al2O3 abrasives.

It would definitely make sense though, in terms of why manufacturers make vitirified SiC stones more friable than AlOx equivalents. So I’m absolutely prepared to believe it. As I say - very interesting to hear!
Added data point — in the lab we had a small bottle of loose silicon carbide grit for improving the fit of tapered joints in Pyrex glassware. A pinch of grit with a few drops of water between surfaces, and turn by hand. The carbide broke down to “too fine to cut” within a half-dozen turns. Harder than glass, but more brittle.

I generally rinsed and repeated four to six times before the fit felt complete.
 
Added data point — in the lab we had a small bottle of loose silicon carbide grit for improving the fit of tapered joints in Pyrex glassware. A pinch of grit with a few drops of water between surfaces, and turn by hand. The carbide broke down to “too fine to cut” within a half-dozen turns. Harder than glass, but more brittle.

I generally rinsed and repeated four to six times before the fit felt complete.
I think this is correct even in a very broad sense if limiting specifically to the ceramics? cotedupy's statements to stone properties really convolute everything tho...
 
While I've been meh on the Shapton Glass 1k for a while, it's fine I just like chosera 800 better across the board, I have been SUPER pleased with the Shapton Glass 120. Hogs off metal fastlike, and I can get better edges with it than my Shapton Pro 320. Cleaner apex for some reason.

Superb repair stone but also has function for cheap stainless or tools. I agree a diamond is a good idea for flattening your other stones.
 
I think this is correct even in a very broad sense if limiting specifically to the ceramics? cotedupy's statements to stone properties really convolute everything tho...
Not sure. Alumina, and especially zirconia-stabilized alumina, is a very tough grain.

Natural stones tend to be silica-based, a moderately hard and very tough material. The crystals survive what few other minerals do, and end up forming most of the sand, desert or beach, on this planet.

Garnet and zircon are other very tough mineral species. They tended to end up (alongside magnetite) at the bottom of my gold pan.
 
While I've been meh on the Shapton Glass 1k for a while, it's fine I just like chosera 800 better across the board, I have been SUPER pleased with the Shapton Glass 120. Hogs off metal fastlike, and I can get better edges with it than my Shapton Pro 320. Cleaner apex for some reason.

Superb repair stone but also has function for cheap stainless or tools. I agree a diamond is a good idea for flattening your other stones.
I have a Shapton Pro 120. Nice aggressive stone, but it dishes harder than Joan Rivers.

I needed coarse silicon carbide on a cinderblock to get it flat. Coarse carbide breaks down more slowly than the finer grades ime.
 
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