Introduction

[antlerman]

Hello guys, been a lurker for a little while.
I'm a final year undergraduate university student, I got into knives by meeting my partner. I brought her a Japanese knife as a gift 2 years ago, and I fell down the rabbit hole ever since learning how to maintain them (picking up a few of my own along the way).
I would say I'm above a complete beginner. I've got my knives paper cutting sharp a few times, but I need to improve my consistency.

I'm wanting to upgrade my whetstone progression, to chase the shaving sharp edge. I brought a variety of stone types, some of which I regret. my feeling so far are below;

My 320 shapton glass dishes very quickly, and I don't like the feedback or sound from this stone.

I have a shapton 1000, but I feel it cuts rather quickly. The stone feels a bit more dry and less tactile compared to my naniwa pro, but it gets the job done, especially for my european knives, or setting the burr for a blunt knife.

Naniwa pro 3k. No complaints, great tactile feedback. Want more stones like this.
Unsure if I should "start here" when stones need a touch up. Shaptons feel too course, is the naniwa too fine?

Kitayama 8k. Got this with a wooden base (a while ago, before my 3k). Dislike the lack of tactile feedback compared to the Naniwa. Unsure if this stone is even nessicary. makes the edge look pretty but im uncertain it provides a beneficial change.

Also have a leather strop, one side loaded with tomek, one unloaded. Again unsure on the validity of this step/setup for de burring and finishing my edge.

Let me know if you have any advice. Ideally the less I have to spend the better, as I am a student

Apologies if this is long winded,
Thanks,
Toby

 

[Nemo]

Welcome to the forums.

Is the dog in your avatar a border collie?

 

[Nemo]

Most coarse stones dish quickly. Some almost melt in front of your eyes.

Shapton 1k is coarser than JIS 1k. Maybe 7-800?

NP3K is a pretty good stne for a touch up. If it doesn't produce a burr in a dozen or so strokes, your knife is past touching up (or you are not matching the edges angle) and you need to move down to a medium stone. I like NP/ Chosera 1l (JIS 1500ish) but NP/Chosera 800 (JIS 1200 sh) is also very good. No reason you couldn't use SP1k here though.

You won't need Kitayama 8k unless showing off or cutting delicate fish.

Give the strop a holiday until you can produce a consistent edge on your medium stone.

 

[antlerman]

Most coarse stones dish quickly. Some almost melt in front of your eyes.

Shapton 1k is coarser than JIS 1k. Maybe 7-800?

NP3K is a pretty good stne for a touch up. If it doesn't produce a burr in a dozen or so strokes, your knife is past touching up (or you are not matching the edges angle) and you need to move down to a medium stone. I like NP/ Chosera 1l (JIS 1500ish) but NP/Chosera 800 (JIS 1200 sh) is also very good. No reason you couldn't use SP1k here though.

You won't need Kitayama 8k unless showing off or cutting delicate fish.

Give the strop a holiday until you can produce a consistent edge on your medium stone.

Thank you very much for the response.
Yes the profile picture is my childhood pet border collie, she probably had some spaniel too due to her ears and nose.
With the stones
I was thinking getting a naniwa 800/1000, as the shapton feels very fast cutting and less intuitive to me.
For finishing stones, I often hear people claim 4-6k is ideal. Does the Nwp / 3k have a "true grit" of something a bit higher?. Quantifying "a dozen" as a rough amount needed for a touch up is really helpful, thanks for the information.
Many thanks

 

[HumbleHomeCook]

Welcome and good for you wanting to improve your sharpening! You don't have to become a master sharpener but having proficiency in this skill is extremely rewarding and allows you to get the most out of what you buy.

I don't have experience with the latter two but your Shaptons are good choices. You can reserve the 320 for serious work and focus on your 1k for your routine stuff. What are you using to flatten your stones?

I would advocate learning how to get good edges off your 1k and strop before worrying about buying new stones or even messing with the others you have.

Lots of good info to be found here in the Sharpening Station and never hesitate to ask questions.

 

[antlerman]

Thank you very much for the response.
Yes the profile picture is my childhood pet border collie, she probably had some spaniel too due to her ears and nose.
With the stones
I was thinking getting a naniwa 800/1000, as the shapton feels very fast cutting and less intuitive to me.
For finishing stones, I often hear people claim 4-6k is ideal. Does the Nwp / 3k have a "true grit" of something a bit higher?. Quantifying "a dozen" as a rough amount needed for a touch up is really helpful, thanks for the information.
Many thanks

Welcome and good for you wanting to improve your sharpening! You don't have to become a master sharpener but having proficiency in this skill is extremely rewarding and allows you to get the most out of what you buy.

I don't have experience with the latter two but your Shaptons are good choices. You can reserve the 320 for serious work and focus on your 1k for your routine stuff. What are you using to flatten your stones?

I would advocate learning how to get good edges off your 1k and strop before worrying about buying new stones or even messing with the others you have.

Lots of good info to be found here in the Sharpening Station and never hesitate to ask questions.

I've already got a NP3k, and another brand 8k (brought several years ago after learning from burrification ). Since found better resources.
I also have a loaded strop with tomek on advice from a friends dad whos a woodworker. (unsure if this is the right fit for my knives (great for my european ones though)

Got a dmt 220 grit lapping stone as well. (And a naniwa weirdly shaped one)
Was wondering if I should get something after my np3k, or something in the 1-2k range that has similar feedback or feel to the np3k.

Also considering getting a new strop with diamond 1um emulsion.

Wanting to improve de-burring, as well as improve my progression (if its needed, especially for my white steel petty with 64hrc), as well as fine tune my process to get the most out of the knives I own (on profile)
Thanks

 

[Nemo]

I also have a big soft spot for Border Collies.

The SP1k is a good medium stone. I tend to use my Chosera 1k because I like the feedback better. But there is not that much in it, really.

Rather than buying another medium stone straight away, you will get much better utility out of replacing your flattening stone with a diamond plate such as an Atoma 140. Get the one with the handle if you can.

If you really want a new strop, get some balsa wood, glue it to a pine offcut, lap it with sandpaper to 400 grit finish and spray with diamonds. Maybe add some rubberised feet to prevent slippage.

Or buy a piece of very hard felt and spray with diamonds (use it on a benchtop).

Or skip the strop and just learn to make a sharp well deburred edge on your medium stone.

There are many threads here on deburring. You will see a lot of good deburring advice in these threads.

 

[Nemo]

James over at KnS did a pretty good comparo on 1k stones:



Note that this is NOT me suggesting that you need a new 1k stone. You don't.

Nothing wrong with wanting another one, though...

N+1.

 

[antlerman]

I also have a big soft spot for Border Collies.

The SP1k is a good medium stone. I tend to use my Chosera 1k because I like the feedback better. But there is not that much in it, really.

Rather than buying another medium stone straight away, you will get much better utility out of replacing your flattening stone with a diamond plate such as an Atoma 140. Get the one with the handle if you can.

If you really want a new strop, get some balsa wood, glue it to a pine offcut, lap it with sandpaper to 400 grit finish and spray with diamonds. Maybe add some rubberised feet to prevent slippage.

Or buy a piece of very hard felt and spray with diamonds (use it on a benchtop).

Or skip the strop and just learn to make a sharp well deburred edge on your medium stone.

There are many threads here on deburring. You will see a lot of good deburring advice in these threads.

Thanks for the tips, here's my favourite pic of my dog before I go

 

[antlerman]

Most coarse stones dish quickly. Some almost melt in front of your eyes.

Shapton 1k is coarser than JIS 1k. Maybe 7-800?

NP3K is a pretty good stne for a touch up. If it doesn't produce a burr in a dozen or so strokes, your knife is past touching up (or you are not matching the edges angle) and you need to move down to a medium stone. I like NP/ Chosera 1l (JIS 1500ish) but NP/Chosera 800 (JIS 1200 sh) is also very good. No reason you couldn't use SP1k here though.

You won't need Kitayama 8k unless showing off or cutting delicate fish.

Give the strop a holiday until you can produce a consistent edge on your medium stone.

Following some tips from Jon and JNI, I got my yoshikane skd gyuto to shaving sharp for the first time. I'm struggling in the curved tips of all my knives tho. It's the only part which won't cut my hair or kitchen paper.