Poverty sharpening kit (China edition)

[Scribbled]

Right, so my current set up includes a breeze block, some sandpaper, an awful $10 “400/1000” and a “3000/8000” these seem to scratch the bejesus out of everything I put near them, so having finally bought a Japanese knife, it’d be nice to get something better.


However not nice enough to pay the $80-$100 per stone for a full progression range ( I’d guess there’s around a 40% mark up here, so the atoma 140 is about $80 and shapton or chosera 1000 grit are about $100) . Alternatively ... there’s the Suehiro stones which are -much - cheaper, or! There are vast numbers of natural stones for sale, the courser ones being both seriously cheap and rustic (most of the reviews where shot by people without indoor plumbing) while the finer stones are a little pricer (still under $25$) and advertised at woodworkers. The difficulty of course is that the grit numbers are pulled entirely out of the air and usually inflated upwards. Chinese can also be a bit vague regarding geology: most stones are only described as being ‘green, striped or white jade’ though agate seems popular in the higher hardness range. Worth a punt you think or better to save the cash for a better Japanese synthetic? I’d like to keep total budget within $150-200.



Related questions: what is the difference between the cheaper Naniwa stones and their Chosera line?

Many thanks.

 

[Michi]

The standard answer for a good budget sharpening setup is the King KDS 1000/6000 plus a strop. Well less than $100 and suitable for all but extremely hard PM steels.

 

[drsmp]

A mid priced 1000 and 6000 stone should cover everything but major repairs. Keep an eye on the BST or make a WTB post. Nice stones pop up on a regular basis

 

[Bensbites]

Nothing wrong with the king setup. Personally I would pay a little more for shapton pro stones. $30-40 online last time I checked.

 

[Scribbled]

Fantastic, thanks! Might you how the king compares to the Suehiro 1000/3000? Just asking as the latter is readily available here, but the king would need to be shipped in from overseas. Likewise Naniwa is easier to find than shapton.

 

[Michi]

Suehiro is good and will deal with harder steels (> 62 HRC) (which the King will struggle with). Either will make for a good setup. The Naniwa stones are very good too, but expensive.

 

[kayman67]

Hm. Cheapest best way I found so far is the JCK Special Combination 1000+4000. No fuss using this.

You can add a coarser stone if you want. It's not really necessary unless you need to do repairs and thinning and so on.
Things to consider: Suehiro 320, Norton Crystolon (both cheap enough) or maybe a good deal on a diamond plate.

Leather strop.

You should have some money left even for the 8k stone.

You could also mix a bit of Bester and Kitayama stones. Not sure about the value for all though.

I do have one question. Where are you?

 

[M1k3]

I do have one question. Where are you?

He's in China, I believe mainland, not HK.

 

[kayman67]

This might hurt the budget and availability in general.

Anything is a step up from what the Chinese are making. But there are some whetstones that are quite good. It's hard to find them though. The surface should be smooth, glass like. I have only been able to find above 2k so far and this by getting a pile of them.

Naniwa Gouken was a solid series for me in general and cheap (don't know the prices there and if it's available).
Most Suehiro stones are also good and easy to understand.

 

[Scribbled]

Thank you all for the hugely informative replies. Where possible I’d like to use the same merchant that sold me my knife, because he’s trustable and I strongly feel one should reward good service with future custom.


Anyway three slightly sub $100 setups (this would leave me enough to either buy one more but okish stone or more likely fund 30 seconds of the wife buying baby junk - budget is 150-200)

1. the cheap submersible Suehiro 100/3000 . A sink frame, a 5000? Grit natural stone, a local 200/400 atoma knockoff for lapping

2) the more expensive Suehiro splash and go 1000/6000, three beers.

3) A shapton or naniwa *1000+3000 and three beers.


Three beers can be exchanged for sink bridges, Chinese diamond lapping plates or equivalent, though only with great regret.



I’m particularly interested if anyone can differentiate the Suehiro 1000/3000


From the 1000/6000.


The merchant cautioned be against the latter saying it was very hard and not to everyone’s taste. But soaking is a a bit of a **** and tends to make a mess so I’m keen to circumvent it ic possible.



* I’m struggling a bit with Japanese- >Chinese-> English so often don’t know the series name. Happy to provide pictures if your patient enough to look of course.

 

[Scribbled]

Sorry it’s Friday night and I’m having trouble inserting images In The correct place.

 

[kayman67]

Naniwa 1000/3000? Combo? Might be The worse Japanese stone ever made.

 

[Scribbled]

Regarding strops do you mostly use leather and linen razor strops or paddles? The various razor forums seem keen on using CrOx on balsa wood, not sure if that’s applicable to kitchen knives

 

[kayman67]

Depends on what you want to achieve.

It's a lot easier to have a hard surface. Razors are another story.
The surface itself will influence the behaviour of the abrasive and how the strop can be used.

 

[M1k3]

I use 2 balsa strips. One with 3 micron diamond paste (soft steels and stubborn to deburr), another with 1 micron. I like they are stiff, so, if I roll the edge, I know it's user error. I also like harder stones also...