BloodrootLS
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2012
- Messages
- 136
- Reaction score
- 5
Hey guys,
David and I are in need of some advice. We sharpen a lot of knives, all carbons, and stone durability and ability to withstand permasoak are important considerations, since we use them at any time during the day, multiple times, and need them ready in our sharpening station at all times.
The main problems we're having is with repairs and initial edge setting. We've been using coarse DMT's for the last few years since they stay flat, but we wear them out about once every 6 weeks and always have several in rotation since after a month or so they're nearly worthless and they're not ideal when they're absolutely fresh. We've also been unhappy with the unevenness of the diamond application- some stones we've gotten have had clumps on the surface and it takes a week or so of use to wear them in and they just don't cut smoothly when they are in that condition. Only 2 out of the last 8 have had this problem. The other issue is that they are expensive at the rate they wear out for us and end up generating a lot of waste.
What do you guys suggest for this kind of work? I don't mind flattening a coarse stone relatively frequently, but the cheap Nortons etc. that I've used in the past weren't fun to use either and wore out super quickly.
We are happy with our Suehiro #1200 stone. Great feel, pretty hard and durable, but still breaks down enough for a good slurry. The Norton 1000 we have is nice and fast cutting, but soft and dishes quickly. We typically don't use it and prefer the Suehiro.
We are ambivalent/mildly unhappy with our King #6000. Loads quickly and have to use the nagura often and also seems to either hold pieces of grit on the surface or else have an uneven grit size. Not as smooth cutting as I like. We recently got a Shapton #5000 and neither of us like it at all. Soft and doesn't seem to cut smoothly either. Similar faults to the King, but softer and less friendly.
We have an unknown #4000 that's just amazing. I wish beyond all things that I knew what it was but we inherited it from a woodworker and it has no markings. It's quite hard and cuts aggressively but smoothly.
We also use an unknown #8000 that's ok, but very soft.
Do you all have any suggestions for what would improve our collection?
We greatly appreciate your advice.
Best,
~Luke
David and I are in need of some advice. We sharpen a lot of knives, all carbons, and stone durability and ability to withstand permasoak are important considerations, since we use them at any time during the day, multiple times, and need them ready in our sharpening station at all times.
The main problems we're having is with repairs and initial edge setting. We've been using coarse DMT's for the last few years since they stay flat, but we wear them out about once every 6 weeks and always have several in rotation since after a month or so they're nearly worthless and they're not ideal when they're absolutely fresh. We've also been unhappy with the unevenness of the diamond application- some stones we've gotten have had clumps on the surface and it takes a week or so of use to wear them in and they just don't cut smoothly when they are in that condition. Only 2 out of the last 8 have had this problem. The other issue is that they are expensive at the rate they wear out for us and end up generating a lot of waste.
What do you guys suggest for this kind of work? I don't mind flattening a coarse stone relatively frequently, but the cheap Nortons etc. that I've used in the past weren't fun to use either and wore out super quickly.
We are happy with our Suehiro #1200 stone. Great feel, pretty hard and durable, but still breaks down enough for a good slurry. The Norton 1000 we have is nice and fast cutting, but soft and dishes quickly. We typically don't use it and prefer the Suehiro.
We are ambivalent/mildly unhappy with our King #6000. Loads quickly and have to use the nagura often and also seems to either hold pieces of grit on the surface or else have an uneven grit size. Not as smooth cutting as I like. We recently got a Shapton #5000 and neither of us like it at all. Soft and doesn't seem to cut smoothly either. Similar faults to the King, but softer and less friendly.
We have an unknown #4000 that's just amazing. I wish beyond all things that I knew what it was but we inherited it from a woodworker and it has no markings. It's quite hard and cuts aggressively but smoothly.
We also use an unknown #8000 that's ok, but very soft.
Do you all have any suggestions for what would improve our collection?
We greatly appreciate your advice.
Best,
~Luke