Sharpening Setups/Kits

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So while I have a variety of stuff (still fairly new to water stones so mostly oil and Arkansas stones), I've consolidated my most used stuff into a bin that serves as both storage and sharpening support. Might also be a decent example of not having to spend a ton to get a good setup.

This is more or less the kit:
c8ubPsS.jpg


There's a mix of oil stones, diamond, Arkansas and water stones. There's rags and a couple strops that go in there as well. It's just a plastic bin that we already had. It has a lid that can be secured onto it if I wanted to take it somewhere but I have a different, smaller kit for that.

The setup starts with this silicone pad I got out of a big bin at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Maybe for hot stuff??? I just grabbed it to be an anti-skid mat. That goes on top of my cutting board:
rWcr1yy.jpg


Pull what you need out of the bin and set it on the pad (towel would work too):
irIdbeW.jpg


The bin gets covered in a towel to prevent sliding of the next piece which is a 17"x14" flat baking sheet that again, we already had:
SMD65fN.jpg


Since I already them, and since they work very well, my oil stones still do the bulk of my coarse work. I do need a coarser water stone for thinning but that will come in time. I use the paper towel in the universal stone holder to prevent any drips onto pan. You don't need much oil! When done properly, I find oil stones actually less messy than water stones. But you do want to be mindful of never getting oil onto your water stones. I even use separate rags and keep them in bags. Anyway, Norton India Fine had this new F. Dick in shape in no time:
VE3CSlP.jpg


And yes, I have used the oil stones on some of my Japanese knives. They work just fine. I don't really care for them for thinning though as the oil is just too thick and "sticky". Sandpaper is a better substitute for that work. But they will grind in an edge just fine.

And then for water stones (Shapton Glass 2000):
I3HEtzj.jpg


And save them napkins from takeout/delivery:

mIDGvpN.jpg


This setup puts the stone about 11" above the counter and is very comfortable. No neck pain and very natural arm movement.
You should buy some of those white towels. They have hundreds in a big plastic bag on amazon for hardly anything. My sharpening setup isn't complete without them.
 
Mine. Which I posted in another thread. I figured I might as well post here too, but with better lighting.

We've got it closed here.
20210503_214509.jpg

Open' the pocket on the top flap is where I keep my cardboard for strops, and various #'s of steel wool
20210503_214827.jpg

Here's the right side. I've got pliers, files, chisels, bit drivers, a straight edge, and wire brushes in there.
20210503_214923.jpg

The front pocket. It has stropping compounds, fingerstones, natural stone slurry, various epoxies and contact cement, sic powder, and diamond dremel bits. Then sandpaper in the bottom pocket.
20210503_214956.jpg

This is the left side. It has pivot lube, thread locker, allen keys, driver bits, dremel bits, and my dremel lite.
20210503_215037.jpg

Then we have the main compartment. Towards the front are all my synthetic stones, strips, and diamond plates. The middle has natural stones, the back has some 3 in 1, magnifying headband thing, sink bridge, towels, bar keepers friend, a precision file set, a sponge, a socket wrench set, and a clamp.
20210503_215332.jpg


I should add, I sharpen on the weekends for money. This is what I bring with me. It has everything I can think of that I might need for pretty much any blade. It's good for finishing, fixing, and sharpening.
 
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live in a one room loft in Brooklyn, space is always an issue

splash and go, shapton pro 1000, 2000, 5000 and jns 300. There’s a leather strop on the next shelf up


image.jpg

soakers
Gesshin 400,2000,6000, king hyper1000, generic 220 sandpaper in the fedex envelopes
image.jpg


stone holder on silpat jelly roll pan granite block sandwich
image.jpg

@inferno notice I have stones totally under control, but there’s three bikes in my living room!


you guys with basements, you don’t know how luxurious that looks!
 
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live in a one room loft in Brooklyn, space is always an issue

splash and go, shapton pro 1000, 2000, 5000 and jns 300. There’s a leather strop on the next shelf up


View attachment 125703
soakers
Gesshin 400,2000,6000, king hyper1000, generic 220 sandpaper in the fedex envelopes View attachment 125704

stone holder on silpat jelly roll pan granite block sandwich View attachment 125705

you guys with basements, you don’t know how luxurious that looks!

My basement workshop is definitely still a work in progress. But I gotta say that so far I like it a lot better than my spare bedroom setup in my Boston apartment (as does the wife).
 
Spare bedroom? What is this, Nelson, Lawrence and Stringer Rockefeller?

Well there was only two bedrooms and the other one was already my partner's office, the home gym, and our actual bedroom. So this one had to be the guest bedroom/knife workshop. But it wasn't exactly a fancy apartment. Just a 2 bedroom flat by the airport.

workshop.jpg
 
Well there was only two bedrooms and the other one was already my partner's office, the home gym, and our actual bedroom. So this one had to be the guest bedroom/knife workshop. But it wasn't exactly a fancy apartment. Just a 2 bedroom flat by the airport.

View attachment 125778

It made it easy to say the bedroom wasn't child safe
 
i just store mine like this

abrasive-tower-of-power-jpg.108607

i actually store them in the cabinet above.

when i need to bring stones with me i use glass stones in pro boxes. 500DT, 2k and/or 3/4/6k. fits in 2 pro boxes!
or if i know i will encounter really worn blades i take the 220 pro/glass and then maybe the 2k.

thats the beauty with the glass. they are compact and light.
 
Mine. Which I posted in another thread. I figured I might as well post here too, but with better lighting.

We've got it closed here.
View attachment 125669
Open' the pocket on the top flap is where I keep my cardboard for strops, and various #'s of steel wool
View attachment 125670
Here's the right side. I've got pliers, files, chisels, bit drivers, a straight edge, and wire brushes in there.
View attachment 125671
The front pocket. It has stropping compounds, fingerstones, natural stone slurry, various epoxies and contact cement, sic powder, and diamond dremel bits. Then sandpaper in the bottom pocket.
View attachment 125672
This is the left side. It has pivot lube, thread locker, allen keys, driver bits, dremel bits, and my dremel lite.
View attachment 125673
Then we have the main compartment. Towards the front are all my synthetic stones, strips, and diamond plates. The middle has natural stones, the back has some 3 in 1, magnifying headband thing, sink bridge, towels, bar keepers friend, a precision file set, a sponge, a socket wrench set, and a clamp.
View attachment 125674

I should add, I sharpen on the weekends for money. This is what I bring with me. It has everything I can think of that I might need for pretty much any blade. It's good for finishing, fixing, and sharpening.

Very clever this! Is it any specific type of bag? Looks a bit like the kind of thing I used when taking sample bottles of wine around town, but mine didn’t really have all those handy other compartments...
 
Does the Kitayama 4k go by another name? What do you think of that stone?

think its the same as bester 4k.
its a quite soft feeling resionoid i think. its easy to cut into it by mistake.
splash and go. so so kasumi.
slower than a glass 4k. more polishing effect too.
doesn't seem to wear that fast though. its not a muddy stone.

its a nice contrast to my glass 4k i think. using shaptons all the time gets boring after a while.
 
think its the same as bester 4k.
its a quite soft feeling resionoid i think. its easy to cut into it by mistake.
splash and go. so so kasumi.
slower than a glass 4k. more polishing effect too.
doesn't seem to wear that fast though. its not a muddy stone.

its a nice contrast to my glass 4k i think. using shaptons all the time gets boring after a while.
Perfect, thanks.
 
Very clever this! Is it any specific type of bag? Looks a bit like the kind of thing I used when taking sample bottles of wine around town, but mine didn’t really have all those handy other compartments...
I bought it at a garage sale. It looks like maybe it used to be a sample bag for make up, or maybe something likethat. .
 
We all agree that @musicman980 has by far the nicest setup, but this isn't a competition, right? I'll show my humble previous and current setup.
I used a sink bridge that I made from a piece of oak panel, put on top of a plastic container (42x30x8 cm) filled with water to keep the soaking stones wet.
Setup 2.jpeg

But it isn't perfect, the container has some flex, so if you put some pressure while sharpening it wobbles a bit. It was also a bit too low on my counter to work comfortably. Also fiddling with the screws every time you switch a stone is a bit of a pain.
 
As I am using more naturals and less soaking stones now, I thought of a different setup. Less complicated, more zen. This is just a piece of very dense and heavy azobé (red ironwood) that I got from our carpenter (thank you Dirk!). It is used for underwater constructions so very much water-resistant. The size is 10x10x25 cm and my counter is 90 cm, so the working height is 100 cm + the height of the stone which works perfect for me (I'm 1m90 tall). Underneath the wood i put some 3M antislip pads. Under the stone I simply put a rubber antislip mat ('dashboard mat' from Carpoint). The setup is rock solid (pun intended). Yes it is a bit messy, some water and stone slurry gets on the counter top, but it's easy to clean. Big advantage: I can keep it in the kitchen, as long as I buy good looking stones my wife doesn't mind! So when I feel a knife is not 100% sharp anymore, my tools are right there and in a couple of minutes I can do a touch up.
Setup 3.jpeg


Setup 4.jpeg
 
You people are just a little insane. Or a lot… jury’s still out 🤣

Here’s my setup, and I think (hope) I’m pretty much done at this point. The rubber mat is a $9 dog bowl mat (you can see a little paw print in the top left) that works great for both water collection and slip prevention. Overall I think it’s a nice starter kit for noobs with SG500/1k/4k, atoma 140, Shapton field holder, and random spray bottle. This is our wet bar area so I try to keep it looking decent.

A88E8783-B421-4CEB-9CA1-EFEAD6F56DC7.jpeg
 
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