Reddit mentions of Norton 614636855653 IB8 1-by-2-by-8-Inch Fine/Coarse India Combination Oilstone, Red

>• Splash and Go vs. Stones that require soaking

A matter of taste, mostly. Splash and go means that you can apply water to the surface of the stone and begin sharpening immediately, soakers need to be soaked for a few minutes (half an hour at most). Some soaking stones need to be dried carefully or they may crack. If you don't have a lot of storage or counter space, splash and go will be more convenient.

>• Synthetic Stone vs. Natural Stone

For a first stone, you only need to look at synthetics. Natural stones are inferior to synthetics in the coarse and medium grits. Arkansas stones can make for good finishers. Japanese naturals are expensive and esoteric.

>• Fine Grain vs. Coarse Grain

Fine stones have smaller abrasive particles, coarse stones have larger ones. Fine stones tend to be denser and less porous. Coarse stones tend to cut faster, but it can be difficult to form a sharp edge using a coarse stone alone, thus the popularity of 2-grit combination stones. Most people start sharpening on a medium grit (~400-1200 grit) and finish on a fine grit (~3000-8000). The coarsest stones (80-300 grit) are mostly reserved for repairing damage to the edge and grinding large sections of the blade. Different stones, even those with the same grit rating, may grind at different rates and produce different finishes due to differences in the way they were manufactured (type of abrasive, type of binder, heat, pressure, scale used for grading, etc.).

>• Wooden Base vs. No Base

Again, personal preference. If the stones are to be kept permanently soaked, stones without bases are preferable. The stone with which this comes up the most is the Suehiro Rika, which many people prefer to keep soaked.

>What makes a quality whetstone?

Uniformity of scratch pattern, resistance to clogging, resistance to dishing (becoming concave), rate of grinding, auditory and tactile feedback. Dense stones are almost universally preferred, but it's difficult to generalize beyond that.

>What should influence my decision to purchase one over the other?

Budget, availability, the types of knives being sharpened. Knowing your boyfriend's temperament. Is he patient? Is he careful with his knives? Does he drop things all the time?


I use a King Deluxe 300 and a Shapton Ha no Kuromaku 2000 for most of my sharpening. Both are splash-and-go and very dense ("hard"). I have a dozen or so other stones that I don't use nearly as often.

Suehiro's vitrified stones are among the most user-friendly and least fussy. Almost all of them need soaking. The SKG-24 is a good combination stone on which to learn.

Naniwa makes a huge variety of stones, most of which are good. Their QA-0124 is a splash-and-go stone, although the fine side works better after a brief soak, and even then it dries out quickly. These stones can crack if soaked and then dried unevenly.

King KW-65P is a good, traditional soaking stone. It goes out of flat more easily than some of the newer types of stones but it's a nice size and easy to maintain. The KDS is also widely liked.

Imanishi/Bester can be all over the map. I like their Arashiyama, Latte, and Tamago stones but not so much the Besters. They make a lot of stones that are resold under other brand names. I suspect they're behind this combination stone, which I like—splash-and-go and wears slowly.

All the above applies to Japanese "waterstones" (I don't like that term). "Oilstones" (I also don't like that term) like the illustrious Norton India can also provide good results, and are less demanding in terms of maintenance (flattening, drying, etc.). There are also diamond plates—I like EZE-LAP and ATOMA the best.

Edit: Fixed links.

Really this is all you need to get any knife plenty sharp.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000XK5ZDY/ref=mp_s_a_1_fkmr2_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519680306&sr=8-1-fkmr2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=norton+economy+stone

Depending on the wood, if I'm using a knife a lot, I'd strop it pretty often - it could be as often as every 5-10 minutes. I sharpen the blade less often than that - maybe every few hours of carving, again depending on the wood.

Stropping technique is important - make sure to keep the blade flat to the strop - if you don't you'll actually be dulling the edge with the strop. What do you mean by "chalk"? There are lots of good stropping compounds out there. My favorite is Yellowstone.

https://www.woodcraft.com/products/flexcut-slipstrop-compound?gclid=CjwKEAiAuc_FBRD7_JCM3NSY92wSJABbVoxB-nx-5YxNlLVErVppYOwPV3TG9uGnoY_ZYysINptvbhoCfCLw_wcB

But just stropping isn't enough in the long term. You do really need to learn to sharpen if you want to keep that really keen edge. You don't have to go nuts on sharpening gear. A coarse/fine combination India oilstone is plenty good enough.

https://www.amazon.com/Norton-614636855653-8-Inch-Combination-Oilstone/dp/B000XK5ZDY

Other people may swear by a different method, but I've used oilstones for nearly thirty years now, and they work for me. And they're cheap. As a honing oil, I've settled on using lamp oil - I like it because it's cheap, thin, and cuts fast.

You're not going to damage the blade by take a stone to it, but you may dull it until you learn what you're doing. Dull is fixable by ... sharpening. The only way you'd be likely to damage the blade is if you take it to something electric, and don't watch for heat. But you don't need to use anything electric with a knife.

You'll also need a way to repair damage to the blade, which, at least in my experience, eventually happens. For that, a cheap combination diamond block from Harbor Freight will do the trick. Or you could just use coarse wet&dry sandpaper glued to a piece of MDF.

On strops: You don't need to buy a fancy strop. I made my first ones from old leather belts, glued to a piece of scrap wood or MDF. You should have two: One charged with the honing compound of your choice, and one plain leather to follow it and do the final polish.

Not really but this guy has alot of video on working with many stones and how to maintain them:

https://youtu.be/PyGOxzaJGO0

Dunno if you can find it cheaper elsewhere: https://www.amazon.com/Norton-614636855653-8-Inch-Combination-Oilstone/dp/B000XK5ZDY

I use something like this to keep my stones clean and fresh: https://www.amazon.com/BephaMart-Diamond-Grinding-Dresser-Dressing/dp/B01BAGQRAY

Haha np!

I've found these two models that seem to be right for my intended purposes:

https://www.amazon.ca/KING-KW65-Combination-Whetstone-Plastic/dp/B001DT1X9O/ref=sr_1_1?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1519951696&sr=1-1&keywords=king+stone

https://www.amazon.ca/BearMoo-Sharpening-Whetstone-Combination-Sharpener/dp/B01FXK7XF6/ref=sr_1_6?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1519951696&sr=1-6&keywords=king+stone

https://www.amazon.ca/Norton-614636855653-8-Inch-Combination-Oilstone/dp/B000XK5ZDY/ref=sr_1_5?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1519951656&sr=1-5&keywords=fine+india+stone&dpID=41epHsuXYbL&preST=_SX342_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

Any comments on them? Do you have any model suggestions for those budget diamond stones you have in your edit? I don't know much anything about whetstones so I'm not sure what to look for.

edit: I've heard people state that 8Cr steels are good with rough edges and others who polish as high as possible...

A norton combination stone
https://www.amazon.com/Norton-614636855653-8-Inch-Combination-Oilstone/dp/B000XK5ZDY

https://www.amazon.com/Norton-614636855653-8-Inch-Combination-Oilstone/dp/B000XK5ZDY/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1539581754&sr=8-3&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=norton+india&dpPl=1&dpID=41epHsuXYbL&ref=plSrch

https://www.amazon.com/Ceramic-Whetstone-Sharpening-Workstone-QA-0124/dp/B001NI5JUY/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1539581796&sr=8-4&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=naniwa&dpPl=1&dpID=31wXmlIa8-L&ref=plSrch

https://www.amazon.com/Suehiro-Japanese-Whetstone-Sharpening-Sharpener/dp/B00SPBWNMO/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1539581832&sr=8-6&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=suehiro&dpPl=1&dpID=31tOs0shD%2BL&ref=plSrch

https://www.amazon.com/Kuromaku-Ceramic-Whetstone-Medium-Grit/dp/B001TPFT0G/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1539581898&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=shapton+pro&dpPl=1&dpID=41uhuBgfaBL&ref=plSrch


just wat i could find in 5 min on mobile

A nice brand, at least to start off with is Norton. They make something like this,

http://www.amazon.com/Norton-614636855653--8-Inch-Combination-Oilstone/dp/B000XK5ZDY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1457808620&sr=8-2&keywords=norton+sharpening+stone

That would get you started. It's nothing fancy, but it'll get the job done. Get yourself some mineral oil to use to keep it clean, don't use vegetable oil or something like that because it just gunks up and makes a mess, and you'll be all yet. They also make nicer stones if you want to drop a little more money.

Also, if you're not necessarily looking for a sharpening stone, but something to use, might I recommend an Accusharp, they work really well as long as you take your time, and don't rush because I've seen some bad cuts.

http://www.amazon.com/AccuSharp-1-001-Knife-Sharpener/dp/B00004VWKQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1457808779&sr=8-1&keywords=Accusharp

what I looked for is a double sided stone a coarse side and a fine side http://www.amazon.com/Norton-614636855653--8-Inch-Combination-Oilstone/dp/B000XK5ZDY/ref=sr_1_20?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1404670014&sr=1-20&keywords=whetstone
here is a link to one similar to the one that I purchased last year and it does the job great just make you soak for a good amount of time before each use

The bottom budget (or lowest you could go without blaming your sharpening equipment for failure) would be a Norton combination India stone or King combination water stone, plus some honing compound and a scrap of denim or leather glued to a block of wood for a strop.

Use a honing guide like this if you aren't comfortable trying free hand.

A tool is sharp when two surfaces (the back/face and bevel) meet at a sharp corner with ~0 radius. The edge is honed/refined on finer and finer stones to get a better surface finish and better edge retention.

Here are some tutorials with and without a honing guide. I recommend watching both, because each covers a different aspect of initial chisel prep.

On top of your sharpening equipment, work from both sides and use knife lines to prevent blow out.

I bought this one though I'm sure there are nicer options out there. Norton came highly recommended from my only local knife store owner.

I've heard good things about it. I don't have first hand experience though. I do have both Arkansas oil stones (which is what those are) and whetstones. I like my oil stones for general knife use. I think they're more user friendly. I have whetstones for my straight razors and some knives. I'm a huge fan of Norton and do have plenty of experience with them. I have this stone and it's great.
https://www.amazon.com/Norton-614636855653--8-Inch-Combination-Oilstone/dp/B000XK5ZDY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468468051&sr=8-1&keywords=norton+oilstone You'll need oil for it though. It's on the coarser side but when you get more experience you can produce edges good enough to shave hair. Not super cleanly but it will shave. The reason I recommended the other though is it has a higher grit stone and comes with oil too.

I'd also recommend the Norton whetstones too. Pricey but really great quality.

https://www.amazon.com/Tandy-Leather-Strop-Polishing-Compound/dp/B00P797R32/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468468475&sr=8-1&keywords=tandy+strop+compound Here's a good strop for knives. It comes with compound. Not necessary but they're nice to have around to give it that little bit of extra sharpness and you can maintain an edge with them. Just strop after every use and it will prolong the periods between honing.

Here's a really good video on freehand honing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln_z1IyubaI