Building up a stone set; some advice please

[Tomas]

Hello guys,

I need some advice building up a decent stoneset. I just bought the starterset some I am equipped with 100/200 and 400/600 diamondstones. My goal is to keep my knives sharp and I have all kind of steels and grinds (from 440c to K390 and beyond; steelnut 😛 ) I use them and do not display them.
I was thinking to add the 800/1000 stones and both ceramic-sets; 1200/1600 and the 1,4/0,6 microns set.
Do I miss steps? Am I doing right? What is wiser; stones or strops, regarding equal grits?
Eventually I want to add strops; any advice?

Cheers & thanks,
Tomas

[Josh]

Tomos,

That sounds like a great setup you are thinking about there… And yes, that progression should work great with each step erasing the scratches from the previous grit. But remember, if you want a complete mirror finish you really need to go with at least 1 pasted strop after all that. The 1 or even 3 micron strops should be fine. This shouldn’t really matter though if you actually use your knives and don’t care about “showing” them. I finish all my edc’s on the 1k diamonds.

[cbwx34]

My .02,,, I would add the 800/1000 diamonds, the 1.4/.6 ceramics, and a set of leather strops, probably the 1/.5 set. Skip the 1200/1600 ceramics for now. This will give you the ability to have a finer edge, (I personally like the edge off the .6 ceramics), as well as you’ll be able to see what a bit of stropping can do. This would give you a little variety in each category (if that makes sense).

[Mark76]

I agree with Curtis. Although I prefer the 1200/1600 ceramics over the 1.4/0.6 ones. But the difference is subtle. Some people use both, but in my opinion that is not necessary. If you start with strops, I’d recommend the leather strops with the WE fine paste.

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

[Geocyclist]

I would say you definitely need the 800/1k diamonds. Then 1 set of leather strops, 5/3.5 paste. While there are many different pastes, I get good results with just the 5/3.5. You can get a mirror polish with these. If you want no scratches at high magnification then you will need much more. I also agree 1 set of ceramics is enough. Before getting a 2nd set I would get the 800/1k Chosera. Use that after 1000 diamonds and you will never look back.

In the beginning all you do is sharpen. When you need to touch up a knife that was sharpened on the WEPS then a set of ceramics and strops are all you need for quick and easy touch ups.

[Lukas Pop]

I agree with 800/1000 diamonds, one of the ceramics and strops. But now I prefer balsa over leather, mainly because my balsa strops are less damaged than leather. And balsa is also more easily replaceable DIY than leather. But mainstream is leather.

[DARRELL ALLEN]

Tomas, I agree with all these guys…………….I have the Propack II , but added the Super Fine ceramics and some of the strops.

I get a really nice edge up through the 1000 grit diamonds ( nice working edge for EDC ) and anything after that, I consider a show edge. I do usually use both sets of the ceramics though, as well as the leather strops, and the balsa strops, and I totally agree with Lukas on the Balsa………I much prefer them over the leather as I really like the feel of the Balsa wood, and like Lukas mentioned, it is easily replaced ( DIY ) should you damage them……just cut some more blanks on a table saw, etc.

[Tomas]

Thanks for the great advice sofar guys, much appreciated! 🙂

I am sorry but I do have some questions left;

1. Is the step from 1k diamond (7 microns) to the 1.4.6 micron stones not too much?
I mean; does it make sense to sharpen with a ultra fine stone after 1k diamond?
That justifies the 1200/1600 stones :huh:

2. Leather/balsa-strop vs same grit stones; what is better to achieve mirror polish?
(for example 1.4.6 stones vs 1 micron stroppingstuff on balsa/leather)

Thanks :silly:

[Lukas Pop]

You are welcome.

1. Step from 1k diamond to 1.4 microceramics are absolutely ok. In case of ceramics, it is difficult to determine the grit size, so values are only tentative. There was discussion whether are 1.4 ceramics finer or coarser then the 1200/1600 with no definitive result. 0.6 are finer than others. So one set of ceramics is sufficient, I like microfines more, but they are more expensive also.

2. Strops work very different than stones, normal procedure is go through stones and finish with strops. Strops definitely improve polish and hair cutting/whittling ability. I finish with 1.4/0.6 ceramics and then 1/0.5 balsa strops. If I want to be quick, (usually cheap kitchen knives for my family members), I finish with 400/600 diamonds and then 5 micron leather strops. Try some strops and you will certainly feel the difference.

Final remark: if you are interested in sharpness only, you can do fewer steps. But if you want shiny polish, you should take more steps and more time to remove all the scratches. But the best polish you can produce with the Chosera stones.

[cbwx34]

Thanks for the great advice sofar guys, much appreciated! 🙂

I am sorry but I do have some questions left;

1. Is the step from 1k diamond (7 microns) to the 1.4.6 micron stones not too much?
I mean; does it make sense to sharpen with a ultra fine stone after 1k diamond?
That justifies the 1200/1600 stones :huh:

2. Leather/balsa-strop vs same grit stones; what is better to achieve mirror polish?
(for example 1.4.6 stones vs 1 micron stroppingstuff on balsa/leather)

Thanks :silly:

I did a thread a while back, Using the Micro Fine’s after the 600g stones, and even at that jump cleaned up the edge pretty well. Might help answer some of this, and give you an idea of what to expect. Like LukasPop said, if you’re going for polish vs. just sharp… the more steps the better.

[Tomas]

Thanks again, well I guess this concludes this topic for me for now. It is time to deploy and use the unit; I ordered sofar the 800/1000 set and both ceramic sets. The last of these will drop in the mail today or tomorrow. Next will be some stropsets to fully follow all your welcome and wise advices. I will be back. For now I will dive in Curtis thread, thanks :cheer:

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