I’m looking into beginning sharpening my knives at home with stones. I feel like I understand the process sufficiently to hhopefully not screw anythign up too badly, but my question regards acquisition of stones.
I understand that generally I need a low grit and a high grit, but as far as brands, characteristics, websites from which to shop/purchase, etc., I could use some guidance.
TIA
I have been using this for 20+ years now with no issues.
Get ready for 25 more opinions…
here’s another free opinion.
Norton 1000/4000 combo stone from amazon.com (or google search to find a cheaper price shipped).
Despite what fanatics say, that’s the only stone you need for a very long time. Later on you may get some beveling in your stone from all the use, so might need to buy a leveler (basically a bigger stone with rough grit to flatten everything)…but that’s far into the future.
8000 and higher grit stones are just for show unless you cut sushi every day and will use the 8000 stone every day… the higher grits give that mirror polish look but usually require a smaller nagano stone to get the slurry going. Many fanatics have a collection they cycle through, so they can get away with infrequent sharpening.
keep your wrists firm, movements precise and you’ll be good to go. There are lots of hints out there to keep the angle consistent (matchbooks, stacked coins, etc…) but a firm wrist is key.
more free opinions the better.
i checked out some videos on youtube of that lansky system, and not sure whether i want to go that route. obvious benefit of getting the right angle consistently though.
Nick –
Just another free opinion: I went through a lot of research on sharpening (shortly after lots of research on kitchen knives) and considered all sorts of solutions from going to a sharpening service (no fun) to unaided sharpening with stones (still may go this route one day to learn) to sharpening “systems”. In the end, I wanted a toy to play with so I bought a Wicked Edge system (https://www.wickededgeusa.com/products/pro-packages). I also considered the Lansky, Syderco, Apex Edge Pro, and a belt grinder. The Edge Pro and Wicked Edge are pretty well engineered, but really costly considering the alternatives. Hard to justify the cost, but the Wicked Edge is a nice system; very repeatable results when you touch up knives, pretty clean since you don’t use water/oil, and can put a mean edge on most any knife. I’ve kind of turned into the neighborhood knife sharpener, so I’ve been putting some great edges on crappy knives (like Wusthoff, Henckel, etc). Now I won’t have to use dull knives anymore when I cook at friends’ houses. The other benefit is that it is very kind to knives, so I worry less when I sharpen my custom damascus knives. The system is expensive, but the knives are crazy and I don’t want to scratch them up.
Here is a nice read on sharpening: Forums - eGullet Forums
Have fun…
Ashley
Counsellor:
Beware important ethics, confidentiality and extraterritorial subpoena risk issues when you are backing up to an independent backup storage site that is god only knows where in god only knows what jurisdiction if you are backing up business-related files.
Wrong thread, possibly.
How the F* did that happen. I didn’t post on this thread. ![[scratch.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/4/42a16863a8714da3c1604419e3eb9206bb87aa50.gif "scratch"){kind=small}
i’m no scientist, but it appears you did counselor 
looks good to me… may go toward the lansky though due to price
I have a Lansky, a Spyderco, and a Minosharp (For Globals). All work, but I still want stones. Steel sharpened on stones by an experienced hand are easily the sharpest, best feeling edges I have ever used. Plus, better for UX-10, which I love.