Japanese Water Stones/Knife Sharpening

[310Rduner]

Hey, I was wondering if any of you guys used japanese water stones to sharpen your knives? I'm looking into starting a set of japanese water stones, and am trying to decide the best stone/grit combination. Also if you know of any good retailers online with good deals on the fine grits. So.. recommendations on the best overall grits and accessories/setups I should order. Right now I'm looking at a 1000grit,4000grit, and something a little finer for that hair popping sharp.I'm also going to pick up a honing guide to keep my angles consisten til I can get better at free handing it.I'm trying to keep the total price around $40-$60, or slightly over.

Come on knife nuts, I know you're out there:cool: This will mostly be for my emerson raven (chisel edge), and a few other emerson's I'll be picking up (cqc-11) and my cheap knives.

[batgeek]

the 1000 and 4000 are great...but for that nice super keen edge i'd have to recommend a nice tanned piece of leather strap :)

[310Rduner]

Originally posted by batgeek
the 1000 and 4000 are great...but for that nice super keen edge i'd have to recommend a nice tanned piece of leather strap :)

I was going to add a double strop from lee valley with their green chromium oxide compound... but I wasn't sure if that would be really necessary if I got say a really fine grit for the last bit of polishing. Should I pick up a 6000- 8000, use a strop after the 4000, or go 6-8 AND the strop??

[310Rduner]

Gotta ask, what knives do you own/use? I know you must have some good quality blades; you don't buy $60 worth of sharpening supplies for a cheapo:D

[310Rduner]

Up-Up-And-AWAY!

[Guy400]

Just buy the Ginsu2000 or Miracle Blade III from Chef Tony. They never dull.






































:blah:

[310Rduner]

Originally posted by Guy400
Just buy the Ginsu2000 or Miracle Blade III from Chef Tony. They never dull.

:blah:

And I always thought I was the only one who actually watches infomercials when nothing else is on:p

Actually, I have a knife that will be near impossible to ever dull. It's a Boker infinity, it's a ceramic blade, and almost as hard as diamond. You can cut cardboard all day, every day for 10 years and it will be as sharp. Only thing is if you drop it, the blade will shatter (basically really hard,really sharp glass);but then I get to send it back to Germany and get a brand new one:devil:

[Guy400]

I bought some POS steak knives from the dollar store when I was in college and I still use them today (10 years to be exact). They are still sharp as hell. They have some very fine serations so I can't sharpen them even if I wanted to. Best $5 I've ever spent:D

[stever25]

I collect high end tactical cutlery from the likes of Benchmade,Protech, MOD, Microtech, Dalton combat cutlery, darrel rralph etc.

[SGA]

I had a pocket knife once but I lost it:(