Waterstones and Jointer Plane Irons

[Matt Sauber]

So I was in WoodCraft this weekend to pick up some waterstones. I went in and walked straight to the Nortons, grabbed the 220/1000 and 4000/8000 combos and was ready to check out. Before I could get to the counter I was intercepted by a store worker who had me look at the King waterstones. After much wringing of hands, I went with a set of Kings (800/4000/6000) to save a few bucks. Now I wish I hadn't.

My Stanley #8 blade is too wide for the stone. My question: can I skew the blade and honing guide across the stone to sharpen? Has anybody used these 2 1/2" wide stones on a #8 jointer iron?

Thanks

[David Weaver]

Just work it off the edges a little and then clean it up.

Either that or hollow grind it and work it on the diagonal.

The kings were my first set of stones. I liked the softer coarser stones, but I thought the 6000 stone was one of the more worthless finishing stones I have used, and I think I gave it away. To my mind, it cut slower than the 8000 and it didn't polish nearly as well.

There is a discussion on here from earlier this week or last week about using a piece of stone-sized MDF with green chromium oxide stuff and lubricant on it as either a strop or a very fine finish stone. I would follow the king 6000 with that to get a better edge.

You can get the green stuff at woodcraft - should be 6 or 8 bucks. The MDF, if you don't have it, should be 3/4" thick, cut a piece maybe 3"x12" off to use, and lubricate it if you want. You'll be shocked how much better the edge is than if you stop at the king 6000, and how fast it works.

I don't know if I'd recommend a combo stone, but I'm sure they work fine. I have only used coarser nortons, but I think there are better stones to be had out there that will have you screwing around less with grit on the fine stone, soaking, etc.

[jerry nazard]

Matt,

Before I switched to Shaptons, I used the King 1000 and 6000 followed by .05u green crayon on MDF, as suggested by David. Worked just fine for me. I have also used some micro papers from Joel at TFWW in conjunction with the King stones. Again, I had great success.

-Jerry