Sigma Stone Question

[Chris Fairbanks]

So I was digging through the forums for the last few days and looking at Stu's site and have some questions. Currently I sharpen with a Norton starter set, the combo 220/1000 and the 4000/8000 stones. While they work ok they just seem to dish out fairly quickly and I just dont like the 8000 for some reason. Day to day my sharpening is for my LN A2 plane blades along with some Narex Chisels. I just getting ready to order up a couple LV Planes with PM Blades in them so I figured I would start looking at either adding to or replacing my stones. From reading here on the forums it looks like the Sigmas are a good bang for the buck. My question/confusion was around the normal Sigma Power Stones vs the Sigma Power Select II Stones. It looks like people prefer the normal stones but with a few PM blades that I now need to sharpen I was wondering if I should go with the Select II's. What is your guys thought? I would prefer to not have to buy a ton of different stones but I do enjoy sharpening and having sharp tools. Since I have not having sharpened a LV PM blade before I just dont know what to expect.

As a side question what shipping method are you guys that live in the States using when you buy from Stu and how long is it taking to arrive?

Thanks!

[Chris Griggs]

You want the regular sigma powers, not the select IIs. The regular Sigma Powers are totally capable of cutting tough modern steel (i'm told). Regardless for PMV11 you need no special stone. Anything that you can sharpen A2 steel with you can sharpen PMV11 with. I believe that is one of the reasons LV chose it. It's a nice improvement over A2 in use, but no more difficult to sharpen.

I'd just go regular shipping. Sometimes you'll get the stuff in about 2 weeks, but most often it will be more than 2 and less than 4. Things can get tied up in customs though so its not a guaranteed shipping window. Expect 2-4, but know if could be more and it could even be a little less.

[Harold Burrell]

This is the set I have and would recommend... http://www.toolsfromjapan.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=335_404_403&products_id=1667 . For the price and what it offers, it is very hard to beat. I got it in about the time frame that Chris mentioned.