If I wanted just one waterstone...

[Dave Cullen]

I've never been a fan of waterstones. I don't like the mess they make and the fact that they wear. My sharpening has always been with the soft (grey) and hard (white) Arkansas stones that I've had for many years.

That said, I've been wanting to try one again mostly for sharpening knives. I would also suppliment the oil stones for plane irons and chisels if it makes sense to do that.

So, if you were going to own just one waterstone, what would it be?

TIA

[David Weaver]

You want to use this stone only and no other stones? Or do you want something that fits between the soft and hard arks?

[Archie England]

Any 800-1500 waterstone should easily sharpen knives. My favorite for that single task is the Bestor 1200. On knives, it does a superb job (for me) very quickly. I like it less so for chisels and plane blades, but it works for those, as well.

[Winton Applegate]

First I will be “different” (silly) and answer this way

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYURcwkKGPs

Hey . . . it’s one water stone and may be less mess. I don’t have one. I have a similar one from Delta though.
I bet Derek would agree.

Then I got to thinking . . . for the wood working aspect . . . I would NEED at least a 1000
BUT
I can’t imagine living with out my 4000 AT LEAST
and how would I get the wear bevel off ? Rub it on the side walk ?
Well that is just another stone.

You must be sharpening O1
I simply can not imagine sharpening A2 on Arks
Well actually I can because I have tried it
So that’s why I can’t imagine wanting to repeat that folly.
Makes the translucent ark all nice and shiny but the A2 blade just laughs and then goes and slouches on the couch and eats pizza at me.
The dullard.

A2s can have such an attitude . . .

[Jim Koepke]

I've never been a fan of waterstones. I don't like the mess they make and the fact that they wear. My sharpening has always been with the soft (grey) and hard (white) Arkansas stones that I've had for many years.

That said, I've been wanting to try one again mostly for sharpening knives. I would also suppliment the oil stones for plane irons and chisels if it makes sense to do that.

So, if you were going to own just one waterstone, what would it be?

TIA

Please pardon my throwing cold water on the party but it doesn't seem to make sense to me. Maybe if the blade was degreased between the water stone and the oil stone it wouldn't have been a problem for me.

Though both water and oil media are used in my shop they are usually not combined while honing a blade.

The question springing to mind is what problem are you having with your current set up?

jtk

[Dave Cullen]

You want to use this stone only and no other stones? Or do you want something that fits between the soft and hard arks?

I guess I should clarify. The stone would primarilly live in my kitchen for sharpening chef's knives. I'm OK with the mess that water makes on a countertop. But I'd also like to use it to put an edge on my HSS skews, which the oil stones don't do well at all.



Any 800-1500 waterstone should easily sharpen knives. My favorite for that single task is the Bestor 1200. On knives, it does a superb job (for me) very quickly. I like it less so for chisels and plane blades, but it works for those, as well.

I think that's what I'm looking for. Where does that sit in the range of Arkansas oil stones? Between soft and hard?

Thanks

[Matthew N. Masail]

actually I would get a combination stone for a kitchen stone. unless you maintain the knives really well, it's nice to have a 200-600 grit stone to start on for grinding the edge. something like this (I have not tried it but have used other stones in the series and they are very good) would be a cheap and effective way to go. a bit of stropping after just to clean things up should give you an edge that is great for anything in the kitchen.
http://www.toolsfromjapan.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=335_404_573&products_id=1955

[David Weaver]

If only one single stone, I'd probably get a 1500 grit level type hone, but I'd add a strop with something fine on it (like one micron diamonds).

If a strop is completely undesired, then I'd go with a chosera 3000, and I'd shop around to find a good price on it (sometimes it seems like some of the distributed stones over here are all over the place at vendors, and often not the cheapest).

[Winton Applegate]

for sharpening chef's knives . . . also . . . to use it to put an edge on my HSS skews,

I know it is extravagant but the Tormek would actually be so perfect for both of those.

Has the leather stop wheel. Strops are actually a great way to go for free hand held tools like a turning tool or carving tool.

If you do a lot of that sort of thing or plan to I would ask Santa for a Tormek.

No I am not in any way affiliated with that co and don't carve or turn so do not go there but for your purpose . . . ooooh laaaa LAH !

[David Weaver]

Tormeks are sort of a no risk way to do something very slowly.

For a decent quality kitchen knife, they'll waste knife too much with the wheel and the strop is too slow to really be useful. It'd be much more useful if it went 4x as fast is the wheel on the right side.

For carving tools, you want to use either a high speed strop or oilstones.

Presume the skews discussed are turning skews, though, and really the best thing for HSS turning skews is a diamond hone followed by a moving strop (that's moving with some speed) or diamonds on MDF.

[Winton Applegate]

Yah, I would have to agree about the speed. That is why I didn't get all about the Tormek . . . if it is as slow as my Delta. My Delta has a higher speed small white wheel on the side of it that is fast cutting. I use it for metal working lathe tools (HSS).

I used it on Queenmasteroftheuniverseandbabybunnytrainer's kitchen knife the other day. She was convinced that she was going to keep cutting her self on the corner of the blade near the handle so you can see (at the tooth pick) I took the corner off on the grinder and slightly rounded the surfaces with a diamond paddle. Sorry Japanese knife maker dudes. I must do what I am told by the kitchen goddess.

If had tried to take that corner off on my 120 Shapton I would have just dug a groove in the stone.

Hey, today I scored fresh baked from scratch brownies AND scones so . . . you know . . .
it wasn't tooooo much trouble . . .
I suppose . . .

http://i801.photobucket.com/albums/yy298/noydb1/IMG_2576_zpsce6338be.jpg (http://s801.photobucket.com/user/noydb1/media/IMG_2576_zpsce6338be.jpg.html)

but with a little luck we can get Derek in here and turn this into a sixty post Tormek free for all.

I still would like to use one some time. I like the idea of the positioning jiggly things being a metal lathe man I like some tooling with me metal removal.

[Matt Lau]

I usually use a $12 pocket stone from Hida Tools.

It's some sort of natural yellow stone from an old mine in Kyoto. The finished edge produced is very fine, hazy, "friendly" for lack of a better word.

Downside...my sharpening technique is really weird.

[Federico Mena Quintero]

My single woodworking stone is a Norton combination 1000/8000 grit. Everything in the house goes through this stone: woodworking tools, kitchen knives, beauty tweezers. It works pretty well!