Stones For Newbie?...

[Derek Arita]

Well, I'm hooked...at least for now. It was Rob Cosman's plane vid that sucked me in, but now it's leading into chisel sharpening. So, I've got a Trend 1000/300 diamond plate and Shapton 8000 and 16000 ceramics coming. I've also sent for Rob's chisel video. So I think I may need to get a 4000 Shapton to add to the others in order to get into chisel sharpening...is that right?
I've really been a machine guy for many years and have tried to avoid sharpening at all costs. Now I find I just can't avoid it any longer, especially if I want to get into hand cut dovetails, which is what started all of this to begin with.

[Jim Koepke]

Derek,

There are folks who will go straight from the 1000 to the 8000. My preference is to have a 4000 in between. Often a blade will only need a bit of work on the 4000, a few swipes on the 8000 (& the 16000 in your case) to get right back to work.

Though you will soon find sharpening includes more than plane and chisel blades. It will also include saws, drill bits and marking knives among other things.

For gouges and moulding plane blades my preference is oil stones. Though I do have a few water based slip stones, the oil stones get used more.

jtk

[Frederick Skelly]

Derek, I think you have a good enough starting set now. Id slow down and get to know the stuff youve alredy bought. Develop a technique that works for you, then expand your line up if you need to in the future.

Please understand that Im not trying to be a smart guy or anything. I speak from my own experience and Ive since learned better. See, I spent TON of money 3 years ago when I started hand tools. After trying "scary sharp" I ran out and bought 120, 220, 320, 600, 1200 and 6000 stones. I later bought a long piece of granite and PSA sandpaper in a couple coarse grades to flatten planes. Then I got a Worksharp for Christmas one year.

Ive since learned I dont need all that stuff to have good sharp tools. (Which BTW is what the really skilled guys here TRIED to tell me before I got started.) The ones I use most: DMT Duosharp in 600/1200 grit and my Shapton Glass 6000. I also hone on MDF using LVs green abrasive. For reworking bevels, I use either the Worksharp, or the granite with 220 & 320 PSA. I could live without the Worksharp if I had to - you can remove a lot of metal on that long granite - but its nice to have available. So Ive got $300-$500 in excess sharpening capacity, depending on how you want to count it. I'll never sell it of course, but that cash could have bought other tools.

Anyway, just $0.02 from someone who fell down the slope and learned better.

Best of luck!
Fred

[Kent A Bathurst]

On your thread title...............

You diving into this topic with this crowd? You already got stones, my friend. :p :p

[Derek Arita]

OK...so I just ordered a 4000 Shapton ceramic stone. There I go, overboard again, but at least now I'll have the good set of stones and at the rate I'll use them, they should last a long time.

[paul cottingham]

On your thread title...............

You diving into this topic with this crowd? You already got stones, my friend. :p :p
Why, whatever could you mean?

[Jim Koepke]

OK...so I just ordered a 4000 Shapton ceramic stone. There I go, overboard again, but at least now I'll have the good set of stones and at the rate I'll use them, they should last a long time.

Some folks prefer a shop kept to a minimum of tools and accessories. That is fine and a good choice in many cases.

My shop philosophy is toward the other end of the spectrum. For me it would take quite a few more stones for me to have a feeling of being "overboard."

My mind tells me there is no need for any more sharpening stones. Though my heart yearns for more...

jtk

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I think you did the right thing getting the 4000. 1000 to 8000 is a big jump. 1k-4k-8k is perfect.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Why, whatever could you mean?

You know exactly what I mean, eh?. ;)

The over/under on this topic is 50 posts - assuming the short-listed usual suspects [you guys know exactly who you are :D ] do not start another food fight, in which case that number is out the window. But if you do - good on ya'.

Always enjoyable - and I mean that in a good way. I ain't great at this skill set, so it is always a nice refresher course.

Getcher popcorn!!! Munch, munch, munch..............

[paul cottingham]

I am so tempted to poke the bear. But I won't. Probably.

[Chris Hachet]

I have diamond stones, Trend same stone as the OP's, and a DMT diamond stone that is really fine. I strop with leather and yellow coumpound, and I have no trouble cutting paper/shaving arm hair with no reisistance (galoot pattern baldness).

Would like to buy a Tormek T-4, sometime down the line, I have other thigns I want to buy first.

Since I have three kids in College, the half back I am waiting on from Ron Bontz and the Veritas Low Angle Jointer I want to buy next will probably be about the only major tool expendatures I can afford this year.

That and lumber....actual lumber will be helpful and enjoyable...

[Harold Burrell]

I am so tempted to poke the bear. But I won't. Probably.

Do it, do it, do it...

[bridger berdel]

I'm an opportunistic sharpening geek. I buy stones when I find them cheap at yard sales and junk shops. Sometimes I buy unknown stones and then find out what they are. I have a couple of coticules and several belgian blues that cost me in total under $5.00. Yep, if you keep your eyes open and be patient pretty soon you too will have stones coming out your ears.

[Derek Arita]

Have to say, first I got a Tormek, then a Veritas MK II Power Sharpener, which works pretty well, but it's become clear to me that stones are the only way to get planes and chisels truly sharp...that is if I can master the technique. If not, I guess there's nowhere else to go.

[Phillip West]

A good starter set is something like a 500 beston, a 1200 grit bester and a 5k grit Suhiro Rika. A great *k stone is the Kitayama 8K that polishes even a bit higher..I also have a set of DMT dia sharp plates because some of the steels we work with (cpm3v,cpm154,elmax etc) are very hard to sharpen on regular waterstones..