Bench stones for sharpening

[Rick Johnston]

For chisels, planes and scrapers I've been using wet/dry paper and some smaller diamond hones from a knife sharpening set. The knife stones are coarse,medium and fine and 3/4" x 4" long.
I'd like two bench stones to replace what have. Some recommendations for size and type of stone are requested. (I.e diamond vs the wet type) Just a casual woodworker.

[Rick Johnston]

The gatco diamond stones are grit of 550 400 and 220. In terms of fine, medium and coarse. So pretty "coarse" in general despite being too small.

[Robert Engel]

You best bet is waterstones.

For the money, they sharpen fast, but do require flattening prior to each use, so plan on getting something to like a coarse diamond stone or a flattening stone. I've had bad experience with the flattening stone and now I use a diamond plate to keep flat.

Diamond stones are excellent, but you can have quite a bit of cash in them for the occasional sharpening I'm not sure they're worth getting.

Either way, as for grits, you need coarse (300), medium (800), fine (1250) extra fine (4000), and extra extra fine (8000).

Plan on a $200+ investment if you're serious about sharpening with stones.

If you don't want to spend the coin, stay with the paper method you're using. It works fine.
Just make sure you have a perfectly flat surface, like a piece of marble or granite.
Careful using glass, its not always flat.

I wouldn't recommend using the small knife stones because there's no way to be consistent and you'll just end up messing up the angles.

For a small investment, you can get a honing guide (http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/03A21/Honing-Guide.aspx?refcode=10INGOPB&gclid=Cj0KEQjw6OOoBRDP9uG4oqzUv7kBEiQA0sRYBFT6qvS7 rbVnqzu-gmG5nFeChKJ0DFpy__YCVDMSZ2waAlTj8P8HAQ), which I think are well worth it, especially with sandpaper sharpening.

[Robert Hazelwood]

I think you can make this work with only two stones- a medium and a fine. You shouldn't need coarse grits on a regular basis, and when you do you can always pull out the sandpaper.

I would recommend either no-soak waterstones or diamond/ceramics.

-Waterstones

The cheaper waterstones (e.g. King) require soaking for 10 min or so before using, which is a hassle when you just want to do a quick touch up. And then you can't really put the stones away until they dry out, which takes a day or two. These stones are also rather soft, so they need to be flattened frequently and they make a pretty big mess of slurry. They do cut well and excel at polishing large areas due to the slurry. If you have a sink in the shop they might be manageable, otherwise you spend too much time bringing water out, soaking, and cleaning up the mess.

I am using Shapton Pro waterstones, which use a harder binder (I think) than the King-type stones, and so they do not need to be soaked. You can just mist some water on them and go. They are harder stones, and they wear slower so flattening isn't as big of a deal (you still need to flatten them regularly, you just don't have as much material to remove).

For either type of stone, you can do just fine with a 1000 grit (medium) and an 8000 grit (fine). I use a 1,000, 5,000, and 15,000 Shapton Pro. 15k is basically overkill but I like it :)

-Diamond Stones

Diamond stones are nice because you don't have nearly as much maintenance to deal with. They stay flat and don't create much of mess. You might occasionally need to scrub them with comet/barkeeper's friend to clean out steel bits, but that's it. Also, you don't have to worry about gouging them when you sharpen something odd like an awl or some carving tool. They can also sharpen basically anything including carbide. If you go this route try to get the ones that are a continuous surface of diamond grit, rather than the ones with lots of holes in the plate. The latter would make it difficult to work on narrow stuff like a 1/4" chisel.

The only issue with diamond stones really is that they don't do as good of a job in the higher grit ranges. At least this is true with the DMT ones. But up to 1200 grit or so they do fine. For a good woodworking edge you'd want a higher polish probably, so a good finishing stone would be a sintered ceramic stone like the Spyderco Ultra fine. This stone also is low maintenance similar to diamond stones, however they will load up with steel after a while and you need to scrub them with barkeepers friend to clean it (I've heard an eraser also works).

So for the low-maintenance approach I'd recommend a 600 grit diamond and the Spyderco UF ceramic.


You can always add grits of stones later. I pretty much have complete sets of all types except oil stones, but I only use three (the Shapton Pros) for sharpening. I could get by with two pretty easily. I still use sandpaper for really heavy removal.

[Tom M King]

There are many choices. Check out the three stone set that Tools from Japan sells. He has videos that show what's in the set, and how he uses them. A number of us have been through hundreds of dollars worth of stones just trying them out. I have some of each, and used oilstones for decades, but now mostly use waterstones. It can get to be an expensive rabbit hole, but these days I've been recommending Stu's set, which not only includes decent stones, but a flattening plate, base, and tray. With that and a water bottle, you're good to go. It's around $200.

[mike mcilroy]

I have the DMT 1200 and 8000 grit they work like a charm, don't need flattening and will probably last my life time. I have a cheap 750 diamond stone too can't remember the brand. Its flat and does the job.
Honing guide from Lee valley is a good idea too.

[Andy Booth]

I started with diamond stones and switched to water stones (Norton 220/1000, 4000/8000). I like how well the water stones cut, however they do have to be flattened periodically
For flattening I use a glass plate and lapping .compound. Sharpening still takes time however the results a very satisfying.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Although I am not sure that your best bet is waterstones, as stated by Mr. Engel, it is my preference and he has a bunch of really good advice here. I know people that I respect that only use diamonds. I own both and almost always use the waterstones. If you have any opportunity to try both, I suggest it. Also, you should know that different stones have a different feel. Some people strongly prefer the Shaptons because they do not need to be soaked. I own some of each.

Mr. Hazelwood has some excellent points as well.

If I were starting out, I would probably drop Stuart Tierney from "tools from japan" a message (https://www.toolsfromjapan.com/store/), tell him what kind of steel you have for your tools (O1, A2, PM-V11, etc...) and try one of his sets. He would sell you something that probably needs to be soaked, so, if that is not your preference, and you want water stones, I think that Shaptons are the answer. I have not noticed Stuart posting here recently.....

Let us know what you finally choose.

[Rick Johnston]

Thanks for the responses. Low maintence and dollars spent are my triggers. Diamond 600 and the ceramic UF will be my choices. Rick