Water stone grits

[Jim Andrew]

I want to make my planes work well, have a bench grinder, and am shopping for water stones. Grizzly has 8 1/8 x 2 1/2 x 1 3/8 stones in 800, 1000, 1200, 6000, and 8000 grit. Also looking at their honing guide for 8.95 the stones run from 16.95 to 36.95 each, the highest priced with pedestal. Was hoping someone would tell me what grits I need. Jim

[Jim Becker]

I'm only an occasional Neander and certainly not an expert on sharpening. But I'm happy with 1000/4000 (a combo) and 8000 for keeping my chisels and plane irons working to my satisfaction. Mine are from ToolsForWorkingWood.com.

[Jim Andrew]

Now that I have built the french style workbench with the 2 vises, can see using the planes a bit. When I was at Fort Hays State U in the 70's, had an old shop teacher that showed us the best way to get a glue joint. And after you had jointed everything, You clamped your boards together and went over them with a big old jointer plane. With the two boards clamped together and jointing at one time, you get a near perfect fit. Jim

[Jim Koepke]

Now that I have built the french style workbench with the 2 vises, can see using the planes a bit. When I was at Fort Hays State U in the 70's, had an old shop teacher that showed us the best way to get a glue joint. And after you had jointed everything, You clamped your boards together and went over them with a big old jointer plane. With the two boards clamped together and jointing at one time, you get a near perfect fit. Jim

I have 4 stones, but you may want different. Mine are 250 for real rough stuff. 800 again this is for faster work. 4000 for mild touch up and 8000 for final honing. Hair can be trimmed from my arm with the 4000. After the 8000, the hair is cut, but not felt being cut. I am tempted to get a 1000 grit stone, but haven't really needed one. When going from the 800 to the 4000, it does not take long to get a good polish on an edge.

As far as joining goes, my learning was to do a sprung joint of the boards. This means an extra pass or two in the center of the boards so there is a very slight gap between them. This supposedly allows for expansion and contraction with the change of the seasons and wood movement.

Maybe someone who knows more about this could explain it better and how much one should do in the winter as compared to summer.

jim

[Mike Cutler]

Jim

Some of those grits are too close together in my opinion.

I use the following grits;

220. Removes a fair amount of material pretty fast.

800 Good for beginning to re-establish the edge on the tool. Be it the primary, or secondary bevel.

1000/1200 These really just let me know if I need to go back to the 800, as I can begin to see the mirror finish and where I need to remove some additional material. They are my "transition grits". Good for beginning the work on the backs of chisels too.

4000 The beginning of the polishing and homing.

8000 My highest grit. Some folks go to 15,000, but I stop here. If everything has been done properly I have a razor sharp edge, and the bevel is as polished as a mirror. Doesn't happen every time though.:eek:,;)

Of the one's you have listed I would want the 800/1200 and 8000, and look for a 4000 stone . I'm certain that the 6000 is very useful, but it's too close to the 8000 and too far away from the 1200 in my opinion. I think you'll also want to look for a 200-400 stone eventually. I've actually been looking for a 2000 to bridge the gap between the 1200 and the 4000 in my set of stones.

For reference sake. LN ships their planes and chisel sharpened with something less than 800 grit.

[Wilbur Pan]

I use Shaptons -- 1000, 5000, and 8000 grit. I have a coarse diamond stone for dealing with big nicks or a big rehab job on a used chisel.

[Mike Henderson]

I use Shaptons -- 1000, 5000, and 8000 grit. I have a coarse diamond stone for dealing with big nicks or a big rehab job on a used chisel.
I'm exactly the same as Wilbur except my 8000 is a King stone. I use my diamond stones for flattening the backs of old chisels, and to fix an edge when I drop a chisel on the concrete floor - and also to flatten the 1000 to 8000 stones.

A little off topic, I dropped my 1000 Shapton and it broke in half. I repaired it by baking it in the oven at 350 for about a half hour to dry it out, then glued it with epoxy. Worked fine. My 1000 is getting thin.

Mike

[Charlie Mastro]

I'm exactly the same as Wilbur except my 8000 is a King stone. I use my diamond stones for flattening the backs of old chisels, and to fix an edge when I drop a chisel on the concrete floor - and also to flatten the 1000 to 8000 stones.

A little off topic, I dropped my 1000 Shapton and it broke in half. I repaired it by baking it in the oven at 350 for about a half hour to dry it out, then glued it with epoxy. Worked fine. My 1000 is getting thin.

Mike

I'll make a third on that combo and my 8000 is also a King.

[Thom Sturgill]

I have a course/fine diamond stone I use for initial flattening and establishing the bevel as well as flattening my water stones, which are King stones at 800, and a combo 1200/4000. I can get a mirror polish with 4000 which will take the hair off my arm without pulling on the hair. If I'm careful I can get an edge that will slice the hairs without touching the skin.

That said, I plan on adding an 8000 to the mix for final polish and possibly the flat steel and diamond paste for initial flattening since I am planning several more old chisel purchases.

[Peter Quadarella]

I'm just a newbie but have been having good success with sharpening my plane irons lately. I use a coarse DMT to establish the initial bevel, then have a 1000/4000. I was going straight from the 4000 side to some mdf with honing compound on it and was ok. I recently added an 8000 stone in between the 4000 and honing compound and am having really excellent results (I could be just getting better at it though). All my waterstones are from Norton.

[Will Blick]

Thom, that is impressive you can cut the hairs on your arm with King 4k grit. I find that test to be a good indicator of sharpness. My Norton 4k stone will never produce an edge that sharp. BTW, what type of metal are you sharpening? A2?

[Thom Sturgill]

Thom, that is impressive you can cut the hairs on your arm with King 4k grit. I find that test to be a good indicator of sharpness. My Norton 4k stone will never produce an edge that sharp. BTW, what type of metal are you sharpening? A2?

Someone with a little more expertise would have to tell me that. I have just sharpened two 'Sweetheart' Stanley socket bevel-edged chisels that I got off the bay. I also have an old PEXTO, a Witherby, and a set of Narex Czech chisels that I bought from Highland (my first new tool purchase), and various Stanley plane blades and one Hock blade. I can shave with any of them, some better than others.

However, I think I spoke too fast :(. I went back to the Woodcraft site and the combo Japanese waterstone they carry is 1200/8000 :D not 1200/4000. I bought it at one of their stores last year and I guess I forgot what I bought. I'm at work, so I can't look at the stone to check.

[Joel Goodman]

If you use the microbevel method I find I sharpen fastest as follows:

1) Coarse DMT for either reestablishing the primary bevel or nicks IF NEEDED

2) Extra Fine DMT (1200) to refine the primary bevel

3) 8000 Norton for the microbevel.

I've been using the LV guide as it's easy to set a microbevel. I used to use the 1000 Norton for step 2 but got tired of flattening. The DMTs are large and came from craftsmanstudio. I flatten the Norton with sandpaper.

[Chris Padilla]

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=11640&d=1098377279

Yes, they don't look so new like that anymore but I still have all of them. :D

[Glenn Shotwell]

I'll make a third on that combo and my 8000 is also a King.


I'm looking to get some waterstones. I read about the King Ice Bear stones recommended in a David Charlesworth book. But I've also heard mention about a stone being just a King, not Ice Bear. What is the difference and where do you get the King 8000 stone?

[Mike Henderson]

I'm looking to get some waterstones. I read about the King Ice Bear stones recommended in a David Charlesworth book. But I've also heard mention about a stone being just a King, not Ice Bear. What is the difference and where do you get the King 8000 stone?
I got mine from Lee Valley some time ago. The 8000 doesn't wear very fast.

Mike

[Terry Beadle]

Hello,

I use green 220 for rough work and a slow speed grinder with Wolverine set up for primary bevel work.

I use a course/xtracourse diamond DMT for flattening the stones and occassionally flattening a back of a chisel.

The water stones are 800 King, 1000 King, a muga blue 2000~3000 natural, 6000 King, 8000 King and 10000 Ice Bear.

Then to bring back an edge, green rouge on rock maple board. This is a really good way to do a quick hone on the bench and get right back to work.

I don't have any hair left on my left wrist...hoot! :D

I think I could do with out the 6000 but I bought it and used it for years before going to the higher grits. I've found the higher grits make the polish marginally better but really make up for it in durability. I've got one sword steel Japanease paring chisel that is used very frequently but has not been back to the stones in a long time. Just touch it up on the hone/green rouge and away you go.

I don't recommend combination stones unless it's just a money thing.
At the minimum an 800, muga blue and a 8000 will really do the job. The rouge is about $10 from Grizzly and they have an assortment pack that's a good deal because you can use it on a buffing wheel for steel, alumnuim and other metals as well as certain hard woods.

Good luck!