16k-30k grit waterstones worth it?

[Stewart Lang]

Just wondering if people have any experience with really fine waterstones, and if they're worth the cost. I know either way you'll want to strop with something like Lee Valley's green afterward, so just wondering what people's opinions are on them? Skip from 8k to strop, or is the 8k, to 16k, to strop, beneficial? There's a complete set of 10 Shapton Glass Stones on auction on ebay right now at $150, and it has the 16k grit in it. It got me thinking..

30k seems excessive lol, but then again you can't ever get your tools too sharp!

[Andrew Gibson]

I have had a 1k, 5k, 15k Shapton Pro stone set for years. I never strop. My sharping regiment is coarse/x coarse DMT duosharp for really rough work (and stone flattening), 1k for bevel. Straight to 15k for micro bevel and back polish. Done.
I have a 5k pro as well and only use it when flattening and polishing the back of a new blade. I honestly don't think I would bother with a 30k stone.

[Stewart Lang]

I have had a 1k, 5k, 15k Shapton Pro stone set for years. I never strop. My sharping regiment is coarse/x coarse DMT duosharp for really rough work (and stone flattening), 1k for bevel. Straight to 15k for micro bevel and back polish. Done.
I have a 5k pro as well and only use it when flattening and polishing the back of a new blade. I honestly don't think I would bother with a 30k stone.

Interesting jump from 1k to 15k. Makes sense. I wonder what the micron difference is between 15-16k stones and the green strop

[Derek Cohen]

Don't waste your money on either the high grits or the 10-set! Especially glass stones - poor value for money.

I am a long-term hand tool user, and my main system is 1000 Pro Shapton, and 6000 and 13000 Sigma ceramic stones. You do not need more than three stones, and can even get away with two, depending on the method you use (in this case, micro bevels). By-and-large, the Shaptons are not as good as the Sigmas, except for the 1000 Pro.

Sharpening with waterstones is not like using sandpaper, where you need to run through many grits.

If you want to go to a really high grit - and there can be some value in this when paring detail work - then simply scribble green compound on MDF or hardwood, and strop on this.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Tom M King]

Another lover of the Sigma 13K. I never strop, and very, very rarely do any grinding. My smoothing plane irons haven't seen a grinder in years, nor have they visited a stone coarser than 6k (no micro-bevels).

[George Yetka]

I have 1-2-3-5-10. I think the 10 is excessive, and got along fine before i got it. It makes it the slightest bit easier to get to polished with the strop after.

[Tony Shea]

Interesting jump from 1k to 15k. Makes sense. I wonder what the micron difference is between 15-16k stones and the green strop

I would def agree with Derek on this. 3 stones will cover 99% of your sharpening needs. The place that I differ is that I use all Shapton Pro stones. I have their 1K, 5K, and 12K (which I've seen refereed to as a 15K.) I don't disagree that the Sigma stones might be better but there is literally no sources for the Sigma Power line of stones now that Toolsfromjapan is no longer. The Sigma Power Select II stones are available but from what I've read my Shapton stones are much more suited to the steels that I use. The Sigma Power II's are much more friable and wear faster in order to cut the more exotic steels faster.

Having said this I did recently pick up a Shapton Glass 16K to play around with. So far I really like the stone and think it puts a slightly better edge on than the Shapton Pro 12K. But the value is not there. You get about half the amount of stone for a little less than double the cost of the Pro. Moving forward I will be sticking with the Shapton Pro's unless the Sigma Power stones that Stu used to sell become available again.

I personally use micro bevels and then grind my blade to the original bevel angle once the micro bevel gets too large. This is such an efficient sharpening method I can't image doing anything different. I have been tempted to check out David Weaver's Unicorn Edge method on chisels but haven't really felt like changing my stubborn ways.