Sigma Power Select II water stones

[Jason White]

Any of you folks use these stones and like them? My plane blades are all A2 and PM-V11.

https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop...,23HA2X,HOS1,1

[Don Peters]

Jason,

I bought 1000, 6000 and 13000 Sigmas from Schtoo Tierney many years ago when he was exporting from Japan. They are good quality and good value. LV doesn't show a 6000. The 13000 stone is very soft, and gouges easily so it has a bit of a learning curve. I'd go for 1000, 3000 and 10000 if I were buying them again; they're available and a bit cheaper. My 6000 stone broke in several pieces after several years, and I don't know why as it wasn't abused. I still have the 1000 and 13000 stones.

The Sigmas aren't exactly spray and go, so you'll need to soak them for about 20 minutes. This does require a bit of forethought so you don't have to wait for them. I've since switched to Naniwa Professional (old Chosera) stones, largely because they are spray and go. They're really excellent, but a fair bit more expensive, and they have to be stored totally dry.

So it's horses for courses, and everything has it's little compromises. Overall, I think you'll be happy with Sigmas.

dp

[David Bassett]

Back when Stu was shipping Japanese market stones to US woodworkers and Lee Valley first started carrying Sigma stones there was a lot of discussion and some reviews about the merits and differences between the models. You should search for them.

(It's never been clear to me that Sigma didn't play games with the names and it certainly seems some retailers were fast and loose with the precise names, or maybe it's just different translations gave slightly different labels to seemingly identical products. Anyway, I've never been clear on the boundaries and overlaps between what seemed like three lines, some which may not be in production anymore.)

As I recall the Sigma Select II stones should sharpen your A2 & PM-V11 steel easily and well. The major complaint was they were more targeted to HSS Steels you'd find in a machine shop and so friable they wore faster than necessary.

Stu was, then, able to get the Power line of Sigma stones. While they wouldn't work on the machine shop HSS as well, many felt they were ideal for the woodworking steels like A2 & PM-V11. Stu, before he shutdown his operation, was having trouble getting the Power line from Sigma. Since I've never seen them anywhere else, I assume Sigma discontinued them.

If you would consider other stones, I inferred Stu felt the Suehiro Cerax stones were the closest to the Sigma Powers and a good second best. (I do know Suehiro plays naming games. E.g. the owner has confirmed the Rika 5000 and the Cerax 5000 are the same, except for the ink stamp, using the same stone to fill in the 5K spot in two lines. BTW the Rika is usually cheaper.) Like the Sigmas, the Cerax stones require a short soak. I do like them however.

If soaking is a problem for you, Don mentioned the Naniwa Chosera / Professional stones. Another "splash & go" line to consider is the Shapton Pros / Ha No Kuromaku stones. (These are the stones Christopher Schwarz uses, though he "recommends" you use whatever you like.) They are truly spritz and go. On Amazon a third party seller had the Schwarz set of 1K, 5K, 8K on sale for $150 shipped from Amazon. They are clearly gray market with no English anywhere, but how much support do you need for a stone?)

[Tom M King]

I use them, as well as some Sigma Power (not the Select II), and like them the most of any stones I've ever used. They're Fast! I only have one A2 iron, and never had PM-VII in my hands, but my one hard iron sharpens easily with them, and I sharpened one A2 iron for someone that was having a hard time sharpening it.

This from his A2 iron.

[Reed Gray]

New to hand planes and chisels, well, inexperienced any way. In researching stones, I went for the DMT diamond lapping plates. Finest grits are 4000, and 8000. You can still use water, but don't need to soak them, but I do use automotive ammonia free glass cleaner, and they will always stay flat. Stropping takes care of the rest. Their finest diamond paste is 15000 grit.

robo hippy