Japanese Waterstones Question

[Matt_1992]

Just reading this thread as I'm also considering the 1000/6000 water stones with the nag stone, is this set actually capable of making a high carbon tool steel scandi grind knife hair cutting sharp with using a belt as a strop (as Ray Mears demonstrated) with practice of course?, or do i need the 800/1200/6000 set-up as Ray Mears uses?

Any replies would be highly appreciated.

 

[sasquatch]

A 1K stone will achieve shaving sharp on it's own if you strop after. The 1K/6K combo will work but you'd get away with just the 1K if you want to save money. 6K on a knife is only necessary to polish the bevels to a mirrored finish if you want that. It's the stropping that sorts any edge to perfection after setting a decent bevel on a stone.

If you're repairing badly chipped bevels you might want a 225 grit stone to speed the process up then clean it up on the 1K. It all depends on what you want to do with them really. If you want to be able to see up your nostrils in the bevel go for the 1K/6K combo as you really can get some stunning results if you put the time in.

 

[Matt_1992]

Oh, thank you for the reply Sasquatch, much appreciated! In regards to stropping, is it as simple as Ray shows in his video where he simply slides the knife back and fourth to 'clean up' the cutting edge on the scandi grind, effectively getting rid of the micro shavings of metal as he put it?

 

[spandit]

Make sure you lift the blade clear before turning it, otherwise you'll roll & blunt the edge.

Stropping basically polishes the edge & removes the "wire edge"

 

[robevs73]

The 1000grit ice bear is good enough to put a decent edge on any knife but if you need to take chips or do a lot of sharpening you will need a rougher stone . From personal experience stay away front 400 grit ice bear its soft as you know what. I always go to 6000 personally then strop on a flat leather board with starkie blue paste then strop on another strop with Autosol, this leaves q mirror polish which I think stays sharp longer, I know many will think this is over kill and it probably is but that's the way I do it.

 

[Matt_1992]

Alright, thanks guys for answering my questions. Looking forward to getting my Scandi knife & water-stones, should be the start of something sharp

 

[velvetmonkey]

Great advice from everybody

I'm going to take the plunge too and get a set of stones but wanted to know.......

Is all the advice given below transferrable to axes as well?

I have a Mora Clipper and a Gransfors Bruks Wildlife axe.
Will the combo sets mentioned do the job for both?

 

[robin wood]

These work for axes too. I personally don't use holding clamps I use them Japanese style sat on top of a piece of 6"x6" softwood.

 

[velvetmonkey]

Hi all,

Ordered a set through EdenWebShops.
Seem to have kindly enough reviews.

Anyway - went for two combination stones and the Nagura stone
250/800
2000/5000 + Nagura Stone

Happy enough so far - I'll let y'all know how badly I do at my first attempt at sharpening

Thanks again