Water stones?

[Outdoordude]

So i just bought a combination waterstone from shep on here and a leather strop and a nagura stone.
Its a 1000/6000 grit waterstone
Few questions really!
What side is fine and which is coarse. The two sides are beige and a brick red colour.
how many passes should i use each way on each side.
How should i wet the stone i.e soak them or just dribble water on them
Finally is it ok to strop it without any compound for the moment and how many passes should i do on the strop?
Thanks for your help. (sorry about all the questions)

 

[Retired Member southey]

Hello mate,

Run your nail over them, the 6000 grit side will feel almost smooth compared to the 1000, for passes, as many as is needed to make it sharp but always an equal amount on both sides, soak them in water.

Yes it fine to strop with out compound as all you want to do is remove the wire edge the sharpening creates.

 

[Retired Member southey]

If you can either find a flat paving Slab(garden path) or fix a piece of wet and dry sand paper to a piece of flat something(think glass used as a table top type thing) this is t be used after every sharpen to clean the tops of the stones to keep them in good fast cuttig condition.

 

[Retired Member southey]

You can rub the nagura stone over the leather strop to give it some bite too, and remember to pull the strop so it very taught, if its loose your round off the edge you've worked to get sharp, you can always lay the leather on a flat end of a log if you don't feel you can pull it enough.

 

[Shewie]

Mine came today too Jacob, the red side is the 1000

Good tips from Southey although I'll admit I never bother to clean mine off afterwards, apart from giving them a scrub with a nail brush before drying

 

[Retired Member southey]

Then you Rich are lazy.

 

[Samon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm53mCOQTR8 this is mears dogg using a full size whetty on his knife, it'll give you an idea of the process as he also strops with hsi belt after!

regarding stropping, do it lots and take your time to do it right! if you have time try stropping it about 100 times, it may seem alot but stroppign is more important than sharpening, as most of the time it only needs a strop to bring back a razor edge!

 

[Outdoordude]

Mine came today too Jacob, the red side is the 1000

Good tips from Southey although I'll admit I never bother to clean mine off afterwards, apart from giving them a scrub with a nail brush before drying

How are yo finding it. Have you got a razor sharp edge yet i can seem to get mine shaving sharp.

 

[Outdoordude]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm53mCOQTR8 this is mears dogg using a full size whetty on his knife, it'll give you an idea of the process as he also strops with hsi belt after!

regarding stropping, do it lots and take your time to do it right! if you have time try stropping it about 100 times, it may seem alot but stroppign is more important than sharpening, as most of the time it only needs a strop to bring back a razor edge!

Yeh ive just watched this and i tried doing it like he said but i still couldnt get a razor sharp edge. Maybe i didnt strop it right. What is the correct stropping way.

 

[Outdoordude]

You can rub the nagura stone over the leather strop to give it some bite too, and remember to pull the strop so it very taught, if its loose your round off the edge you've worked to get sharp, you can always lay the leather on a flat end of a log if you don't feel you can pull it enough.

Thanks for the advice southey. Ill try it and see how it goes.

 

[Samon]

what knife are you sharpening mate?

strop the edge/bevel but try not to create too much resistance on the drag as that usually means you are holding it at too high an angle and stropping off the sharpness/edge line, instead of polishing it and removing those tiny metal particles that form the 'wire'.

 

[Outdoordude]

Im trying to sharpen a mora clipper stainless. I am also trying to sharpen a knife that was made by a dear friend of mine. It has a scandi grind on it but then at the en it has a much steeper and close to the endge. Im a bit confused?

 

[Samon]

Im trying to sharpen a mora clipper stainless. I am also trying to sharpen a knife that was made by a dear friend of mine. It has a scandi grind on it but then at the en it has a much steeper and close to the endge. Im a bit confused?

sounds like a secondary bevel/edge to me mate. have you sharpened the clipper up before? if so what with? and could you get it shaving sharp then?

it'll take a little time getting it right with a new stone but aslong as you go slow and practice patience you'll get there mate!

the chances are if your clipepr hasn't been sharpened yet it will need to be lifted a tiny bit once it's scandi bevel has been layed down on the stone, as they are slightly hollow ground and actually need that extra lift to make the edge contact the stone properly. I believe it's called a 'micro bevel', it strenghtens an otherwise fragile scandi edge and is on alot of scandi 'bushcraft' knives.

only lift the bevel slightly, say.. enough for a strip of ceral box card to slip under it and you should get it about right, and after a while you'll learn to do it by eye and get a real feel for the resistance and drag needed to get the angles right!

 

[Shewie]

How are yo finding it. Have you got a razor sharp edge yet i can seem to get mine shaving sharp.

Not used it yet