[Danny Ray]

Been tossing around the idea of using these stones to sharpen my knives. I use the old 1x30 belt then buff off the wire method now. Do the stones give a superior edge over the belt? If so, what are the best brand stones and what grit should I buy. Thanks in advance for the help. Danny Ray

[Stephan Fowler]

traditional waterstones are a huge can of worms

I have been using stones for years and have a bit of a collection. but I wouldn't necessarily say their better, their just different.

buffing off the wire like your doing or aggressive stropping will leave a very smooth edge that is wonderful in some applications and terrible in others. if you put that edge on a chef's knife it would ruin a lot of delicate vegetables, you NEED a high grit toothy edge for some things.

my current favorite is my Ohira Tomae natural water stone, it's roughly a 12k grit stone that leaves a super edge that still bites well.

for just doing stock removal I'm a fan of King water stones, and Bester makes excellent low and high grit stones.

for a hunter or bowie I would rarely bother going above 4k grit but I make a lot of chef's knives and there is a noticeable performance advantage to a super high grit edge.

all that said water stones can take a bit of practice to use efficiently and if your going to go down that road be ready to go through dozens of stones before finding a set that you really like


and don't forget to get a flattening stone (I use a DMT 220G plate) flat stones will make for much more consistent results

[Steve Culver]

Stephen,
Thanks for picking up Danny's question and providing an answer!

Danny,
Sorry it took so long for your question to be answered. Sometimes, questions fall off the radar and don't get answered as they should.

Note to all users,
If you post a question that doesn't get an answer in a reasonable amount of time, don't hesitate to respond to it that you are still waiting on an answer. Posting to it again will get it back into the view of the Forum community.

Thanks!!!

[Danny Ray]

Stephan, thanks for the feedback.
Steve, no problem on the wait, thanks again. Danny

[BrionTomberlin]

Stephan. thanks for the comments. Good to see you. One other factor with waterstones is cost. Some can be expensive. I have a few of them and use them occasionally. Some of the stones are best kept in water and you need a seperate container for each grit.
Brion