Waterstones

[Bigus]

Hi

I've decided I really need to get a waterstone or two to get my plane blades to the right level of sharpness for working with hardwoods.

There seems to be a degree of personal preference as to what grit levels to use but "a few thousand" seems to be required for a good level of fineness.

To that end I've been hunting around and, blimey, these things are expensive! 50, 60, 70 quid is more than I want to pay at the moment but there is this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121146290116

Looks good in that there are 1000 and 3000 grit sides, which should be satisfactory and a definite step up from my current cheap oilstone of unknown but likely comparably coarse grit. I can still use my oilstone for the initial coarse grind if a blade is particularly blunt. However, that product does emphasise that it's for knives - usually manufacturors are keen to point out as many uses as possible for their wares but can't find any mention of those waterstones in combination with planes.

Has anyone tried these or know if they'd be suitable for plane blades (and for that matter chisels)?

Bigus

 

[inaspin]

Hi Bigus
Worth a try i would think £ 23.99 with free delivery on amazon at the moment i would prefer iff it was a tad wider, i may try one for carving couges struggling to get a good edge on mine.

Berns

 

[Bigus]

Worth a try i would think £ 23.99 with free delivery on amazon at the moment

That's the 240/800 one at that price. There is a different one here (albeit narrower again) for a whole 9 pence cheaper:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Japanese-Sharpe ... rid_pt_0_1

 

[procell]

I may be wrong but how about a ceramic block and honing paste?

 

[bugbear]

Hi

I've decided I really need to get a waterstone or two to get my plane blades to the right level of sharpness for working with hardwoods.

There seems to be a degree of personal preference as to what grit levels to use but "a few thousand" seems to be required for a good level of fineness.

To that end I've been hunting around and, blimey, these things are expensive! 50, 60, 70 quid is more than I want to pay at the moment but there is this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121146290116

Looks good in that there are 1000 and 3000 grit sides, which should be satisfactory and a definite step up from my current cheap oilstone of unknown but likely comparably coarse grit. I can still use my oilstone for the initial coarse grind if a blade is particularly blunt. However, that product does emphasise that it's for knives - usually manufacturors are keen to point out as many uses as possible for their wares but can't find any mention of those waterstones in combination with planes.

Has anyone tried these or know if they'd be suitable for plane blades (and for that matter chisels)?

Bigus

Grunwerg are mainly knife importers, and they do a lot of pseuo-japanese knives. I (in general) don't trust their quality.

I have had better luck with Eden, who are Japanese specialists.

e.g.

http://www.edenwebshops.co.uk/en/pt/-ed ... 0-5000.htm

Or this King brand stone from Rutland

http://www.rutlands.co.uk/sp+knives-kni ... 000+jp1412

BugBear

 

[mqbernardo]

if i was going for a not too expensive combination stone, i´d go for a Cerax 1000/6000 stone. they go for around 38 euros in dieter schmid´s : http://www.fine-tools.com/kombischleifstein.html
supposedly harder than kings (but i never tried king stones), so you´ll need to flatten them less frequently.
but you´re right - stones are definitely a matter of personal preference. i myself really like the way my choseras work.

good luck!

 

[ellisn]

I got this set and added a 4000 as a step up between the 1.2 and 8k. Good value... I think

http://www.workshopheaven.com/tools/Bas ... g_Kit.html

Hope the link gets through

 

[Ollie78]

I got my first water stone from ebay for about £25. I think it was a king or sun or something.
Any way it was double sided with 1000 and 6000 grit, this was great and I learned to sharpen much better with this stone. I wore it out totally, it got so thin it just cracked to bits.

I was now convinced that water stones were for me, so I invested in a set from Norton in a carry case. This set has 1000, 4000 and 8000 grit stones. Also a flattening stone is included which I use regularly.
I love the Norton system as its in a self contained box and always ready to use, the stones are very thick so should last ages. It is expensive though.

I think the key to a really sharp blade on a water stone is the Nagura stone which is used to de glaze the stone and produce a slurry or mud on the stones surface.
This is more important on the finer grit stones. I was surprised that one was not supplied in my set from Norton.

The good news is the Nagura stones are only a few pounds and make a great deal of difference to any stones you choose.

Ollie

 

[Bigus]

Thanks for the info. I've bookmarked that Eden site as they seem great value.

I did buy the Grunwerg 1000/3000 waterstone after my initial post and have had a bash at sharpening my No.5 plane blade and chisels with it. So far it seems OK - I haven't managed to generate a level of sharpness necessary for splitting atoms or shaving the hairs off my arms but then that is just as likely to a limitation of my fledgling sharpneing skills! I think the chisel blades are definitely sharper now.

This is probably good enough for me for the time being. I suspect there is a relative relationship between the level of woodworking skill and the quality of ones tools in terms of money and skill. That is, if one can't yet plane in a straight line then one probably doesn't need to worry about whether the plane blade is capable of slicing up air molecules; similarly if one struggles to consistently hold the blade at the right angle for sharpening, remortgaging the house to get a waterstone hand-crafted by Samuri warriors on the top of Mount Fuji is probably a tad excessive