Finishing stones?

[Max Volume]

I have several stones including an Arkansas tri-hone with coarse, medium and fine. Several years ago I picked up another Arkansas stone from Garrett Wade which was meant to be used for sharpening woodworking chisels.

Lately I have been looking at straight razors and had a pro sharpen a vintage Shumate razor. It was by looking at straight razor info that led me to the topic of finishing stones.

I've read that a Norton 4000/8000 grit stone is quite common for straight razors. Would that be a good all purpose finishing stone for knives also or is there something relatively comparably priced that is better?

 

[Max Volume]

Either everyone is to lazy to learn how to finely sharpen their own **** and they send it off or those who know how to sharpen knives to the keenest edge won't reply because it's going to dig into their profits because it's some deep, dark secret. So............... I'm not a democrat expecting someone else to do it for me and will learn how to sharpen my knifes as sharp as a straight razor rather than send them off.

I've only had one teacher in my long life. Yeah, I'm AARP eligible so have been around the block. I've only had one teacher in my life who was worth a damn. She had a program with associated buttons to wear on the chest that said; "we don't ask, we look it up". I'm very good at applying what I read.

Having said that I will say this. Every forum has useful information applicable to what you want to know. Guess I'll just search somewhere else for this tidbit, not that I'd leave INGO.

 

[spectre327]

I will take the time to reply.

I am not an expert at sharpening, nor have I had EXCELLENT results at it but at that grit, I could see 4k/8k grit being used for a razor as that means little material removal at a controlled pace, thereby allowing one to gauge the sharpness of the razor.

Of course you would be polishing the blade at the same time. Personally, if I am correct, then using such a stone on a high hardness knife could result in lower stropping times and sharper edges.

 

[buckstopshere]

I do like the ultra fine bench stone from spyderco but I don't consider my knife finished until after a good stropping. Have you considered stropping?

Here's my comment when asked about stropping from another INGO member.

Stropping removes weak and very small pieces of metal or burrs and straightens the edge making it more refined. An unstropped knife is very "toothy" whereas a stropped knife becomes very smooth - think of a sharp piece of glass - This is also how the blade gets polished and forms that mirrored look.

Stropping is the simplest and the quickest procedure that you can perform to maintain and extend the useful life of your edges, hence the knives themselves. It's a very simple procedure. It will dramatically improve sharpening results. Plus, it's so much quicker to put your edge back on your knife with a few laps on the strop vs getting out the sharpener.

I do make strops and would be happy to sell you one but that's not really my intent. If you want to get to razor sharp, it's a great way to get there and a great way to maintain that edge without having to put it on the sharpening stone every time.