Advice - Whetstone grit

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  • Yoshi

    Invictus
    Jun 9, 2010
    4,520
    Someplace in Maryland
    I recently purchased Japanese kitchen knives and want to get a whetstone. If the knives are sharp out of the box, can I get by with just fine grit stone or should I buy a medium grit stone as well? What grits would you suggest?

    Already have a knife steel and a diamond steel for my western style kitchen knives. Want to stay traditional with my new knives.
     

    Doco Overboard

    Ultimate Member
    The problem for me has always been trying to follow the edge established by the manufacturer.
    All this really means is that generally a series of progressively finer stones were needed to train the blade to the way I manipulated them.
    Once I was able to get the blade the way I wanted it, I only really use a fine stone to keep an edge.
    Every once in a while I have to use a courser stone to get things moving along.

    I don't own any really nice or quality kitchen knives but have been sharpening other knives and tools for myself for years.
    Every one of them even from the same manufacture react differently when I put an edge on them so sometimes I use different types of stones to get them into shape. Some really wont sharpen at all.
    Anything that has seen hard use usually needs a slightly courser stone at first to bring it into shape.
    I always try to move the stone the same way when sharpening as to what the knife is designed for on both sides.
     

    JB01

    Member
    Nov 11, 2017
    99
    You may be able to "get by" with a 600 grit stone. However, I think you will not be pleased with a "toothy" edge. I believe a 600 grit and a 1200 grit will better serve you.
    My ability to hold an angle while sharpening could be described as limited. Therefore, I use a "fixed angle" manual sharpening machine. I do not attempt sharpening at the manufacturer's angle. For our "European" kitchen knives, I sharpen to a 30-31 degree angle. For folding knives a 32-33 degree angle is used. I establish the new angle using about 120 grit, then a 240 grit, then a 600 grit and finish with a 1200 grit. For folding knives, I will polish with 5000 to 6000 grit.
    JB
     

    alucard0822

    For great Justice
    Oct 29, 2007
    17,643
    PA
    Probably best off with a jig system Edgepro, KME etc, easiest way to hold a precise angle and they actually help teach you techniques that translate well to freehand sharpening. An angled rod system like the Spyderco sharpmaker can work, but for larger blades, you want longer rods, and they usually aren't as easy to get a perfect angle at first. As far as grit, there is also material, silicon carbide cuts fast and smooth, Aluminum Oxide cuts clean and is probably the most popular, diamond cuts extremely fast and aggressively, and some other compounds loaded on leather, glass or wood can hone and polish with very fine grit. I personally like Silicon carbide best in the lower grits but generally, <200 is for re-profiling or repairing a damaged edge, 200-400 sharpens a dull knife, 400-800 hones a sharp knife, 1K+ finishes honing a fine edge. You can finish with a lower grit for more bite, or a higher grit for cleaner slices in soft material, I like finishing pocket utility knives on 400 grit SiC and stropping with black compound(3K), quick to sharpen, and slices through cardboard best. Kitchen knives finish on 2K grit and strop with white Chromium oxide(12K) for a polished fine edge that glides through food. I use an Edge pro to profile/sharpen and a 1x30 power belt sander with a leather belt to strop/polish. Through profiling, sharpening and honing you grind away from the edge producing a burr that gets thinner and smaller as the grit gets finer, stropping on a tough/soft material straightens and pulls the excess burr off while polishing and "setting" the edge, loading the strop with compound makes it work faster, and finishing on rough-side leather cleans off the compound while buffing the edge. Some like to sharpen the full edge to a consistent angle, but most sharpen a "relief bevel" and a thin "edge bevel" just a few degrees steeper to give a clean durable edge. There are a ton of variables and different blades in different steels for different applications may do better or worse with different methods, angles or finishes.
     

    dontpanic

    Ultimate Member
    Jul 7, 2013
    6,631
    Timonium
    400
    1000
    3000
    Leather strop w/polishing compound

    You can do anything with this combination. To maintain an edge I really just use 1000 and the strop. There are only a couple of knives that I do anything more with
     

    babalou

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Aug 12, 2013
    16,016
    Glenelg
    dumb question. Japanese swords have a single edge. Do the kitchen knives also have a single edge?
     

    babalou

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Aug 12, 2013
    16,016
    Glenelg
    Thank you

    Traditionally, yes. Japanese knives will not have a "micro-bevel", just one bevel the entire way to the cutting edge. They will often only have a bevel on one side of the knife (right side beveled for right-handed users). The other side will be flat.

    Thanks.
     

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