[Jcahill4]

I recieved my first Japanese water stone in the mail today. I have been watching YouTube videos for tips. My stone is two sided, 250 - 1000, a big jump in my opinion, but YouTube-ers didn't seem to think so.

I am not thoroughly impressed, I was able to sharpen 3 dull knives, it made them sharp, but not as sharp as new. My question is, do I need higher than 1000 to get scary sharp? Or do I need more practice?

 

[frankp]

More practice. You can get plenty scary sharp with 1000 grit. I've found my cheaper kitchen knives don't sharpen well either, so you may be having that kind of issue as well.

 

[Noek]

It takes a while.

I started out sharpening chisels and plane blades then after getting them really sharp, I moved on to doing the knife set we have. There was a bit of a learning curve since I was using a guide with the planes/chisel blades and now I was freehand. I watched youtube as well but in the end I developed my own style of sharpening them. I usually start out with 1000 and then move to my 4000 with nagura stone. If it needs a lot of work I'll use 800 and only 250 for nicks in the steel where it needs a total overhaul.

I soak the stones about 15min prior to using and make sure to keep them wet while sanding.

You will get there, just keep at it and try to keep your angle consistent. :thumbsup:

 

[Al B Thayer]

I like to finish with a leather strop and compound. I use an old belt laid out on my work bench. 2 or 3 strokes and it's super sharp.

Al

Nails only hold themselves.

 

[redeared]

I have kitchen knife my wife will not touch, it was a kit given me as a gift by my kids, Damascus blade, it was super sharp to begin with, after using it the first time my was washing it and it slipped out her hand and hit her finger, the weight of it required 5 stitches at the ER. I am always careful using it because I know how sharp it is and I have wash/dry and put it away myself. I do plan on trying my new 8000 grit diamond stone to touch it up.