Don't Waste Your Money On The Wrong First Sharpening Stone 

Thanks! Really appreciate it🙏👍

You’re right about these being the best sharpening reviews on RU-vid. Straight up honest opinions from a guy who’s actually using the products/techniques and paying for them out of his own pocket. Not some shill that’s getting a kickback for suckering people into buying junk they don’t want or need. I stumbled (and subbed) onto this channel a few months ago and have found lots of good content. He seems to actually read the comments and addresses points brought up there in his videos. I appreciate that he knows and shows what does AND doesn’t work and is willing to demonstrate and experiment. My own sharpening skills and tools (found out about dmt products here) have both benefited from watching him. If you need proof that he knows what he’s doing just check out the close ups, I wish I could view my own work like that.

You'll find it a rewarding hobby/skill. Maintain the same angle for your passes would be my most important point. You'll get the knack quick and really appreciate the steels differences. It's kind of relaxing with time in on it.

I picked up the 400/1000 diamond and 1000 shapton because of you 2 weeks back, and I have some balsa wood and dmt 3 micron paste on order now. One thing you have not covered are flattening and dressing / cleaning stone. Any products there that you can recommend, especially for the shapton 1k and potentially 2k in the future?

Fuck yeah dude. Before I started watching his stuff I was dulling knives on a stone instead of sharpening them, now I can get a real nice edge with diamond stones

I got the 320, 1000 and 2000

​@@kristianandersen5732i went 320, 1000, 2000, 5000, and 12000. I'm really new to using whetstones, and for the knives i use, I'm pretty much going with the 1k or 2k to finish the edge. But in my job i use wood chisels, so the 5000 and 12k are nice to give it a super fine edge and that mirror look

The burr is the key. No burr, no sharp. Once people get a burr, the world will never be the same. I'd always get coarse diamond first, though, since they cut much faster.

When I started out, I did not take the advance of buying just a single 1000 grit stone. I'm pretty familiar with abrasives due to my experience in different trades, mostly sandpaper, files, scotch pads, and cutting compound. Nobody goes out and buys 1000 grit sandpaper and uses it for every job out there. Giving the advice to only buy a 1000 grit whetstone and use it to sharpen every knife you have is like telling someone to buy a spade and use that to dig every hole you need. Or to buy a single general purpose hammer and use it for every job that needs a hammer. Some jobs need a drilling hammer or a sledge, and some jobs need a ditch witch or an excavator. A lot of people also recommend buying cheap whetstones like Kings, which wear fast and dish, and then move to a better quality. That doesn't make sense to me; why spend $30 on a whetstone, only to replace it when you wear through with another higher quality stone that costs $50. You just spent $70 when you could have just bought the quality stone at $50, learned to care for it and benefited from the higher quality, the harder wearing, the feedback and the better performance. So, I think the most appropriate advice to give to a beginner is to buy a set of quality whetstones to start. Buy a coarse, a finer grit and something in between. I've had luck with 320, 500, and 2000 on the Shapton Rock Star line. Shapton Kuromaku 220 or 320, 1000 and the 2000 are a good set. Naniwa S2 Advance 220, 400 and 1000 are another. These are great because you can repair a damaged knife and set a new bevel with the 220/320 grit stones, or quickly sharpen a very dull knife with the 400, 500, and sharpen to a good cutting edge with the 1000/2000. If you have to start at the 220/320, it's good to have an intermediate step to make it to the end. Some knives don't need 320 and can benefit by starting with 400/500 or even 1000. Some of these stones are also not truly at their marked grit and may be more or less coarse/fine. I would also encourage beginners to buy a bunch of cheap knives from websites or at sporting good stores to practice technique before sharpening or repairing good, expensive knives.

Definitely get the diamond cheap stone he recommended. I also have the 1000 stone and the cheap whet stones. I got a burr so fast with the diamond, it really was an eye opener. He's totally right that that's the stone to learn from starting out. Now i have a strop and need to work on getting hair shaving results.

Good that you didn’t give up. Get the Alex recommended diamond plates and it will be fast. I have used mine at a family member’s house who wrecks knives and it cuts well. I want to get the dmt. Good luck.

@@testboga5991You dont need a burr to get a knive sharp. You need to align two bevels at the apex, not to overgrind them making a burr which youll have to remove later.

Same here!! Learn from expensive way!!!!!!

i like two how he showed different brands

Naniwa pro 3k is amazing stone. Smooth, lots of feedback, slow wearing, fast to make a burr. It's really good.

I really believe that the strop is necessary you should take the next step soon.

@@BloodSprite-tan YES! im having a hard time finding a diamond compound paste like used in the videos in Amazon UK. not sure what micron should i buy first as my first paste?

@@nicosalfos like the video suggest you should look for 6 micron diamond, it doesn't have to be paste you could get it from any available source. like spray powder etc. If you can't find anything you could always just use the green chromium oxide, but I wouldn't bother with a nice strop if you do so. you could just put green compound on mdf or other porous soft wood surfaces. since it needs to be scrapped off and replaced more often.

i had the 400/1000 in my cart yesterday and now it’s sold out lol

@@MortalMayonnaise It sold out after his video lol, but the American one that costs 2x more is in stock so ima prob get that.

Awesome! Glad to hear 👍👍

DMT coarse, plus an Arkansas to do the fine work, that's a good combo.

Rinse with water and give it some random passes with the diamond plate. Use a pencil to scribble the top, run the plate over it, and you'll see if it's flat or not. Too easy.

​@@silvermediastudio Most ppl starting out & in general don't own a diamond plate tho, they are really expensive for just flattening & are hard to rationalize buying when u can get multiple whetstones for the same price. I've been buying knives for year and don't have one. it's not needed

@@solosamuraiz1526 SATC Diamond Sharpening Stone 2 Side Grit 400/1000 Diamond Plate is $22 on Amazon. Stop making excuses. Your comment is the only thing not needed here.

Correct

Isn't the shapton 320 pro too coarse? I have a 2000 pro and need something coarser, the 1000 pro is nowhere to be found, only the 320 pro and 500 glass.

"why would I bother to continue working towards finer grids?" I want to know that too. Is going finer just cosmetic, for that mirror-bright finish, or does it make a functional difference?

There’s truly no point unless you have a very specific use for 100k edges; such as a master surgeon who happens to sharpens his own scalpels, which is highly improbable. ;) Or you just do it as a hobby or because you can do it. That’s why I used to do it a lot, because I can. It’s a skill, yes, and one that takes a lot of practice to truly master but it’s also one of extremely limited benefit and practical use. I used to take my knives to ridiculous levels (the waterstones would stop at around 1 micron/15k, then waterstone powders for polishing out polishing defects from the stone itself, and then it would be Diamond pastes) but in the end I stopped doing it because 100k edges don’t cut rope, or anything in the real world, like a highly refined 600 grit edge. I still mirror polish all the bevels (powders included, lol) but then I apply a tiny micro bevel (at the degrees I want as the secondary bevel has been reduced to account for it) on a 600 stone. However, this isn’t necessary every time I need to sharpen a knife…only every so often. Sometimes I’ll do some light and careful stropping (4-6 pps) on a 5 micron Diamond paste loaded piece of hardwood, but it depends on what I want to cut. My knife bevels are generally made into a flawless mirror and you even can’t see the Micro as it’s so small. Yet, it slices/pushes through anything with ease and due to the tiny micro its edge retention surpasses any zero grind by many many times. I do this on all blade types; flat, scandi, convex, sabre, hollow, and compound grinds; knives, daggers, machetes, and swords. They can still whittle beard hairs fairly easily but not always, if that tells you anything. They all shave. Shaving hairs is quite easy and not really proof of sharpness as even reasonably dull knives (by my own standards anyways) can still give the impression, especially on film, of shaving sharp. For the record, I use the plateau sharpening method almost exclusively. Among other things it allows me to have the cutting apex at a different grit than the bevel itself; it’s faster, it wastes no metal with burr formation and removal, and is just plain better. Some other info that may be of interest… Burrs are sharpening the metal so much that you’ve collapsed the apex and so need to flip sides to correct it. Only to create yet another burr, wasting metal and reducing the life of the knife. It comes from misinformation from people who, honestly, believe they know what they’re doing and it’s also so terribly ingrained into people that it passes from one generation to the next unnoticed. Zero grinds are nonsense and fragile and the idea stems from misinformation as even traditional Scandis (in Scandinavia) aren’t zero grind, they never have been…unless adopted. It’s an American thing and a silly one at that. If you strop, your blades aren’t zero grind. It’s pretty much that simple. If you’re interested check out “Cliff Stamp Plateau Sharpening” and you’ll find theory behind it. He also has a ton of other science based info on his channel and website. You’ll learn more from Cliff (RIP) than anyone else I can assure you. RonaldZaZ, specifically… Use the DMT coarse to flatten the Shapton. It’s an ideal grit to use as a flattening stone on a 1k Shapton. Draw pencil lines in a grid on the Shapton and start. You’ll see some are removed while others are not; those others are low spots in the stone and you need to keep at it until all pencil marks are removed. You’ll have a perfectly flat stone in the end. Use plenty of water and don’t be heavy handed with Diamond plates as they can wear out prematurely.

For real. Even just stropping on my cutting board changed how the knives feel right off the stone. Getting rid of that burr so it doesn't fold over is key

I know you weren't asking me, but Sharpal makes a good set of credit card sized diamond stone "plates" that you can carry in your wallet for those situations.

For "digging edges" like on shovels or the upper edge of a machete that see dirt often I carry a small file, about 6 inches or less, my pocket carry one is a Nicolson ignition file, 5-1/4 inch, tungsten point file model 02375NN, cuts most anything and takes nicks out fast (note: that is 5-1/4 overall, it's tiny and thin and will flex). Practice a bit before you use it on your favorite tool, holding the angle takes practise with the short file.

Files, Lansky Pucks, or Worksharp Field sharpener all great bush options

Thanks, guys ! For now, I mostly : - Don't do anything and leave the digging portion blunt. - Use a pull-through sharpener on the edge - Use a full-size metal file OR a piece of sandpaper layed upon my palm (gloves on 😅) Seeing Alex's videos on pull through sharpeners, I stopped using mine. Thinking the most ultralight way would be pieces of sandpaper and leather, layed on top of my thigh (dragging motion, not shaving motion... 😅) Alex, I'm curious what your take is ! 🫡