Thread: Lower Grit Naturals?

Originally Posted by Smokintbird

I am looking for natural stones that fall into the categories below that of the average natural hones typically discussed here. I sharpen many edges other than razors and therefore have a wider range of uses for the lower grits than just the occasional restoration job on an ebay razor.

I have a Chinese hone, Tam O'Shanter, and a Coticule, all of which I would put in the polishing or very fine type category.

You know that the coticule + milky slurry becomes an aggressive cutter capabile of setting a bevel, right? (vs. coticule+water=fine polisher)

-Chief

This is my lower grit natural stone. It is just a lump of Thai granite. It's the same stone they use to make mortar and passel. It works great for setting a bevel or sharpening kitchen knives that my in-laws have abused. I use a small fine diamond hone to raise a slurry.

Originally Posted by Smokintbird

Jimmy,
I have a set of 4 Arkansas stones to cover the various grit ranges, but I'm not real fond of them for blades and such, I like something that has some feedback when sharpening an edged tool. I do however love them for taking burrs off of something I have machined and for any type of pointed instrument like awls, gouges, screw driver bits, etc. They are just too hard to suit me on blades.



I hadn't thought of that. I'm sure you're right, lower grit stones would tend to wear out relatively fast unless they were extremely thick......Old_School mentioned that the lower grits are the size of bricks or larger, and I can see why now that you mentioned it.

I think I will end up getting some anyway, just so that I can occasionally enjoy taking a blade from trash to perfection (at least to me ) completely with natural stones.

Hey Chris,
Have ya used the Arkansas, with a slurry?

Mac