Originally Posted by
HNSB
Hi Roy,
You can drop the nagura stone from your list. Think of slurries as advanced honing techniques. After you learn without slurry, then experiment with it.
For flattening you can use the flattening stone, a coarse DMT, or sandpaper on a flat surface (like glass or marble). Sandpaper is probably the cheapest to get started with. If you get the flattening stone, that should be flattened on coarse sandpaper. Also, if you flatten the Chinese stone with a DMT it will probably leave scratches, which can be taken out with finer sandpaper or the flattening stone (which is a softer composition than the diamond stone), or a flattened 1k stone.
On a budget and shopping at Woodcraft, I would recommend getting:
Chinese 12k ($22.99)(right now on the website, the larger C12k is on sale for $19.99 - see if they offer that in the store. You could get a bigger stone for less than the smaller one normally sells for)
Stone holder ($18.99)
DMT Dia-sharp 6x2 COARSE ($27.19) (8x3 would be better if your budget allows)
King Deluxe Waterstone 1000 grit ($26.99) - for bevel setting
Forget the nagura and the extra fine DMT.
If you have the extra money and really want something for slurry, get a small diamond card. The naguras they sell at Woodcraft are not very good IMO.