Completely Stoned.....

I now have a complete set of Shapton sharpening stones, I'm really liking these stones.....(yes that is a gloat!)



All lined up with my glass plate and sandpaper for flattening and a holder for the stones, as well as a pan to try to keep most of the goo in check.


#120, #220, #320, #1000, #2000, #5000, #8000, #12000 then a chunk of MDF with the diamond paste from Lee Valley which is 1-micron and is maybe close to a #30000 stone...?


It all packs into this carry box...


and with a couple of straps, that I still have to get, the holder and plate will fit right on top.


I have the Shapton Diamond lapping stone coming, yeah I know it is pricy, but I'm spending a lot of my time keeping my hand tools sharp, so I figured I might as well splurge, I'll certainly get a lot of use out of it.

Cheers!

That's one serious collection of sharpening supplies you've got there!

What did you do with the old set of stones you had?

Nice job on the pond and storage system...

I don't know anything about Shapton stones but they look neat.
Congrats.

ooooooooo! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Sweet Stu!

Lookin great you should be able to get a closer shave now.

Where did you get them from? I have been wanting to pick a few up.

Brent Dowell said:

That's one serious collection of sharpening supplies you've got there!

What did you do with the old set of stones you had?

Nice job on the pond and storage system...

Click to expand...

Thanks!
The old stones I wore them out, all but one got very thin and then developed cracks, so I was slowly replacing them with the Shaptons.

Steve Southwood said:

Where did you get them from? I have been wanting to pick a few up.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure that you can get these outside of Japan The ones I usually see outside of Japan are the Shapton Glass stones, that is a much thinner stone glued to a piece of glass. These are all called "Professional Water Stones", no glass, they are 15mm/5/8" thick. I understand that when they start to get thin, the trick is to then glue them to a piece of glass so you don't break one.

A quick look and they are available in the US from >> Japan Woodworker <<

I love the way they cut

I've got a set of the glass ones. The glass will let you get really, really thin while they will still be useable. They sure do cut good...

Stu must do a lot of sharpening to wear them out!

Thanks for the info Stu

Brent Dowell said:

I've got a set of the glass ones. The glass will let you get really, really thin while they will still be useable. They sure do cut good...

Stu must do a lot of sharpening to wear them out!

Click to expand...

I did not wear out any Shaptons, but a cheaper Shapton-like ceramic wet stone I bought a while back, they were glued to poor quality plastic bases that flexed when you sharpened stuff, this led to some of them cracking very early on, I beefed up the bases so I could use the uncracked ones, but they do wear down with use.

Yeah, I use my stones a lot, not much point in a dull chisel or plane blade

My Grandfather with one whetstone would spend what seemed like eternity to my young mind on sharpening a knife. With all due respect, it was worth it as I ALWAYS had the sharpest knife on the playground. No it wasn't out as a weapon, it was for serious whittling! If I had ever used or thought of using it as a weapon my dad would have literally beat me. With that one stone, Grandpa would sharpen Grandma's scissors, any and all knives and anything else needing sharpened. He would have drooled and spent all day with you using those stones to the best of their ability. Oh, he also did have a leather strap (he called it a strop). So I didn't have to wait, I had a second knife at his house so I just picked up the sharp one and he would sharpen my other one at his convenience. After he died my mom told me he told her that my "enthusiasm" for life wore him out!
Great set of stones there Stu.