Stone drying times and reasonable expectations

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Jeff B
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Re: Stone drying times and reasonable expectations

Post by Jeff B »

lsboogy wrote: Fri May 22, 2020 2:19 pm
Jeff B wrote: Fri May 22, 2020 12:29 pm You can sharpen on loaded strops but stones are more practical and cheaper in the end.
Depends on what kind of edge you want. My pocket knife has been on stops with 1 and 0.5 micron stuff. Love the edge and it's fun to push cut paper and wave at packages to open them. I have a bunch of stops (leather/roo/balsa/felt/nanocloth) and use an old razor strap most mornings - one side bare, one loaded with 1 micron stuff. Stones are great for most, but strops are a must for shaving and I love my soft veg knives to have a super edge. Nothing like product falling apart at high speed when you have boxes of stuff in front of you.
Strops are handy, useful and have there place in sharpening, I have several myself. But they are not practical on there own when doing a full progression sharpening. Possible yes, practical no.
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ken123
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Re: Stone drying times and reasonable expectations

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The full range of strops is worth exploring. Again a wider range than stones alone. Many here have not explored some of the coarser... or finer grits available. I doubt many have used 80 micron strops (or even the 200 and 300 micron strops) or hybrid 'strops' composed of stropping compounds on waterstones. At some point strops, stones and even sandpapers and fingerstones overlap.
Some sharpeners never even use stones. These sharpeners also enjoy producing convex edges which are easily done on stropping surfaces....

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Re: Stone drying times and reasonable expectations

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There are many ways to sharpen a blade. Pick one and get good at it then the rest will come easier. To get good at any one technique there is a price to be paid. That price is practice, practice and more practice. Time and experience can't be cheated.
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Re: Stone drying times and reasonable expectations

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Cigarguy wrote: Sat May 23, 2020 12:48 pm There are many ways to sharpen a blade. Pick one and get good at it then the rest will come easier. To get good at any one technique there is a price to be paid. That price is practice, practice and more practice. Time and experience can't be cheated.
Exactly. This mastery, including the 1k must be done by getting some mud under your fingernails. Practice used as a form of meditation is critical ...
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Re: Stone drying times and reasonable expectations

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Cigarguy wrote: Sat May 23, 2020 12:48 pm There are many ways to sharpen a blade. Pick one and get good at it then the rest will come easier. To get good at any one technique there is a price to be paid. That price is practice, practice and more practice. Time and experience can't be cheated.
Absolutely. I’ve been whetstone sharpening for a few years and “serious” about it for maybe 1 and when I’m not happy with my results I think back to a couple years ago and how much better I am than then... then looking forward to a couple years from now and look forward to having my skill level improved that much further. I really appreciate sharpening, like many of the tasks around cooking, to be something you truly can get better at for an entire lifetime.
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