The One Stone Challenge

[Graham Haydon]

Boom! Can't beat a brick, now what brick was it. I here facing bricks are heaps better than commons :-).

[Mel Fulks]

David, interested in this and looked up the ebay photos , afraid I don't see any difference between them . What should I see?

[David Weaver]

Not much, i think. And there's no guarantee I'm right...except the second one, I bought. So I know what it is. The softs like like uniform grained sandy stones. The washitas look less like grainy sand and more like coral. Sometimes it helps to look at a corner (which is what I usually hope for). I think I could get a 90% guess rate, but sometimes it's hard to tell depending on what the stone has on the surface, even when it's mostly clean.

[Mel Fulks]

Thanks, David. So much better than "only fools can't see it".

[Dave Beauchesne]

NOT iron ROD,iron ORE!!

Apologies George, my mistake.
Dave B

[Tom Vanzant]

Kitchen knives in ski area condos are notoriously dull, as in butter knife dull. A river rock in the fireplace served to sharpen the butcher knife enough to slice BBQ brisket. Next trip I took a good slicer and steel.

[Gary Kman]

I think I'd get one of those mill stones from a grist mill,
Balance it on my head,
have a 350 pound eunic hold my sharpening project on it
while whipping me with a cat-o-nine to maintain a constant
78 rpm.

If the object is to do something the hard way
why not pull out all the stops?

[David Weaver]

sharpening with a single stone isn't doing things the hard way. It does replace equipment with skill to some extent, but I'd say spending several minutes on 4 or 5 different stones is a lot closer to doing things the hard way.

[James Taglienti]

I think I'd get one of those mill stones from a grist mill,
Balance it on my head,
have a 350 pound eunic hold my sharpening project on it
while whipping me with a cat-o-nine to maintain a constant
78 rpm.

If the object is to do something the hard way
why not pull out all the stops?

"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments, and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance - that principle is contempt prior to investigation."
William Paley


The only people who would have your reaction are those who haven't tried it. I gave it a shot yesterday, some older berg chisels -grinder to a single stone. I tried a soft ark and then a lily white, both performed well - didn't even strop, just whacked the burr with the chisel on the flat. Mortised 8 butt hinges in hard maple, touch ups were a breeze, just as fast as any other stone, finished product was great. Edge held just as long as off an 8k water stone.

[Darren Brewster]

I like the premise of this thread, but how would it work with a hodge-podge of different types of steels? Not that I am dissatisfied with my current setup in any way, just curious. A grinder and two stones still seems like the best bet in this situation.

[David Weaver]

If your hodge podge is vintage and modern O1, it's fine. If your hodge podge is 01 and A2, then you should stick with modern stones due to the A2 - a grinder and two stones being ideal.

[Tony Zaffuto]

If your hodge podge is vintage and modern O1, it's fine. If your hodge podge is 01 and A2, then you should stick with modern stones due to the A2 - a grinder and two stones being ideal.

I have mainly O1 but also some A2 tossed in. I really don't know anymore which is which and use the same sharpening methods for all. To me, a repeatable methodology will give consistent results. to gain repeatable methodology means learning your sharpening stones, your tools and same body motions whether free-handing or using a jig.

[Darren Brewster]

If your hodge podge is vintage and modern O1, it's fine. If your hodge podge is 01 and A2, then you should stick with modern stones due to the A2 - a grinder and two stones being ideal.

Yeah, I figured as much. I have vintage and modern O1 and A2. I still like this system though.

[Matt ONeill]

Does anyone just freehand to a convex bevel? I use a black Arkansas stone and a strop for 95% of my sharpening. And I've got almost all A2 steel as well. I switched over to that method maybe a year ago and won't be switching back, it's faster than anything else I can imagine. Maybe I'm not getting my blades as sharp, but I sure can't tell (they seem to shave hair off my arm as well as I was able to do when I was using shaptons). Since I've switched over to convex bevels, my grinder has been largely collecting dust as well.

I'm sure convex vs hollow grind vs micro bevel is a whole different holy war. I found hollow grinding to be exponentially faster than using a jig to get a micro bevel, and have found freehanding to a convex bevel even faster than bothering with a hollow grind.

I'll tell you what though, I don't really give sharpening much thought anymore. I leave my stone and my stop out on my bench all the time, and when a tool needs sharpened, it gets sharpened.

- Matt

[David Weaver]

I think there are lots of people who do. I've never favored it over hollow grinding, but it takes me about 30 seconds to grind a plane iron or a chisel to refresh the hollow. If I still had a tormek, which is a fair amount of fiddling, I could be convinced.