At the risk of starting sectarian warfare, what would you suggest as a budget option for post heat treating course stock removal on steel blades?
I use scary sharp for most sharpening with good results. I also have a 1000/6000 waterstone and a medium oil stone. I'm finally going to start getting actual stones and move away from paper over time, starting with the courser end since I have plenty of paper 400 through 2000. The cost for the paper adds up when making a few blades and with the course papers (50-220) I have nothing but frustration. Higher grits lose the raspy feel quickly as they break in but keep working for a good while. The course papers never seem to do much at all. I've tried my normal mineral oil, thinner oils, water, etc. No luck.
When I sharpen with the water stone my hands dry and crack painfully. Gloves just make it hard to feel what I'm doing. So, while I like the oil stone more, I know so little about them. What grits/types would be appropriate? Would a diamond stone be much faster? For this use I would prefer to not have to flatten so much - I don't mind the water stone for finer stuff but really want to have a good flat surface for initial work.
What would you get and why (in other words, I'm not even sure what to ask)?
How long do diamond stones last? They seem to cost much more in general, do they just keep working and working, and do oil stones really wear out that much faster? The idea of not having to flatten a diamond stone is very appealing since I find even the very slight dishing makes a big difference on the backs or other non-microbeveled surfaces.
What grade/grit would be best for this use? The local HW store has little 220 DMT wallet cards that I was tempted to get just to try but I decided to save my money and ask - then spend it on the right thing in a more useful size. A very fine wallet card would be much more useful, in any case.
How often do oil stones need flattening?
Any other advice?
Thanks
Fitzhugh
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