Any Suggestions for a Coarse (220+/-) Sharpening Stone?

[Ned Mcbee]

I'm modernizing my sharpening stone setup. For the bottom end I have a 1980's 220 coarse Synthetic Stone (Matsunaga). One of those cheap green stones used to remove knicks. As I'm upgrading my kit is there a modestly priced modern day replacement for this stone?

Sharpening PMV-11, A2, and vintage Stanley/Record steel. Nothing exotic.
Thanks!

[Derek Cohen]

My usual sharpening begins at 1000. Best 1000 stone I have used in the Shapton Pro 1000. It has been in use for about 20 years and never let me down. In fact, as it nears the end of its life, I have already purchased another.

For a "coarse" stone, go to a 250 grit diamond stone. All waterstones wear quickly at this level and become unreliable.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Tom M King]

King Deluxe 300. Cheap and effective. Almost as fast as the Select II 240.

[Chuck Hill]

Atoma 140x diamond plate.

[Reed Gray]

Maybe the Trend 300/1000 grit diamond stone. Mine did have a concave surface on the 300 side though. Should have taken it back.

robo hippy

[Cameron Wood]

Atoma diamond plate. I have #240, and #400. I've had hard edges chip on the #240 from aggressive sharpening.

The #400 cuts about as fast- I would just get that.

Also have a couple of the green carborundum stones- they work but are a mess and hard to keep flat.

[John C Cox]

I'm modernizing my sharpening stone setup. For the bottom end I have a 1980's 220 coarse Synthetic Stone (Matsunaga). One of those cheap green stones used to remove knicks. As I'm upgrading my kit is there a modestly priced modern day replacement for this stone?

Sharpening PMV-11, A2, and vintage Stanley/Record steel. Nothing exotic.
Thanks!

Norton India. It is hard to beat india stones when you want inexpensive coarser grits. Just make sure you have a flattening stone to maintain it.

Honestly, though, I power grind out nicks. Way faster.

[Richard Coers]

I take out all the nicks on the grinder. Only takes a minute, literally.

[Rob Luter]

Maybe the Trend 300/1000 grit diamond stone. Mine did have a concave surface on the 300 side though. Should have taken it back.

robo hippy

That is what I use. It does double duty as a first step for damaged edges and as a flattener for my Shaptons. Pretty reasonable on Amazon.

[Robert Hazelwood]

I've never been too happy with the coarse grit stones I have. When I feel the need for a coarse stone it's usually a big job, and either they cut too slowly or they get out of flat. Diamond plates are useful for many things but I've never found them to be very fast at removing steel on larger surfaces, say when flattening the back of a chisel. India stones start out pretty aggressive but don't stay that way long...I like them for honing but not for removing a bunch of material. The coarse waterstone I have is not super fast and rapidly gets out of flat. The best stone I've found for hogging off steel is the coarse Norton Crystolon, which is an oil stone but works more like a waterstone in that it sheds grit to keep the cutting speed high. It will not stay flat either, but does better than the waterstone I have. It's great for anything that doesn't need to be kept really flat, like a chisel back. You could do flattening work on it but need to be careful to use it very evenly and not let it get too far out of flat, since there's no easy way to true them once they do.

The best thing I've found for big jobs where flatness is important (flattening backs, plane soles, etc.) is to just use coarse sandpaper. 80-100 grit, stuck down to a hard flat surface. Keep the paper fresh (change every 5-10 minutes of use) and it's much faster than any stone I've used. If your flat surface is large enough you can use much longer strokes than with a stone- much more efficient.

[George Yetka]

DMT Steel. I have a diaFlat which I believe is 120 grit or so. I use it to flatten all my stones. And very rarely(thankfully take out a big nick) then work back through the wet stones

[Haitham Jaber]

I use the Toishi Ohishi - it sucks half liter water

https://www.lie-nielsen.com/products...i-waterstones-

[Ned Mcbee]

My usual sharpening begins at 1000. Best 1000 stone I have used in the Shapton Pro 1000. It has been in use for about 20 years and never let me down. In fact, as it nears the end of its life, I have already purchased another.
For a "coarse" stone, go to a 250 grit diamond stone. All waterstones wear quickly at this level and become unreliable.
Derek

That's a good point on the waterstones. Won't diamond stones also take a beating? I have two 300 grit diamond stone ( a cheaper one for waterstone flattening and a better one as part of my 300/600/1200 diamond stone set).

For ex. I've got a vintage Record 5-1/2" blade that needs work to reestablish the primary bevel: there's a slight skew on its leading edge that's not square to the sides. I don't own a grinder and have spent a significant amount of time working the edge to get things square but it's sloooow slog ... many finger fatiguing sessions and many more to go before the task is complete (if ever!). I have a granite surface plate and tried some 3m film but no matter what I've thrown at it the iron seems to win. Maybe I just need to recalibrate the scope of the job and my patience. Maybe something like 80 grit sandpaper. Or get a slow speed grinder.

[Ned Mcbee]

I've never been too happy with the coarse grit stones I have. When I feel the need for a coarse stone it's usually a big job, and either they cut too slowly or they get out of flat. Diamond plates are useful for many things but I've never found them to be very fast at removing steel on larger surfaces

This!

The best thing I've found for big jobs where flatness is important (flattening backs, plane soles, etc.) is to just use coarse sandpaper. 80-100 grit, stuck down to a hard flat surface. Keep the paper fresh (change every 5-10 minutes of use) and it's much faster than any stone I've used. If your flat surface is large enough you can use much longer strokes than with a stone- much more efficient.

Might just need to go this route with granite surface plate (the latter new relative to most of my other sharpening kit).

[Ned Mcbee]

I use the Toishi Ohishi - it sucks half liter water

https://www.lie-nielsen.com/products...i-waterstones-

Seems like it might not be coarse enough for the work I envision?