[The Tourist]

Originally Posted by foodpump

That being said, there are some Belgian waterstones around, but alot natural occuring stones in America are the oil stone type.

Fortunately we now have a global economy.

I have several pieces of nagura with the stone cutter's marks on one side from the quarry. And even though it traveled halfway around the world, the price is competitive.

In fact, I don't know how they get a multi-layered, hammered and welded knife over here for under 100 bucks.

I have a 69-layer five-inch Yaxell Ran gyuto that I paid 53 bucks for. It sits next to my wife's Hattori. She refers to them as "the short one and the long one." For 53 bucks, that is high praise.

[beebop2]

Originally Posted by boar_d_laze

Well yes. In fact, softer, coarse stones often need several flattenings in the couse of repairing a damaged or difficult knife. And with all but the hardest stones, I'd flatten the first wire-pulling grit (usually around 1000#) after every knife.



The puck is good as far as it goes, and so are a number of flattening stones. However, it's easier for most people to get true flattening by working on a larger surface,a as opposed to try and flatten with a tool smaller than the stone to be flattened. The Shapton puck is quite small, so flattening with it requires a lot of referencing for almost everyone.

I recommend drywall screen on a glass floart to flatten and dress coarse and medium stones; and drywall screen plus the preceding stone in your set to flatten and dress fine stones.

Drywall screen doesn't cost much more than regular sandpaper, doesn't clog as easily, and can be easily cleaned and reused for quite a while.

BDL

On your advice I purchased a sigma power 1000 and a naniwa ss 5000. I'm a total neophyte to knife sharpening, but would like to develop some modest skill at it. I'd appreciate if you could specify the drywall screen method of flattening whetstones. What grit specification should be used for the drywall screen (80, 120)? Does it matter? Do you fasten the screen to the glass float? I'm not of the method involved here. Any tips or links would be appreciated. Thanks.

bb1

[ChrisLehrer]

I'm bumping this up.

It's a good question, but I don't flatten on drywall screen so I can't answer -- can someone help?