There are tons of stones out there and most of them will work for you. I would recommend starting out with a hard stone that isnt going to dish. That way you wont have to worry about flattening or regrinding the stone. Personally I would recommend this as a beginner stone that is still very high quality and inexpensive. Its an oil stone so you will need mineral oil or something similar with it. The spyderco ceramics are also great stones as they essentially never wear out.

If your set on getting waterstones I would say for the fibrox to not go much past 2k grit. The king deluxe stones are good, the shapton ha no kuromaku stones are also good and much harder making them a little easier to learn on. I would recommend against getting something like naniwa professional/chosera or shapton glass to start mainly because of the price.

The honing rod is fine I personally dont use them but thats more of a personal preference thing. I would rather use a benchstone than a honing rod. However a honing rod can help maintain your edge and quickly touch up the knife. Using a honing rod you can keep a knife sharp for quite a while before needing to sharpen it again. Which is great if you have your knives sharpened by a professional not quite as important if you do it yourself and your knives arent super expensive.

A leather strop can help quite a bit when you are first starting out to help remove burrs, and do minor touch ups between sharpenings. If you want to get really good a strop will end up being more of a crutch that lets you get away with not properly deburring the knife edge.

​

a good tutorial video https://youtu.be/2Vu6Dq00v7I

ceramic stone

spyderco medium benchstone

waterstones

king deluxe 1000 grit

king 250/1000 combo

shapton ha no kuromaku stones reccommend 320 and either 1500 or 2k for these.

​

There are also arkansas stones which are great I would suggest getting the soft arkansas stone and using that as a finishing stone.

Do you know what they currently have at all?

A really coarse stone with another side for finishing on would be this - useful for fixing chipped blades and overall getting a very sharp edge. It's diamond so it does not need maintained. It's quite heavy so it can be set down on something and used anywhere with a splash of water, or even without water. But better with..sorry it exceeds your budget a bit. It was 7$ cheaper a few months ago: Sk11-sided Diamond Whetstone # 150 / # 600 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003EIE8LC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_K765Ab44NE259


A good at home stone in your price range would be this one, you have to soak it in water for 5-20min before using (each time, until it stops bubbling in the water) but it's a great stone that is widely used: KING KW65 1000/6000 Grit Combination Whetstone with Plastic Base https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001DT1X9O/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_n565AbSFCV7EG

Anything 'bearmoo' or 'sharp pebble' or anything looking like those ones honestly is not going to be enjoyable or comparable in quality to the above.

Another great stone worth mentioning: Shapton Ha No Kuromaku Ceramic Whetstone Medium Grit #1000 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001TPFT0G/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_o-65AbB1PMZ8B

If they already have some bench stones, maybe they can use a holder - super useful!: POWERTEC 71013 Sharpening Stone Holder, 5-1/2-Inch to 9-Inch https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NFB2MTI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_h.65AbP2HAJ5W

An inexpensive stone or two will be worth a shot. There is a lot of evidence that shows its not about the stone but the technique. Without knowing what the local shop by you sells, or the current condition of knives you are using, I typically recommend 3000 and 6000 for a two stone set. That is enough to set a bevel (with a lot of time and energy) and enough to polish most knives. Throw a 1000 grit stone and you would be set.

That being said, you can get more consistently good results easier with higher quality stones. I would recommend the combo king stone. They are around $25 and hit the mark in terms of quality and price. A lot of experienced sharpeners recommend king, Murry Carter being the biggest proponent. With whatever stone you get, remember, it's about angle and pressure. Keep both consistent and proper for the tool and steel you are using.

p.s. you don't 'need' any accessories. but like every hobby, people love them.

edit: the ps

This?. Would you mind giving me a high level explanation of the grits when it comes to sharpening knives or linking me some resources? I am good with the water vs. oil and natural vs synthetic debate and can find how to videos but would like a deeper understanding of the grit thing and beginner vs advanced. Thanks.

You should really link the products you're talking about here.

I still have to ask who you are trying to convince. FWIW, I don't recommend the King KW-65 1k/6k but the kind of person you argument would apply to is the kind of person who wouldn't by the KW-65 anyways.

The stone in question is $28 on amazon: https://www.amazon.com/d/Sharpening-Stones/KING-KW65-Combination-Whetstone-Plastic/B001DT1X9O. That's half the reason it's recommended. The other half is that the "King" brand has many better and more expensive popular products and as such it's sort of like a household name among sharpeners and so people trust brand. Everything you are arguing for could be completely correct, but it doesn't matter because there is still a "cheapest option" be offered by King; being offered by that household brand people trust.

I usually recommend this Suehiro instead of the King since it's similarly priced and arguably better: https://www.amazon.com/Suehiro-Kitchen-Sides-Whetstone-Skg-24/dp/B000OZ6XMU

But none of that matters until it gets traction as a household name around here.

edit: For clarification, the reason I'm playing devil's advocate here is because based on your argument you seem to think that people are recommending the King out of malice or just plain ignorance. The former is most certainly never the case and the latter I think happens less than you might think.

I recently stumbled upon KnifePlanet's Sharpening School and I decided to go ahead and buy their "Waterstone Set" on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074X7VB62/

So far, I am really happy with my choice. As a beginner, this set gives me 4 different grits to work with: 400, 1000, 3000, 8000 + a stone holder. The whole set costs $49 which is great.
I followed some of their lessons and I am now able to sharpen my kitchen knives easily.

I am sure that a professional sharpener would prefer Naniwa or others over these... but for me they're a great place to start

Premium Knife Sharpening Stone 2 Side Grit 1000/6000 Waterstone | Best Whetstone Sharpener | NonSlip Bamboo Base & Angle Guide https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FZZUL30/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_tU7NBbQPSJ1E9

Or

Kota Japan 1000-grit Coarse Side and 6000-grit Polishing Side Knife Sharpening Whetstone with Bamboo Base and Blade Guide https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EKU46WI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_OV7NBbD1NC2N1

I have owned the second one for about 2 years and with regular flattening it’s awesome. So with your 360/600 and one of these 1000/6000 you can take a blade from super chunk to laser sharp.

Yes, a machine sharpener will take off more than you desire, and usually gives a pretty poor edge.

A single 1000 or 2000 grit stone will be great for your fibrox. I'd suggest shapton pro.

https://www.amazon.com/Kuromaku-Ceramic-Whetstone-Medium-Grit/dp/B001TPFT0G

https://www.amazon.com/Medium-Grade-Millstone-Mastermind-Shaputon/dp/B002LW54RO

Smith's CCD4 3 IN 1 Field Sharpening System https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000N35D2E/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_MFzCDbVFFHA9R

Smith field stones are shaped like a tear drop so you have a corner like the spider co if you don’t want to spend that much.

Also the pocket sharpeners have a cone diamond rod specifically for serrations:

Smith's PP1 Pocket Pal Multifunction Sharpener, Grey https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000O8OTNC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_.GzCDb632PH6Z

Or my personal preferred the pen style:

Smith's DRET Diamond Retractable Sharpener https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001910FOA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_YHzCDbBX4VWRS

Congrats on getting a new knife! Regarding sharpening it, it depends on your budget mostly among some other factors.

At the entry level, https://www.amazon.com/KING-KW65-Combination-Whetstone-Plastic/dp/B001DT1X9O/ is a classic advisement. Very affordable at $25, and great to practice technique with (use less fancy knives the first few times!).

Moving up a little bit, a 1000/6000 stone should still work fine, and i'd consider the Cerax or Imanishi https://www.chefknivestogo.com/ce1kcost.html and https://www.chefknivestogo.com/imtwosi1kst.html. These are $55-65.

From one of those stones, i'd expand up and down a little bit, if you want to reshape or fix gouges, grab the lower grit stone first, if you want to further polish, grab the high grit. Take a look in the Shapton Kuromaku series, which for a Gyuto they recommend the 220 Moss, 1500 Blue and 12000 Yellow. they can all be bought via this Amazon page: https://www.amazon.com/Shapton-Sharpening-Ceramic-whetstone-wirepuller/dp/B002LW76OS The full set of the 3 would be a bit under $150 before tax/shipping.

At the high end, is Shapton Glass, Choosera or Naniwa stones but i'd advise against spending $300+ on a set of stones right now if you don't have much experience.

If you want a smooth leather strop, I like the Beavercraft strop that's on Amazon. It's made well and is large enough to use comfortably with kitchen knives. You could also cut up a pair of old jeans that don't fit anymore and glue it to a piece of wood. I just touch up edges on a ceramic rod now and don't strop at all due to laziness. But I haven't noticed any negative effects from not stropping.

https://www.amazon.com/Leather-strop-inch-paddle-compound/dp/B0793PPW73

Lol! Should I strop with the same angle I do on a whetstone up and down or turn it horizontal and swipe it side to side?

Also I own this strop, is it good? STROP

I like using a towel or cloth as well. I picked up a few bricks a while back, smoothed them by rubbing them against each other with some silicon carbide grit, and I use one of those wrapped in a rag to to serve as a base, and also to flatten against. Very useful. Very cheap.

I wish you well with the Bear Moo set. I know you didn't ask, but after a cursory look, I think I would've gone with this coarse stone: Waterstone Single 500 Grit, Silicon to cover chip repair and coarse work; and probably this Naniwa QA-0124 combo for actually sharpening stuff, and keeping it sharp.

That’s kind of a nasty scratch if it’s not a reflection so I don’t know how much luck you’ll have with that probably have to sandpaper/ dremel or something like that but just sharpening the edge I used a 400 grit Norton stone and a king 1000 Grit and 6000 grit combo it gave it a nice edge surprisingly.

KING KW65 1000/6000 Grit Combination Whetstone with Plastic Base https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001DT1X9O/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_..QlDb54NE6TS

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LB27UFI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_V4HuDbM4F90KW


This one seems to have a pretty decent combination of grits, but there's a 400/1000 stone that's even cheaper and more popular.


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0055B2RGO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_p9HuDb60N5X9J

As for your next knife purchase, head over to /r/chefknives and fill out the recommendation form. Dalstrong is mediocre. For the price, you can do much better.

Also, as an alternative to a cheap sharpening system, there are very good, regular stones (not part of a system) that can be had for as low as $36 (like the Shapton 1000. It takes a little more practice, but it sounds like you have the knives to practice with. Youtube is quite the teacher. Just another option to consider.

If it is basic stainless steel as in supermarket knives etc. I find hardly a reason to go above 1k for sharpening and a good quality steel to keep it going.

And well you can get a solo King 1k for 12$ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000OT1ZOC/

1. Why mess around?
   
2. What's the coarsest stone in your set?
   
   >I'd prefer not to use a coarse diamond plate to do so personally
   
   
3. Why not?
   
   Depending on what you sharpen, you may not need to flatten very often at all. Occasional conditioning/resurfacing can be nice, though, and just about anything coarser than the stone being conditioned will work. As often as not I use a 3" pocket stone like this one to resurface clogged Shaptons. Usually you can just increase sharpening pressure and spray a little water and the stone will unstick itself.
   
   Loose SiC grit on glass/granite is better than any "flattening stone", which will itself eventually go out of flat (unless you buy 3 and flatten against each other).

If you can't squeeze him just get some king whetstone's king combination stones like a 1000/6000 stone and a cow leather strop with green Jewelers rouge. Learning on standard stones will take a lot of time to learn.

If you can talk him into it get a Hapstone M2 for 160$ it comes with 3 basic stones that are adequate.

Review here
https://www.reddit.com/r/sharpening/comments/dj3v37/hapstone_m2_review


Get it here
https://www.amazon.com/Hapstone-Precision-Knife-Sharpener-Revision/dp/B07T1KPZ53

Whetstone Cutlery 20-10960 Knife Sharpening Stone-Dual Sided 400/1000 Grit Water Stone-Sharpener and Polishing Tool for Kitchen, Hunting and Pocket Knives or Blades by Whetstone https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0055B2RGO

Ended up ordering this combo stone. Probably not a great one if price is any indicator but I figure it's good enough until I improve my technique. Thinking I may have to mount some 180 or 240 grit sandpaper to a block of wood before getting to work with the 400 🤔

I also just dove into waterstones and freehand sharpening my Shuns and I ended up buying this stone holder https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00NFB2MTI/ref=sxts_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1540381110&sr=1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65, a DMT extra coarse and coarse Dia-sharp, then a Sharpton Kuromaku 1000 and 5000. I maintain with a strop with green compound. I can flatten my stones with the DMT plates and I really like them to establish a bevel or for repairs.

Thank you for the detailed response. The tutorial video was detailed and simple to understand!

For the Shapton, you said 320 and 1500 or 2k - I am assuming you meant for me to buy two. Do I have those two or should I buy this instead - https://www.amazon.com/Kuromaku-Ceramic-Whetstone-Medium-Grit/dp/B001TPFT0G ?

Hi there!

your post contains a referral link which reddit does not like. and as such was automatically removed.

if you replace the link to the lansky with this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lansky-Deluxe-Knife-Sharpening-System/dp/B000B8IEA4/

i'll go ahead and get the post approved for you.

Thanks! I think ill be purchasing this one https://www.amazon.ca/KING-KW65-Combination-Whetstone-Plastic/dp/B001DT1X9O/ref=sr_1_5?crid=13ZPKVBIYDWZ&keywords=king+1000+6000+whetstone&qid=1550542504&s=gateway&sprefix=king+1000%2Ctools%2C153&sr=8-5

I have this one:

Smith's PP1 Pocket Pal Multifunction Sharpener, Grey https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000O8OTNC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_.GzCDb632PH6Z

I will try, but can it sharpen single bevel ?

You can get the kuromaku 2k for about $40 bucks here

Norton Crystolon

Whoops I knew that.
https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B00NFB2MTI/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A4XRJ8S0WXSO0&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B001DT1X9O/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A3DVML5LANE1W2&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/d/Sharpening-Stones/KING-KW65-Combination-Whetstone-Plastic/B001DT1X9O

Can’t beat a Sharpmaker.

Spyderco Tri-Angle Sharpmaker Knife Sharpener 204MF https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000Q9C4AE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_rc0HAbMMVDB6H

Will this be enough?

https://www.amazon.com/d/Sharpening-Stones/KING-KW65-Combination-Whetstone-Plastic/B001DT1X9O

LINKS TO STONES:

2000/#5000 Kota Japan https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079RB1X2N?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

3000/#8000 Kota Japan https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01APVFFRG?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

1000/#6000 King https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001DT1X9O?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

It's this set
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074X7VB62/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_--FCCbVG3TC55

I'm a sharpening newbie. I bought a King 1000/6000 combination stone months ago. I've only used it twice since I bought it but so far so good. It's less than $50 CAD. https://www.amazon.ca/KING-KW65-Combination-Whetstone-Plastic/dp/B001DT1X9O/ref=sr_1_5?crid=13ZPKVBIYDWZ&keywords=king+1000+6000+whetstone&qid=1550542504&s=gateway&sprefix=king+1000%2Ctools%2C153&sr=8-5

I'm using this here
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01FZZUL30/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And as far as stopping, I usually just go over the blade a few times on each side.

Whetstone Cutlery 20-10960 Knife Sharpening Stone-Dual Sided 400/1000 Grit Water Stone-Sharpener and Polishing Tool for Kitchen, Hunting and Pocket Knives or Blades by Whetstone https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0055B2RGO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_0XOlDb6EP4BM6

This is a good cheap combo stone to sharpen knives but I wouldn’t waste time on that kukri shaped object. Get a proper knife made out of carbon steel and get after it.