What is the best sharpening stone?
What's the best sharpening stone if you want to sharpen your kitchen knives or pocket knife? Think decent -- german knives, gerber folders, etc.
You can't really beat a japanese waterstone. Knife geeks will tell you they are the best (besides sending your knife to a professional sharpener with as many grinding machines as you can imagine.)
I personally own this one.
It has both a #1000 grit and a #6000 grit stone. I Use it to sharpen my leatherman, low cost older Chicago cutlery, and my Shun knives. Takes a little practice, but all my knives are ridiculously sharp now, and rather easy to upkeep
Bob Kramer, the ultimate custom kitchen knife maker also recommended the Shun version of roughly the same thing (available on amazon) at a class I took from him once.
10 Answers
I use the same one as I'm a big spyderco fan - I can easily get a razor sharp edge on a knife that you can seriously shave with!
Just take the 30 mins and watch the video beforehand...
I concur with the, the Tri-Angle sharpmaker will put an edge on pretty much anything.
The Spyderco is great, but if you don't mind spending a little time and you like the "authentic" feel of a real stone nothing compares to a Hard Arkansas Stone followed up with a Black Surgical Stone. Do it right and your blade will slice a hair in two. Just make sure to get some proper instruction first.
You can't really beat a japanese waterstone. Knife geeks will tell you they are the best (besides sending your knife to a professional sharpener with as many grinding machines as you can imagine.)
I personally own this one.
It has both a #1000 grit and a #6000 grit stone. I Use it to sharpen my leatherman, low cost older Chicago cutlery, and my Shun knives. Takes a little practice, but all my knives are ridiculously sharp now, and rather easy to upkeep
Bob Kramer, the ultimate custom kitchen knife maker also recommended the Shun version of roughly the same thing (available on amazon) at a class I took from him once.
DMT makes diamond sharpening stones which work really well, in both full size (bench stones) and pocket size (folders)
I'm not sure if you've already purchased a product or not but I just came across this link the other day and found it quite helpful.
http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/04/knife-skills-how-to-sharpen-a-knife.html
http://www.spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=77
I use this frequently, it works very well but it is not a 'stone'