I am a beginner trying to get into whittling and wondered if anybody had any whetstone/sharpener recommendations for a reasonable price. Additionally any good tutorials would be awesome!
Posted Nov 23, 2023, 12:27 AM UTC
After years of trying and failing with stones, I got a Spyderco Sharpmaker. Thing works so so well and so so easily. I wish I’d gotten one at the start instead of wasting time and money on stones.
I own a few different stones for different knives.
Once a whittling knife is sharp it shouldn't have to see a sharpening stone again. I just touch them up on a leather strop.
Stones I have used for my whittling knives are the fällkniven pocket stones, a d3 or D4. They come with a little leather pouch which I've applied stropping compound to the back....stone and strop in one.
The skerper pocket stone is good too.
They're two fairly low priced stones that will bring a dull knife back to razor sharp.
A blunt knife or a damaged knife would require courser stones to restore it's grind.
https://www.woodcraft.com/products/4-hard-ark-multiform-stone
First, if you have a good, sharp knife you might NEVER need a stone at all - I've had a flexcut knife forever and have only had to hone it.
Sharpening is only done to re-profile an edge that - because it started at the wrong angle, or has been dinged/damaged. In those cases, the amount of metal to be removed dictates the type of stone(s)/abrasive needed. Cheap, low carbon steel or good steel that's lost its temper will ding easier, and you'll find yourself Sharpening more. Dirty wood, high silica content, and some exotic woods can be very brutal on a fine edged knife.
I linked a good, multiprofile stone that's nice to have on hand for touching up gouges and knives alike. Use with light oil (or mineral oil, I use cutting oil from the hardware store) - i prefer oil to waterstones as theres no pre-soaking, and its acutally less messy (i add oil with a dropper just as needed). Big japanese waterstones are nice if you're doing plane irons going through batches of carving tools, but i think it is overkill for a whittling knife.
A little oilstone In very little time can take a tiny nick out of a blade, and then hone it.
Another alternative is a piece of glass and some fine auto grade sandpaper. Not as convienient as a stone, but does the exact same thing. 400-600 grit is enough to take minor dulling.
Same here - I've used the same Flexcut knife for a long time and it's never touched a stone. Only ever used a leather strop with honing compound on it.