On 01/29/2004 9:53 AM, in article
[email protected], "John
Bailey" <
[email protected]> opined:
>> Most of your info was relevant and true except the above.
>>
>> Japanese waterstones have to be saturated with water to work properly, so they always need to be
>> stored in water.
>
> For someone needing to sharpen every day such as a woodworker who needs to sharpen chisels and
> plane irons several times a day while working on a project or a professional kitchen where the
> knives would get blunt very quickly then storing them in water is essential. Nobody wants to stop
> work while waiting for the stones to drink up all the water they need. But for someone who is
> using the stone to sharpen perhaps three or four kitchen knives every other month, it may be more
> convinent to store the stone in a drawer and only take it out and soak it when the knives need
> sharpening.
>
> Such light use sharpening knives should not need a dead flat stone.
IMO you're missing the point here. Why sacrifice quality of honing, the reason Japanese waterstone
cut so well is they are MUCH softer than Arkansas oilstones. The black material left on the stone is
metal coming off the knife.
Go to your local glass dealer and ask if they have any 1/2" scrap, then go to the hardware store and
get some 220 grit wet & dry sandpaper.
Put the sandpaper on top of the glass and spray with water. Rub the stone until all the black
material is gone and you have a clean surface, this indicates it is flat again.
Continue honing and you will notice improvement.
Unlike
> woodworking tools, where a non flat stone is worse than useless, the curved edge of a knife
> doesn't require such an exact surface to get good results. A second coarser stone should be fine
> for many years of light use. Just rub the two together for a few minutes to wear off the high
> spots. although special truing stones are available which will do this faster.
>
> I could very well be using my sharpening stones to a fraction of their potential over the years.
> But I have found soaking them untill they can hold no more water, and then letting them dry out
> again after use to be more convinent, and I still get very good results. Others may have different
> preferences.
>
> John
>
>
>
>
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