# Sharpening stone(s) for frequent international traveller



## zephell (Jul 19, 2016)

Hi KKF!

I have a bit of an oxymoronic sharpening stone recommendation request, so thank you in advance for any suggestions!

My family has been doing a lot of moving lately - three countries in the previous 18 months. We will move to another country again in 8 months.

We usually take two or three knives with us on each move, which are all German/French (Wusthofs, Henckels, and a Sabatier). We mainly just use them to cut veggies and the occasional chicken breast.

Can you recommend a way for a novice to keep his knives sharp, but one that is also easy to travel with?

I'm not looking for Scary Sharp, just Sharp Enough.

Depending on which forum I most recently frequented, I keep rotating between:

- DMT plates (lightweight, but not good for a novice and some report not ideal for kitchen knives?)
- King KDS 1000/6000 (dishes easily?)
- Bester 1200
- Shampton Kuromaku 1000

Could I get by with just a medium grit stone and a lightweight strop?

Looking to stay under $100, as I would need to submit a procurement request to the procurement department if much higher.

I suppose I would need to source sandpaper locally to keep the stones flat, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem. Happy for an alternative.

Thanks


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## PieMan (Jul 19, 2016)

I'd pack a honing steel and have them professionally sharpened on a 1/3/6/12/whatever month interval if I was travelling. Works well enough for my Michelin-starred aunt. Maybe i'm just bitter as i've moved 4 times in the last 2 years and absolutely despise packing and unpacking!


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## Matus (Jul 19, 2016)

Just take a good quality 1000 S&G stone - you really do not need finer grit. Should you need to do some thinning than add a 300 stone. 

From the top of the head either Gesshin 320 and 1500 or JNS 300 and 1000 would work perfectly

I just sharpened a bunch of simple kitchen knives that also needed some serious thinning and used Atoma 140, JNS 300 and stropped on Gesshin Synthetic Natural (which is ca 4k stone), but only because I did not have my standard medium grir stone (Gesshin 2k).


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## gic (Jul 19, 2016)

Get a dia fold coarse/fine for around $30, use to hone and sharpen if necessary. Hold the knife steady with one hand and run the diafold over the knife at the correct angle (probably 20 degrees for those knives unless they are Ptec in which case closer to 15)


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## Matus (Jul 19, 2016)

Just personal opinion on the diafold - I have 2 and hate the holes in the surface - somehow I keep catching them with an edge or with a tip. Also not much fun with longer blades. But if you can make it work for you than you have a super compact solution


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## bennyprofane (Jul 19, 2016)

For these knives you could consider the Sieger Long Life synthetic ruby sharpening rod. It's pretty amazing, it removes steel like a 500 stone but leaves a finish like a 2000. It gets dull knives sharp within a minute.

You can also read the amazon reviews: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BZCNUNQ/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I also have stones for my Japanese knives but this is great for touch ups and for keeping softer knives (like the ones you have) sharp quick and easy.
It will also practically last forever since it's not a ruby coating but solid ruby and it doesn't dish at all. It loads with steel fairly quickly and you have to keep it
clean with a wet towel or a pencil eraser.


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## Noodle Soup (Jul 19, 2016)

I carry a EZE-LAP double sided diamond surfaced hone when ever I'm traveling. The one that kind of looks like a butterfly knife. It has sharpened many a cooking school knife from completely blunt to something at least useable for me.


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## gic (Jul 19, 2016)

The ez laps look like they have a continuous surface unlike the difold which could work them better, didn't know about them ...


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## zephell (Jul 19, 2016)

bennyprofane said:


> For these knives you could consider the Sieger Long Life synthetic ruby sharpening rod. It's pretty amazing, it removes steel like a 500 stone but leaves a finish like a 2000. It gets dull knives sharp within a minute.



An interesting option, and one I hadn't come across before. I will admit: part of me wanted to learn how to use stones, yet the other part reminds me to be careful not to turn sharpening in to a hobby (blasphemy!)


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## Noodle Soup (Jul 19, 2016)

gic said:


> The ez laps look like they have a continuous surface unlike the difold which could work them better, didn't know about them ...



DMT and EZE-LAP use a different type of diamond on their sharpeners. Of course, both say their method is better than the other but I have long preferred EZE-LAP. I've noticed DMT has gone to a continuous surface on many of their more recent models.


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## Castalia (Jul 19, 2016)

How about a 1200 grit Atoma? It stays flat and the backing metal base seems to be aluminum so the whole thing is pretty lightweight.


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## Iggy (Jul 20, 2016)

Hi,

I agree with Matus and just would take one really good 1000-1200 grit S&G stone, pref. Naniwa Chosera/Pro (the Pro is pretty thin, so pretty lightweight) or JNS 1000/1200... but I'd add it up with a simple leather strop loaded with diamond or SIC paste in approx 3-1µm. The leather strop costs nearly nothing, is flat and small and weighs maybe about 0,05 kg... and it would definaterly enhence the sharpness, stability and edge retention after sharpening on a approx. 1k grit stone.

Any finer stone would be to fine IMHO to get along for a long time period. If anything worse than a microchip happens with your knife, of course it's not really coarse enough but in this case maybe you could just give it to a (good) professional sharpener or something.

Regards, Iggy


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## WingKKF (Jul 21, 2016)

The Shapton Glasstones are quite thin and aren't too hard to travel with. You can even get the field holder but that will probably blow your budget.


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## Sharpchef (Jul 21, 2016)

For travelling i take a small santoku, a DMT fine creditcard size (always in my wallet) and a Coticule Bout 7, enough for my Straight razor travell kit (2 Straights) and the Santoku. If i have to sharpen other knives this kit is still usable.

Greets Sebastian.


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## Steampunk (Jul 21, 2016)

The problem with any type of stone for your setup is the need to flatten them, irregardless of how 'dish resistant' they are... A flattening plate would probably blow your budget in addition to a decent stone, and is just one more thing to pack. 

Since you're just sharpening soft, western steels, I would pick up a double-sided DMT Fine/Extra-Fine (600/1200) Dia-Sharp plate in 6"X2" or 8"X3" size (Whichever you want to lug around.), and a strop pasted with some 3-4 micron waterborne diamond paste or spray. Plates aren't unsuitable for the steels you are working on, and can actually deliver some pretty nice edges, but primarily they are very low maintenance and pretty much impossible to damage during a move. The only downside with plates is that they are very hard, and don't generate mud like a stone, which means that they can generate some pretty big burrs/wire edges if you aren't careful and it takes good technique/angle control to eliminate them. This is where the pasted strop comes in; it'll help you to easily right any burr related issues you're struggling to totally fix on the plate... The strop can be made from whatever you like: a piece of old denim or linen stapled or glued to a chunk of 2X4, piece of extra-hard balsawood, leather, felt; whatever you like. The paste or spray is going to be doing most of the work. You can even use metal polish, or a bodyshop grade Alox based automotive paint polish in a pinch obtained locally if you can't carry fluids with you on your moves, but a waterborne diamond product is easier to clean off your knives afterwards and a more consistent cutting medium for this application. 

Hopefully this helps...

- Steampunk


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## bennyprofane (Jul 21, 2016)

At that point you might as well get the Sieger Long Life, you will still learn a lot about sharpening (you have to keep the right angle, it's basically like a great ceramic stone) and it's definitely more comfortable than using the Dia-Sharp without a stone holder. Yesterday, I used it on some completely dull kitchen knives and had them arm shaving within minutes. I don't use it for my very hard Japanese blades but it's great for steel below 62 HRC.

See it in action here: https://youtu.be/eAx_VjPrVqs?t=14m15s


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## Tobes (Jul 22, 2016)

+1 on the Sieger Long Life, does not see a lot of action but my wifes Henckels and my soft beater knives are kept at hair shaving sharpness with it


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## zephell (Jul 24, 2016)

Castalia said:


> How about a 1200 grit Atoma? It stays flat and the backing metal base seems to be aluminum so the whole thing is pretty lightweight.



So many great suggestions! Thanks everyone.

I'm probably more interested in a plate than a rode, and the Atoma 1200 has been recommended to me elsewhere. However, some reviews state that the diamonds leave pretty deep scratches. Have you sharpened directly on this plate, and was that your experience?


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## Matus (Jul 25, 2016)

I do not have experience with Atoma 1200, but if you are worried about the scratches you could add some sort of ceramic plate to be used after the Atome (like from Spyderco or similiar). Or you could get just a set of 2 ceramic plates. I have the small one from spydecro (double sided grey/white) for small pocket knives, but they make larger ones too.


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## fatboylim (Dec 2, 2016)

Ohishi combo stone 1000/6000 perhaps. Although they have been popular and might be difficult to find now. I think they had an 800/3000 combo too which might suit softer knives too.


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## zephell (Dec 26, 2016)

Thank you again to everyone who replied with their input. I have found it useful not only from a travel perspective, but also as a budding sharpener.

I wanted to come back and update what I went with and the results.

Due to the great value offered in Europe for the Naniwa Professional stones (i.e. from knivesandtools), I picked up the 400 and 1000, and did so with the intention of mailing them back home at the end of our journey.

So far I have only used the 1000 stone, and, to say the least, it has me a bit hooked. I feel like I'm part of a little club of people who know how to keep their knives sharp.

After perhaps 5 - 10 times of sharpening our knife I can consistently get acceptable results. The best part of this journey is that my wife now completely detests using other knives when we travel, which is often, and has even *given me permission to get a nicer knife when we move back home*! I'll post the Knife Recommendation Questionnaire to move that exciting topic along.

Thank you again for all the recommendation and for the wonderfully helpful community. I'm going to add a higher grit stone with my future knife, probably the Rika 5k, and potentially a strop and paste if I'm feeling up to it.


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## Mucho Bocho (Dec 27, 2016)

zephell said:


> Thank you again to everyone who replied with their input. I have found it useful not only from a travel perspective, but also as a budding sharpener.
> 
> I wanted to come back and update what I went with and the results.
> 
> ...



And another one bites the dust. My friend, hate to be the one to point out, but sounds like you'll be buying more than one stone and another knife. Welcome to the Knut house.


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