# One Guy, Three Stones



## Andrew H (Apr 1, 2011)

Having recently gotten into the world of J knives I finally need to stop buying the knives and put some cash into maintaining them. I'm looking for a three stone set up (already have picked out a strop + compound) that will keep me happy for a long while.
I was thinking of Bester 500x (or 700x), 1000x (or 1200x), and Suehiro Rika 5k. Only reason I choose these is they seem to be pretty widely regarded as a good set up that won't break the bank. 
Are these good choices? Is 700x enough to get edge chips out of knives that I will be practicing on (chicago cutlery, how I love you)? There is a 700x, 1000x, suehiro set that is a pretty good deal, is 700x - 1000x not a large enough gap?

Thanks for answering all the stone questions :happy2:


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## EdipisReks (Apr 1, 2011)

i rarely use my Bester. my most used stones are an 800 suehiro for setting a bevel on a new knife, 2000 synthetic blue aoto, and a kitayama. the 500 bester is really aggressive, i only use it for when i need to remove _a lot_ of metal.


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## spaceconvoy (Apr 1, 2011)

I take it you're just starting out with sharpening? I'd hold off on the coarse stone for now and see if you really need it later. While you're learning, coarse stones only magnify your mistakes - better to learn on a 1k. 

If you want to save money, I'd recommend getting a King 1k to learn on. There are better stones for sure, but the King is perfect because it can be used soaked and muddy or splash & go and (somewhat) hard. It'll help you figure out your preferences first before investing in a pile of rocks. 

But if you just want to buy a pile of rocks, get the Beston 500, Bester 1.2k and the Rika, if you don't mind soaking. Otherwise, Jon's new Gesshin 1k & 5k sound like great stones if you want splash & go. Or a 1k and 4k GlassStone if you want splash & go but you prefer harder stones... There are lots of options and (almost) all of them will do a great job, so the choice comes down to preference rather than performance. But you have to know your preferences first...


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## Eamon Burke (Apr 1, 2011)

My $0.02:
Get the Shapton Pro 1k, 2k, and 5k. They cut fast, work great together, low maintenance. I am partial to the way they cut.


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## Citizen Snips (Apr 2, 2011)

i would agree with the beston 500, bester 1.2 and rika 5k


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## mikemac (Apr 2, 2011)

+1
Or the king 1k6k combo stone

If you're new to sharpening, and have new J-knives, aggressive stones below 1k are a mistake. I don't know about Chicago Cutlery, but learning on an old beat up carbon blade like an Old Hickory, using a 1k, will go slowly and you'll see/learn what works and what dosen't . Just rememer , and old beater is pprobably 20* per side, and a new j-knive is probably between 8* - 12* per side




spaceconvoy said:


> ....While you're learning, coarse stones only magnify your mistakes - better to learn on a 1k.
> 
> If you want to save money, I'd recommend getting a King 1k to learn on. There are better stones for sure, but the King is perfect because it can be used soaked and muddy or splash & go and (somewhat) hard....


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## Andrew H (Apr 2, 2011)

Thanks for all of the replies. It seems like getting the 1200 or 1k bester and the suero is my best bet right now, and then adding in a 700 or 500 if I need it later on. I was reading some old KF posts about flattening stones and found one that side a very coarse sand paper will do the job, is this true?


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## Pensacola Tiger (Apr 2, 2011)

Andrew H said:


> Thanks for all of the replies. It seems like getting the 1200 or 1k bester and the suero is my best bet right now, and then adding in a 700 or 500 if I need it later on. I was reading some old KF posts about flattening stones and found one that side a very coarse sand paper will do the job, is this true?


 
Wet/Dry 220 grit works well. You can also use drywall screen. You don't want to use too coarse a grit, or you'll put grooves in your stone.

Just be sure to put it on something flat, like a 12 x 12 piece of heavy glass or a porcelain tile that size.


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## 99Limited (Apr 2, 2011)

Pensacola Tiger said:


> Wet/Dry 220 grit works well. You can also use drywall screen. You don't want to use too coarse a grit, or you'll put grooves in your stone.
> 
> Just be sure to put it on something flat, like a 12 x 12 piece of heavy glass or a porcelain tile that size.



+1 I went that route for a few months. It's cheap and gets the job done. I placed the drywall screen on a thin, plastic cutting mat on top of my granite countertop.


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