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Testing Sharpening Stones
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The increasing use of tough, modern steel alloys in edge-tool
manufacture has, not surprisingly, resulted in recent developments
in the manufacture of water stones used to sharpen them. We
tested some of these newer stones, specifically the Bester/Imanishi
and the Sigma Power Select II, comparing them with each other
and with widely used King and Norton stones.
Testing
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Honing
guide retrofitted with a 4 lb weight for consistent pressure |
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For
an even comparison, different users performed two rounds of
testing on 1000x stones. We selected 1000x for two reasons –
it's common to virtually every line of stones and it's a medium
grade used to grind back to a primary bevel before honing with
a finishing stone.
We performed additional testing at other grits. To reduce subjectivity,
we outfitted honing guides with a 4 lb weight to provide consistent
pressure; lapped all stones on a 120 micron diamond plate prior
to each test; and used only blades from the same manufacturing
batch.
Immersion
Time: The total elapsed time from immersion of the completely
dry stone in water until the submerged stone stopped producing
air bubbles.
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Initial
preparation of an A2 blade on a 220x Norton stone |
Cutting
Speed: The number of back-and-forth strokes required to
remove the scratch pattern produced by 30 strokes with
a Norton 220x stone on 2-1/4" wide blades at a 35°
bevel angle. The final 10 strokes on the Norton stone
were done obliquely to better contrast with the scratch
pattern from the 1000x. |
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Other Articles from this Issue |
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