Sharpening Beginner's Guide

• At least one medium grit stone (~1000 grit)
• (If you can afford it) a fine stone (~5000 grit or higher)
• Something to sharpen

This 1k/5k Shapton combo set will do great for beginners at $100.

Do not go crazy spending money on stones when starting - it's a waste of money and time. Also, do not go super cheap, since that's also a waste of money and time. Shapton, King, and anything sold by Suzuki Tool will serve you well.

At the root of it, sharpening involves flattening a sharpening stone, and then: 1. Using the stone to create a burr on the bevel of your tool, and 2. Using the stone to flatten the back of your tool, removing the burr.

As you refine the sharpened edge, you do this over, and over, and over again, but the process never changes.

Flatten the stone.

Raise a burr on the bevel, flattening the stone as you go.

Refine and polish the bevel, flattening the stone as you go.

Polish the burr off.

Stones are flattened using a known flat surface (“lapping plate”). Here are some ways you can create a lapping plate: * Find a piece of plate glass, and stick some sand paper to it * Buy an Atoma plate (~$70)

Either method is fine to start. As you're refining your practice, you'll probably want to stop using sand paper since the silica in the paper can get embedded in your stones. But you can get *very* sharp tools using sandpaper and relatively inexpensive stones.