me2
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Slinging Rocks!
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For basic all around sharpening, I'd recommend a Norton Coarse/Fine stone. You can get them as India (aluminum oxide) or as Crystalon (silicon carbide) for the coarse side. The fine side is India. These are trade names for Nortons particular blend of aluminum oxide and silicon carbide. It takes some practice, but you can get an edge that will split a hair held between your fingers with just this stone. I used the stone dry, but oil is recommended.
If you want that extra bit of crazy to your edges, then get a strop and some green honing compound (chromium oxide), or go to a wood working store and get a pack of 0.3 micron (thats about 15000 grit) honing films and stick them to a flat piece of wood. A pack has 3 films and I've been using the same one for the last year or so. A pack is ~$4. I like them a lot if you cant tell. Its expensive, but you can also find diamond lapping powder and use it on your strop. It goes to 0.25 micron, maybe finer.
If you want to experiment, various grits of sandpaper work pretty well, and you can get a hair shaving edge off 600 grit wet/dry paper. A $5 hardware store coarse/fine stone works, but they wear quickly and the edge is a little rougher than the Norton stones. Sandstone was used a while ago (1800s) for coarse stones. I dont know how it is for fine finishing. I've never been able to get good results with a coffee mug or steel, but others swear by both. You can try water stones as well. They do not work dry, but can be found in grits finer than 10000 and as coarse as 120. If you have some of the modern, high alloy tool steels or stainless steels, diamond may be the way to go. If not, any of the above, except maybe sandstone, will work to some degree.
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