Sunday 20 February 2011

It certainly is a 'WORKSHOP HEAVEN'...

My great friend Matthew Platt from WORKSHOP HEAVEN sent me a box of goodies the other week. The package contained a new set of Japanese water stones. Just as well, as my old ones have seen better days. My stones see a lot of work and it was great to remove a brand new Ice Bear double sided stone from it's pristine box. Along with the 1200/8000 grit water stone there was an Nagura stone, vital for making a super fine slurry for polishing your razor sharp edge.

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I use water stones because my knives will never smell oily or taint the work I am producing, and my knives are incredibly sharp after using one. I was so pleased, a knife is only as good as the stone you sharpen with...And in my opinion these are the best...

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This is the 1200 grit side...

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And the 8000 grit side....

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Complete with Nagura stone...

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I could not resist giving one of my MaChris carving knives a quick edge...

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I keep my water stones in a plastic sealed container along with the Nagura stone and a scouring pad for cleaning the stones and wiping the blade. The scouring pad/sponge is also used for adding water to the stone during the sharpening process...

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Here is the box sealed...

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First the stone is soaked, and then the knife gets a few swipes on the course side...

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A quick wipe with the sponge and then turn the stone over for a good polish...

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Rub the Nagura stone on the fine side 8000 grit...

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You can see the resultant slurry...

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Once finished with the slurry paste, give the stone a wipe with the sponge...

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Add water and complete your final polish. The result is a super sharp blade ready for a run through some good wood...

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Here are some movies of the Japanese water stones in use...











And an idea for bushcrafty out door folk...
Matthew also sent me some space age sharpening film...

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It is a sticky backed film that would be useful for sharpening your edge tools when lightweight traveling. I wanted to test it, so I cut some stainless steel sheet that I had in my workshop. I guess you can choose what backing to use, a flat aluminium sheet would be good as your blade wouldn't be damaged by a mishap, or perhaps a piece of nylon chopping board. Any way, I cut a strip and drilled some holes for a piece of wire to fit through so as to hold down the sheet...

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I stuck a different sheet to each side...

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 The sheets are super fine and I was able to put a good polish on one of my old knives...


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I can not vouch for the durability of the film as yet, but I will be testing this system when out and about. The sheets are very cheap to purchase and I could see a benefit in experimenting with this idea for lightweight backpacking adventures...

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Matthew also has some great little stones all ready to go from the box...

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A super little diamond whetstone...

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I think these would be great for owners of compound ground knives...

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I can highly recommend these Ice Bear stones. I have been using them for five years or so and I always have a little grin on my face after I have sharpened one of my treasured knives...



ENJOY...J

Carving a Dragon Kuksa.

Carving a Dragon Kuksa.  I have been carving Kuksa from green Birch for 15 years or so, I’m self taught. From the beginning, I limited mysel...