Sharpening stones are used to grind, sharpen and hone the edges of steel tools. There are many varieties of sharpening stone which are available in a wide range of grit sizes and levels of abrasion.
Tools which have a cutting edge (such as chisels, knives and gouges) will, from time to time, need sharpening. A sharpening stone is an easily used piece of equipment that allows you to hone a blade or tool to razor sharpness.
The three stages of sharpening
Grinding
The first stage of sharpening is the grinding stage. This process involves removing any chips, burrs, or defects in an extremely blunt tool blade.
Grinding uses a coarse sharpening stone, with a low grit number of 100-300. A coarse stone will grind an edge back onto the tool so that it can then be sharpened.
Compared with the later stages of sharpening, when finer grit stones are used, grinding with coarse stones removes a lot of metal very quickly.
Sharpening
The second stage of this process is the sharpening stage. This step will take a ground blade back to a reasonably sharp edge.
Tools that are dulled but not chipped or damaged will need resharpening. Sharpening stones of between 600 and 2000 grit are ideal for this stage of the process.
Because the grit particles are finer, sharpening at this stage removes less metal and removes it more slowly than grinding.
Honing
Honing is the last stage of the sharpening process. Blades and tool edges can be honed to a mirror-finish shine and a keen, razor sharp edge.
Sharpening stones with ultra fine grit particles are used for honing. Those between 3000 and 8000 grit are ideal.
Due to the less abrasive particles in a fine-grit sharpening stone, less metal is removed, and much more slowly.