How to sharpen a knife with inexpensive King water stones

[@Procrast-f9n]

liked the video, very informative, thanks for making it look easy.

[@TheSharpeningGuy]

Thanks! I’m glad you found it helpful.

[@donaldredmond2326]

Thank you for the demonstration. I just bought a basic King KW 65 combo setup as a Christmas present to myself and look forward to getting good at this. I like to cook and sharp knives are a must. I will follow your tutorials and hope I can generally get the hang of it before summer. Thanks again.

[@EZ_Case]

How’d it go? Any feedback? I just ordered one. No experience.

[@matthewsmith5737]

Excellent demonstration. Just bought the budget King (the double sided with 1000/6000), so thank you for the lesson. Liked and subscribed

[@TheSharpeningGuy]

Thanks!

[@mfreeman313]

Nice video, and I understand you have to get people in the door, so to speak, but I was taken aback a bit at the idea you can sharpen "even with inexpensive King" stones. King is universally acknowledged as one of the best-known, long-established whetstone lines and to say you can "even" use them suggests they're like the bottom of a coffee mug because it's a bit surprising they work at all. I don't think that was the message or intent but I think it could give that impression. Just saying. I know other, fancier, more (sometimes _much_ more) expensive stones get more buzz, and I've got a few myself, but I've also got a stack of Kings that can take care of most of my sharpening needs. Solid product at a good price? That's never an also-ran with me. Sorry to go on about it.

[@johnbarnasevitch3546]

I love your videos and you do a fantastic job of teaching. I only wish you would include camera closeups, like when you’re describing thinning behind the edge. It would take your videos to the top tier.

[@TheSharpeningGuy]

Thanks. I’m glad you enjoy them. I agree that including closeups would be helpful. Also, I am planning on doing some videos specifically about thinning, so that should help explain that better too.

[@johnbarnasevitch3546]

@@TheSharpeningGuy Awesome!

[@gm7tx]

Nice tutorial!

[@TheSharpeningGuy]

Thanks!

[@otroflores91]

Good stuff, straight to the point.

[@TheSharpeningGuy]

Thanks!

[@Atul_Bhardwaj]

Nice details in between.

[@TheSharpeningGuy]

Thanks!

[@richs4878]

Excellent video. I’ve got a King Deluxe 1000. Looks like I should get a 6000 or so for finishing...

[@TheSharpeningGuy]

Thanks! Something in the 4,000-8,000 grit range is definitely helpful for finishing.

[@richs4878]

@@TheSharpeningGuy Thanks. Just ordered a 6000 and subscribed to your channel.

[@TheSharpeningGuy]

Great. Thanks!

[@kennymanchester]

Nice. Can you describe how much pressure to use at each step? How do you know when to move on from thinning stage? What methods would you recommend for flattening the stones, or does it matter? This water stone is new to me as I’m used to Shapton splash n go or diamond abrasives. I’m picking up on some nuances that are unique and specific to these soft/slurry type stones, such as emphasis on trailing strokes after bevel set and burr removal as opposed to how I remove burr using UF diamonds or ceramic stones. Thank you for your time. K

[@TheSharpeningGuy]

Good questions. On the rougher stone I probably use 5-8 pounds of downward pressure on the stone normally. Sometimes more. If you have a really flexible knife blade you may need to use less. I have a video showing how to keep a consistent angle while sharpening, and if I remember correctly, I talk more about how much pressure to apply in that video I have a video on my channel showing how to flatten waterstones easily. I use a diamond plate to flatten them. It should only take a few seconds if you keep up on it. You honestly don’t have to flatten your stones every time you use them, but maintaining a pretty flat surface will certainly make sharpening easier. I use Shapton stones regularly and I like them. Especially the Shapton Glass 1,000 grit stone. That’s my favorite 1K stone. The Shapton finishing stones are nice too, although I do have a slight preference for a hair softer finishing stone. The technique I showed here will work on Shaptons just as well as it works on the Kings. This is not the only good method, but I chose to show this one since it will work will on any type of stone. I have videos showing me sharpening with Shaptons and well as a video specifically on choosing water stones where I explain more about the different types of stones. Also, I have a video just dedicated to burr removal where I show several different methods and explain in more detail about how each one works. All the other videos I talked about are on my channel. Feel free to have a look at them. Thanks for watching!

[@kennymanchester]

@@TheSharpeningGuy I freehand and fixed using shapton glass and they are my favorite too. But, as they are costly I’m introducing the King 1K/6K combo to friends and family to get started freehanding. My biggest issue is I’ve no experience with that, or ANY waterstone. Hence my questions relative to hard splash n go stones. I guess I don’t use the water stones because they seem more of a hassle to me and they do not add value for me. That said, I didn’t want to assume they behave or should be used exactly the same as Shapton Glass. Hopefully that makes sense. I’ll check out your other vids, but I don’t need a lesson in flattening, or sharpening, I want to know what, if anything, should be done differently from my DMTs/Shapton Glass stones. Thanks

[@johnwoodcock6468]

Sorry none of my business ..was just going to say. The king stone that murray carter uses can give a lethak edge. But u need to put a lot of pressure or it takes ages. If u use decent pressure u will get a killer edge. But more pressure the hardrr to keep consistent angle. Peace people thanks for the vid.

[@6030jdr]

Are putting pressure on the forward or backwards pull, or both?

[@TheSharpeningGuy]

Technically you would want to put more pressure on the edge trailing part of each stroke. In reality though, you can put pressure on both parts of the stroke and you’ll still get good results.

[@greenmarine5]

Fast forward to today 3 years later, king stones have gone up in price quit a bit. the 1k is 75 usd the 8k is 150usd, for the results they are still better than Shapton IMO. I shave with a straight razor and use to use shapton which were really good but they are also 3x the cost. I also use the same stones for my chef knifes. Recently I switched to King stones mainly because of price and I can tell no difference between the two brands, both brands take off steel and hone to a mirror finish with the same effort. Keep in mind I've been sharpening as a hobby for 20 years and professionally for 10 years.

[@BimBop83]

How long should you soak the stone? Demo glosses over some key info.

[@TheSharpeningGuy]

The 1,000 grit stone should be soaked for 15-20 minutes or longer before each use. The 6,000 grit stone can honestly be used as a splash and go stone or soaked for a few minutes. That being said. Both my 1K and 6K stone have just lived in water for years.

[@NIKOLAP7]

Honestly, these King stones seem like a great bang for the buck. They are available in my country too. I have a question: How to clean the stones after I finish sharpening my knives?

[@TheSharpeningGuy]

There is no need to clean them really. They don’t load up like some other stones do.

[@bryanhauschild4376]

I can’t read Japanese, do I wet the cheap version too? 1000/6000

[@TheSharpeningGuy]

Yes you do.

[@bryanhauschild4376]

@@TheSharpeningGuy got mine and have sharpened everyting in sight! Man my knives where dull!

[@TCY-jn9nw]

I'm confused. Never done this before

[@TheSharpeningGuy]

I have many other videos showing specific parts of the process in much greater detail if you need them.