exclusive updates and content burrfection.com/ my trusted knife store bur.re

In my experience and opinion, the most accurate and revealing way to find out how quickly your stone has gone out of flat is to, after sharpening, make crosshatch pencil marks across the complete surface of the stone and then use your flattening plate and see exactly where the wear pattern is. I have done this with sharpening my woodworking tools for years, and it provides the best feedback on stone wear without any guesswork.

Not really sure what happened to me today. I clicked on a video of you sharpening knives and only when it was over did I realize it was a 45 minute video, lol. Now here it is 3 hours later and I'm subscribed and binge watching. I love knives, own a ton of them (some actually very nice) so I'm off to Amazon to order some sharpening stones!

Great videos as always. I've learned a lot from you and I just wanted to give my thanks.

I'm adding this to my ASMR list. Interesting, informative, and very chillaxing!

Thank you for doing this video, it's revealing. I'm new to stones, at least I haven't used them in years. I was using a Tormek in the past, and lost it, and I've decided to switch to stones because I've switched to Japanese knives and steel, and need more control. I can't comment from experience, but flattening importance would seem to me to depend on how you sharpen. I watched a tutorial with Dave( I think that's his name) from knife merchant, and he uses a style where he holds the knife parallel to the length of the stones, and I'm going to give that way a try first, after I get my Japanese water stones. I would have to guess this will only work on flattened stones. With the style your using, I can't see any benefit to constantly flattening the stones, and it seems like it would at least slightly, reduce the lifespan of the stone, if you're constantly flattening them. The main thing for me, is not to get get stuck in my ways, and to always be learning, and finding ways to get better at sharpening.

In my experience, a lot depends on which knife you're sharpening, for what. Doing heavier work on low grits saves a LOT of stone. If you know you damaged your edge, do not be afraid to "ruin the polish" by going to a 140. Take 20 strokes on low grit as opposed to 300 on a 1k. And don't damage your knives!

thank you teacher 🙏🏼

I just use a small rectangular smooth rock I found on a riverside trail, to make sharpening smoother on my whetstones

Very cool!

Depends on what you are sharpening a knife it dosent really matter if a tool blade like a plane or jointer blades you should fasten be for every time

LOVE YOUR VIDEOS MAN! I work in a kitchen and i recently started getting into knife sharpening. I sharpen all our knives at work and my boss is thinking of dropping our usually knife sharpener and might just pay me instead. Question: Do you have experience with using your skill to make money? Like your own type of side business for some extra cash?

Wow... only 45mins to sharpen a blade. That was fast. ;))

I never have to flatten my stones because I use high quality diamond stones. Regular whetstones are a thing of the past for meat least

Can I ask, do ceramic and glass stones ever need flattening, the ones in question are the Shapton range? It's a subject I've never really been able to find out. Love the channel and best wishes from here in the UK.

I never did anyway :) but thank you for validating my lazyness

Something else worth considering - I don't know if you have covered this Ryky, I might have missed it - but the odds are that our new sharpening stones are not perfectly flat coming from the manufacturer. I just checked my new Chosera 1000, that I used once, with the pencil crosshatch flattening technique I mentioned below. Using my DMT Dia-Flat Plate on the Chosera, I found it had a dramatic and pronounced high-centered hump running the length of the stone, which I now know is why I got a less than perfect sharpening experience the first time I used it. For me this feedback is invaluable because once the stone is truly flat, I can then completely concentrate on my sharpening technique and eliminate another variable in getting a perfect edge. I am not a master knife maker like Murray Carter, who actually *can* get a great perfect edge from his irregular stones (he - CarterCutlery - has a video on KZfaq about this that is a good watch - it might be over there on the right). He has spent years and years perfecting his muscle memory and kinesthetic skills to feel his knife edges and get those results. I want fast, predictable and satisfying results so I can fully enjoy the knives I have invested in as amazing tools, and get back to making the food I love with semi-mad knife skills. :) And, I need my sharpening stones dead flat because I use them for my knives as well as my plane blades and chisels.

Hi I watch you vedio & i have a question , can i flaten all kind of wetstone by sandpaper . I have the king kds 1000/6000 and both sides have unflat surfes, can i also flat ceramic stones with sand paper Thank you

I had to flatten a stone of mine I lent to someone to re-hone a flat surface and somehow it ended up getting used as a beater stone. Still an expensive stone and I am in the process of hand scraping and stoning my bedways on my lathe. If you are sharpening a knife I'd plane it once it's uncomfortable or you cannot stand looking at the bow anymore. Wood chisels whenever you sharpen your chisel and it still will not make clean crisp cuts. If you are using it for precision work you are inspecting on a surface plate with a surface gauge flatten it everytime before and after. Its only my opinion and you can do what you want but I think those are reasonable guidelines.

So I’m with you, I rarely flatten stones maybe once or twice in their entire lives outside of single bevel knives. The only exception for me, oddly, is my Shapton Pro 120. I use it as a correcting stone for chips, tips, horrible previous sharpening attempts, etc. I’ve found that when used in that regard, it develops odd tracks in the surface that do impact results and make for an annoying task. I still only flatten it 1/10 or so uses but for me that’s a lot. I actually have an old Naniwa Economical stone that is severely dished like 5mm low at the bottom and I can still get a clean edge using it.

I have to flatten mine because I sharpen a scandi grind

Hi,what was the brown stone you use before sharpening and why did you use it?

Nice video! When you are stropping with the newspaper, are you laying the knife flat or are you holding the same angle as sharpening?

I am wondering what anime is on your shelf in the background. I am a huge anime lover and always looking for new anime. I have watched a ton of your videos. I love them all. You are very informative about how to and when to do things. You give details and that's always something so many other people leave out.your doing a great job and thank you. Keep the great videos up and as always can't wait for the next one. 😁 have a great day.

Cool, I'm ok with flattening if I can use the house's concrete wall or garden stones laying around or roof ceramics and brick laying around coz' good sharpening whetstones are expensive X-D. God bless.

I just recently got a King kw65 stone (1000/6000, a smaller version of KDS I think, BTW I mostly chose it thanks to you positive reviews :D ), this is my first water stone and I'm kind of lost on how to maintain it properly. Should I use a plate or dressing stone? Does dressing stone grit matter? Do I buy whatever cheap crap or should I choose carefully? Ryky, you said in some of your videos that you avoid soaking KDS 6000 side or it doesn't cut. Do you just splash it or soak lightly? I kind of feel it doesn't cut much too, but then I'm new to this and don't even have much success forming a burr on 1000 (maybe because the knives haven't been "shaped" on a stone before). If you have any wisdom to share on using a King KDS, you're welcome. Also, what's your opinion on using honing rods to maintain knives? I noticed you do have them.

The flattening or cleaning the stone depends on the stone itself. I was using my old King 1000 (not Deluxe version) for sharpening all my knifes every two months and I never cleaned up the stone with Nagura or so. The stone had a pretty nice "bath" shape which was pretty impossible to sharpen on, I decided to flatten the stone with chinese whetstone grit probably 200 and it took about 20mins to completely flatten my King. This is of course the worst case scenario but it would be impossible to flatten with Nagura, therefore a flattening stone is good for the extreme. Now I have replaced the King by the recommended Cerax 1010 and it's a completely different stone which I'm always cleaning up with a Nagura stone :) Lesson learned.

IDK the conclusion of this experiment yet. Keeping the stone flat is paramount for straight razors. Straight razor honing is a little easier than knife sharpening and honing, as you don't need to develop a "feel" for the edge being on the stone. The spine and edge of a razor are both on the stone at all times. I'm kind of anxious to see the outcome here😂

The hardest part for me is keeping track of even strokes on both sides 💀 glad to see even pros can deal with it too lmao

It looked to me that the non-flattened stone blade was ever so slightly sharper. And this would make sense since you are flattening a curved edge on a (slightly) dished stone. A curved edge on a perfectly flat stone will have one tiny point of contact. But a curved edge on a worn dished stone will have a larger area of contact to greater effect - and BTW there also looked to be more metal removed. In any case if you were sharpening a perfectly straight edge (eg. a straight razor or straight edged knife) you would need a perfectly flat stone - especially if you plan to use more than one stone in the process.

They're your stones Ryky...do to them whatever works best for you...what works for one person may not work for the next...On the rare occasion I use my softer wet stones, I put them on a flat surface, and if I can slide a business card under it without catching...they get flattened.

Good video, good info, what's the stone you used for flattening? 400 grid what brand?

Can you do (or do you already have) a short video on you basic sharpening equipment, like the sink bridge and stone holder? Or, just a short reply? Thank you.

Hey burrfection, I have a question, I’m thinking about buying the atoma for flattening my stones, what happened when it loses it cutting on the atoma, where can I buy replacement plates at? Affordable is a must. Thank you.

I thought this was going to be using a stone for maybe 100 times before flattening. It also depends how you sharpen. My father used to sharpen a knife point first along the length of the stone and after years of using the same stones there would be a groove worn on the stone about half way through it while around this groove some places looked almost untouched.

Well I dont have flat stones. As Ryky I go all over the stone to keep it as flat as possible. I tried to flatten my stone once, and I ended up wasting a lot of material, and I couldn’t see any improvement

@Burrfection What grit Nagura stone do you recommend. I just got my first Japanese knife and plan on buying a Cerax 1k.

Are you sharpening scandi vex grinds or straight razors. I’d not then yea I don’t level either. When I sharpen my straight razor and bushcraft knife I level.

What bridge and base are you using on this video?

Where did you get the stone holders they look really handy

It was obvious that there’s a big difference in the sharpness.

How do you keep the knife at the correct angle while sharpening

I know the real answer to this issue. There was an old man where I lived who went door to door sharpening for people. He would sharpen knifes with two edges on stones that were in my eyes worn beyond any flat shape. Hand him a tool like a chisel a plane iron pair of scissors and out comes the flat stones he obviously kept pretty flat. There really is no reason to have a stone be very flat for knifes with a curved blade and two edges besides technique.

I've never deburred before - wasn't even aware it was a thing. I thought that's what stropping on a compound strop was supposed to do. Is there a noticeable difference? I may have to start keeping champagne corks for use after sharpening.

What stones you recommend me to use for a dalstrong shogun chef knife? Thanks, love your videos bro!!

I see Botosai the man slayer behind you ;)

I know this is an old video, but I watched this street food chef lady that had a stand open for like 40 years. She had a gigantic whetstone and sharpened her knives every morning. The stone looked like a mini Grand Canyon. She never once flattened that thing and got her knives screaming sharp every morning. It's really just abrasion. If you have the movement down for the curves in the stone it doesn't matter.

Bro, please correct the link in the description for "Favorite Lapping Plates". You've missed "h" in http for #2

If I had to get only 2 plates do you think an atoma 1200 grit diamond plate and a chosera 3000 would be the way to go?

Whats the benefit of not flattening more often? For me when i dont do it for a while, i have to spend a lot more time flattening. Because you are going to have to flatten it sooner or later. And for most you end up with a dished out middle. And it takes forever to bring the ends and sides down when not done regularly. And i agree that you need a flat stone to easier maintain a consistent angle while sharpening. Especially for a beginner. I dont think not flattening prolongs the life of the stone. And to flatten you are going to be spending as much time doing it. A lot of quick touch ups if done every time or every other time. Or a long boring tiring flattening session if it is not done after many sharpenings. Of course, to each his own...but for me...wash and dry your knife after each use and maintain your edge and stones regularly. Touching up a knife only takes a few minutes and very minimal dishing will occur. in that case you can go longer without flattening. i can get my edge hair popping sharp with just a few passes on the 800 then the 5k then the strop. Usually i just strop on the 5k a few times then on the leather. I never have to spend more than a few minutes. After penciling the stone and flattening it so many times, i know about how long to flatten without the use of a pencil. It really is a very quick easy process when you learn how to do it.

Show your favorites knives 🙏

If you flatten before or after every use, if you sharpen professionally or on a very regular basis, won't your stones run out much much faster? I basically never flatten unless i'm doing chisel edges or flats. Does anybody know the actual rate of degradation from flattening every day? How much faster will the stone wear down compared to no flattening.

Well dayum there went an unnecessary $80 yesterday for ordering a A-120 Extra Large Naniwa Flattening Stone. But isn't the little brown nagura stone you use every time also a flatening stone? They're called finishing stones but aren't they the same thing? Thanks Ryky.

would it not matter what type of steel is being sharpened? Harder more expensive steel more strokes to achieve sharpness versus softer steel less strokes?

I made myself a vanadis 10 pouder steel knive (around 64 HRC) and it ate my 6000 polishing stone like nothing. I felt like the knive is just cutting out the stone without getting sharp. I can really hear the stone getting carved out by the knife.

You're simply creating more work for future you by putting off flattening your stones until you can see a concave formation. Take your flattening stone and just run it once or twice after you've finished doing a knife... Takes literally 5-10 seconds and saves you minutes or hours of work later. I honestly have no idea how the hell you're getting a consistent angle if you don't flatten your stones until it looks like someone has scooped out part of the stone... *_because you actually have._*

What is the name of the stand you are using over the water container? I believe it's some form of a sink bridge.

So... Can I just use sandpaper (wet and dry)?

1 degree = .0174 per inch

The knife sharpened with non flattened stone is clearly sharpener than the other (you can notice it by the fact that he had way more difficult starting cutting the paper with the "flattened" knife). So don't flat your stones.

Do u like survival knives or only kitchen knives ( I think that I commented this awhile I go I don't remember if I did sorry)

What bridge are you using?

Do I see Vagabond manga! Nice

Aren’t you meant to flatten your whetstones ? To get consistent results

How long does a stone last?

You know it really doesn't matter if you flatten or not. There are people all over the world, and your fathers and grand fathers who never flatten their stones who sharpen their knives to a very sharp edge. I think this whole flattening thing is nothing more than a KZfaq phenomenon that people like to talk about. Great if you do and great if you don't.

45 minutes for a stone sharpening video? The Japanese say to flatten your stones, so I"m sticking with that but I don't do it every single time I sharpen.

the japanese sharpening masters dont flatten their stones. their stones are everything else but flat^^ nice video

whats the manga collection behind you? :)

But why did you proceed to flatten the unflattened side of the stone...

Why not show us the stone flattening on a mirror with abrasives instead? Nobody is going to buy a large diamond flattening plate for 250USD when their stone cost 80USD. If you are then you crazy, get the diamond forget the stone altogether.

Ryky is 100% unless you're doing single edge knives or plane tools, you do not need to keep stones flat. Period. Unless it develops uneven surfaces. Dishing isn't even an issue for double edge

T

Murray Carter's take on this: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/la-eh5tpuLiVaas.htmlm10s

"stop flattening your whetstone" ??

I don't think you want to rub your wedding band on the stone >_> Thought I'm sure it has happened numerous times already.

Dude you talk about all other things except what you need to flatten the stone . I think you need to cut the unnecessary talk , don’t. Get caught talking or repeating. Words frases or sentences , I like the show !

Alternative title: How to ruin your credibility with just one clickbait title.