Norton Waterstone Starter Kit: 220/1000 grit stone, 4000/8000 grit stone, SiC flattening stone

• 220/1000-grit combination waterstone for repairing, then establishing, steel cutting edges
• 4000/8000-grit combination waterstone for maintaining, refining, and polishing steel cutting edges
• 1/2 x 8 x 3 inch (H x W x D) size makes each waterstone suitable for use as a bench stone for knives and tools
• Blue plastic hinged boxes with no-slip rubber feet can be used as holders for the waterstones during sharpening
• 3/4 x 9 x 3 inch coarse-grit silicon carbide flattening stone for maintenance of waterstones, and an instructional DVD to demonstrate basic waterstone sharpening

I finally spent the money on some quality stones after years of sandpaper sharpening. I'm glad I did. The DVD is very helpful, especially if you don't have a mentor to show you the ropes and is a good value because it teaches how to sharpen without a honing guide. The flattening stone works well and is necessary. If you're on a budget, I'd recommend a 1000/8000 stone,the DVD, and sandpaper for flattening, but if you can spring for it, the kit is a good value and I expect mine will last decades.

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Anyone who is into sharpening by hand, especially straight razors, will appreciate this set of stones. The set comes highly recommeneded by every forum on straight razor shaving, and should also put a razor edge on any knives and tools you have lying around the house. It even comes with a decent DVD on sharpening. If you are only going to sharpen knives you can easily get by with the 1000/4000 stone and save a few bucks. And, if your graduating from oilstones this set is a real treat.

Freehand sharpening is not easy, but with a little education and some tips from YouTube you can do a great job.

Read Best Reviews of Norton Waterstone Starter Kit: 220/1000 grit stone, 4000/8000 grit stone, SiC flattening stone Here

This was my first entry into sharpening with water stones, and I decided to get this set after trying to piece together a similar set with individual stones. Not sure why, but the name "Starter Kit" had me concerned because it implied that it was going to be somehow smaller or less capable. Rest assured, the kit is simply their standard stones packaged in a single rather utilitarian box. Each stone is of high quality, and purchasing together this way provided significant savings over buying each piece individually.

Before I talk about the stones themselves, I should add to my comments that, like others, my kit first arrived with two 220/1000 stones and no 4000/8000. This definitely seems to be a genuine quality control issue. However, in typical Amazon fashion I completed a return authorization online and had a new set in two days, and the inconvenience was minimal, but not non-existent.

I was surprised how short the learning curve was with this. I started with a very inexpensive and dull stainless steel Chinese cleaver that I purchased years ago in New York's Chinatown. This thing was really little more than a novelty piece, as I'd never been able to get it more than moderately sharp using our Chef's Choice sharpener. In one attempt the stones had the knife extremely sharp, and in fact I now reach for it for a huge number of chopping tasks that I'd usually tackle with my Henckels chef's knife. Feeling confident, I worked my way through the Henckels set, and each is now shaving sharp as well. From there I proceeded to sharpen a 20-year old, original Japanese-made Kershaw Black Horse folding knife. This was a little more challenging, but after getting better at finding and holding a proper angle the blade was reprofiled and again absolutely razor sharp. Feeling confident, I then tackled the reprofiling of a KA-BAR USMC. This one was much more difficult for me as a novice, but again, after some patient practice, the blade is now a perfect, hair-popping mirror finish.

After literally hours of sharpening, the stones really don't seem to be any worse for the wear, and I suspect I may never actually consume a stone. The Silicon Carbide flattening stone is very useful, and mine was perfectly flat and very quickly and easily restores the stones to a completely flat surface. I did go out and purchase a Nagura stone for the 8000 grit stone, and have found it to be indispensable as well, as the 8K does very quickly accumulate metal, slowing its effectiveness. I've read from many much more experience sharpeners than I that the 8000k stone is really overkill, but I've definitely found that it takes the blades to another level of sharpness in my amateur hands, while bringing out that jewel-like mirror finish. Using the stones becomes a bit addictive, and I actually went ahead and also picked up a strop that I loaded with green .5 micron compound, at it definitely takes the blade to a final level of perfection. The edge on that KA-BAR, for example, is truly scary after adding a stropping step!

All in all, this is more than a "starter kit," it's just a very capable and easy to learn full size set that should last for a very long time, even if not forever for the typical home user.

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This kit includes everything you need to sharpen your chisels and plane blades. It even has a step by step video of how to use the stones. No stone is left unturned in putting together this set. For those who don't have a steady hand a honing guide is recommended, though by no means necessary.

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I've been using sandpaper for the last 3 years, I really like the water stones. The only problem I have is that I'm not sure the flattening stone is flat, I can take to a waterstone til its flat then put 2 waterstones together and it appears that it is not flat. So I guess I need to put the flattening stone to sandpaper. It's a good starter set to make sure it works for you, but I can tell that my next purchase will be the full stones, not the combination stones.