Stone Advice Needed

[BadlyHoned]

Hi All - I need a sharpening set up for all my SWEET new gouges. I'm reading "Relief Carving In Wood" by Chris Pye (great book) and he recommends Arkansas stones and slip stones.

Thing is, I already have a set of Norton water stones for my bench chisels, and am wondering if they would work well with my gouges? Will the gouges quickly chew nasty grooves in my stones, causing a lot of extra flattening work when its time for bench chisels? In that case, is it better to have stones dedicated to the gouges?

If a dedicated set is preferable, should I get a set like this that has grooves in the stones: Carver's Slipstone Set, 4000 Grit - 426463 Or just another set of flat stones?

Finally, what's your favorite slip stone? Pye recommends an Arkansas. Do I really need to go oil stone?

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

Hi badlyhoned, I don't have an answer for you, but I recently asked about ceramic stones and got some real good advice, here is the link. Hope this helps.
Ceramic Stones

Dave

[mobjack68]

I prefer Arkansas stones....lot of folks don't like the oil. I keep mine in wooden boxes (each in it's own box), the box bottom absorbs the xtra oil, the lid protects them. White hard arkansas is the one I use the most, pricey but the longevity and quality is worth the cost. I recently purchased an 8" hard arkansas off of ebay (be careful...seem some UGLY stones being advertised as genuine H.A.) cost me a grand total of $14.00 and it was shipped from RUSSIA.
This thing was Russian, russian writing on the box....russian instruction sheet in the box....whatta hoot!! the stone has a color streak on one end and I cannot tell any difference in the sharpening ability anywhere on this stone....

[buckbeans]

I would not buy another set of stones if I already had the water stones from norton..

[rales]

A lot of options! Chris loves his Arkansas - he should - he's used them for years and has his own signature series with Norton. They are fine stones but pretty expensive to get the top grade translucents or his slipstones (a full set runs $300+!!). After trying many different methods I settled on ceramics (I do use an India oil stone for basic initial bevel setting) I like the fact you don't need oil or water (way less mess)- very easy to see what you are actually sharpening - they won't cup and the slip stones are very easy to use... As Dave said - check out the other thread on ceramics.

[lazybum]

I use water stones
I use the 3/4" side of the stones for my gouges there is 6 sides on water stones

I use one side for plane blades
the other side for bench chisels
and the sides for gouges

I have japanese stones and norton stones, the norton stones seem to wear faster in the rougher grits I notice

[trevwinn]

Sharpening gouges is all about turning the tool as you push or pull along stone or slip. slips are concave and thereby make it easier but a flat stone works to. Experiment with holding tool different ways until you find a comfortable way to turn tool as moved along stone so that the edge stays flat as its turned to sharpen evenly. Sharpening tools may be more difficult than carving and certainly takes more patience to learn (this was the case for me anyway) I wish you good luck