Possibly my last set of stones. I bought the red and green Vermont slates based on the review by “develop your skills,” below. I carve every day; I use mostly cherry with some other woods like pear, boxwood, mahogany, Japanese magnolia and katsura. My carving style is smaller scale and detailed with fine lines and little or no background chatter. I have hundreds of carvings many of which are very good even by my own self-despising assessment. For tools I use European carving gouges and Japanese laminated steel Futatsu Wari Moku Hanga To (left handed knives specifically), Komasuki and Maru To (gouges), and Aisuki and Hira To (straight and bullnose chisels). I rarely use Sankaku To, or v-tools, because I use the knives instead and sharpening them gives me fits. I make my own handles for the Japanese tools and just buy the blades. I also use European soft v-tools with a rounded apex, a profile that Japanese tooling does not offer, and the Swiss pattern fishtail which is also not offered in Japanese tooling. Some of the cherry I have is curly and a real pain in the ruckus to work with, but being a tightwad I refuse to get rid of it, and so it provides a good test for my sharpening. I did my basic maintenance sharpening on a Tormek with a coarse stone for shaping followed by their fine Japanese waterstone, and then I refined the cutting edges with the red and green Vermont slates available here at Griffith. I am truly blown away by the silky glide of the blades through that stupid’ curly cherry…. Finishing up a new carving, it felt like I was drawing with a high quality soft graphite instead of carving through wood. I used a light slurry on each stone, very little pressure, and slow passes in one direction only because I’m a bit clunky and I don’t want to scratch the stone. Even touching up a corner didn’t cause scratching on the already finished blades. I was able to pass the hollow ground backs over the stones without any problems to either tools or stone surfaces. The Tormek can really eat up tools, especially the European blades, and I found these Vermont slates to be a combination of effective, controllable, and gentle, if that makes any sense; I was able to sharpen only what surface required it, however small, and the result was very refined but also quick to complete.
Japanese stones are very exotic and complete and attractive but I honestly done think I need all of that now. I am looking at the Tam O’Shanters with interest but that’s going to need more time to consider. One more piece of info; I’ve had major reconstructive surgeries on both hands, making some tasks so difficult to do now, and the simplicity and directness of sharpening with these slates, which are flat and large and dark, is really a blessing. I’m also a brush nut and ask Griffith to invest in a nice selection of very dense, fine brushes! And of course we all want tshirts lol
