My knives need sharpening. Is pic related a decent beginner's

>>7380242
Yes.

>>7380242
400 is too coarse unless you need to grind out major chips.

For regular maintenance using 2 stones you're better off starting around 800-1000 and finishing around 4 to 6k.

File: King 1000-6000.jpg (13KB, 500x500px) Image search: [Google]

13KB, 500x500px

>>7380262
Noted, thanks.

>>7380283
So something like pic related?

>>7380283
That's not completely wrong, but self-proclaimed "experts" always downplay the need for coarse stones. Everyone needs a coarse stone and it's going to take a lot of practice before op is good enough to make use of a 6k.

If you can't use a coarse stone you have no business using an ultra fine finishing stone. Sure, you can't fuck up the edge so quickly if you're on a 6k but if you're not able to use a stone without fucking it up, what do you need it for?

>>7380299

Your original choice was good. Coarse and medium to start off. When you git gud, get finer and finer until you feel that the added benefit of going even finer is no longer worth the extra work.

>>7380319
Cool. My knives aren't super high end, I can afford to learn on them. I much prefer the price of the Smiths.

>>7380363
I just took a closer look at the smith's, it's 400 american grit which is actually a lot higher than I or that other guy was assuming.

At the end of the day, the king and the smiths are going to put a pretty similar finish on the knife and take about the same amount of time to grind. The king might actually be a little faster since it's got more surface area so you can use longer strokes.

>>7380385
>>7380385
You're right, I hadn't noticed they were ANSI 400/1000 grit. That puts them around JIS 700/2000 which is just fine. I'm usually wary of recommending low grit stones to beginners because it's too easy to remove huge amounts of steel on something like a JIS 320 stone when you're still working out the motions.

>>7380385
>>7380447
Interesting, I learned something new. Which resources would you recommend for learning how to properly sharpen?