John Dover

Here are my 2 cents:

For the stated purpose of taking care of kitchen or simple knives as used at home, garden etc, your options are: 1) Natural 2) Synthetics 3) Diamonds
Naturals are divided broadly water stones  and oil stones.

Water stones: Japanese Kyoto stones such as Nakayamas, Uzukis etc, Belgian coticules, German Thüringen's, Chinese Guanxi etc.. are some of the most common ones, but almost every country has some found sources of water stones as used by butchers. As far as oil stones, the very best ones are Arkansas stones, made of Novaculite, mined right here in the good ol USA, and can be bought online or found in auctions for cheap. People used to use them widely in the past, so they can be found in many garage sales.

Synthetics and diamonds are also options, and for many this is all they use. While they are efficient, they generally cut too fast, as they are considered aggressive cutters, resulting in edges that are over sharpened and may end up loosing their sharpness too soon. Beginners like them as they are easy to use, but they are known to grind the edge too much and too fast.

Out of these options, here is my recommendation: as the first and only purchase, your best bet in my opinion is a set of good natural Arkansas stones, typically a soft (roughly 700-800 grit) and hard (roughly 1000- 1200 grit) Arkansas,  and maybe a translucent and/or a black surgical (very high grit polisher, used in the past to sharpen surgical equipment) and you are set for life. These are very special stones. As they are not aggressive cutters, they are the best polishers, and they last forever for many generations. A Norton crystolon (synthetic) which is low grit (280-300 grit) , is also a very cheap and a good option for setting the primary edge (the bevel). The edge profiles from Arkansas stones are very keen and very long lasting. It is hard to over sharpen with oils stones. Over 100 years ago they were the most expensive stones in Europe where barbers used them for sharpening razors and surgical equipment, and considered them very special. This is in times when hand sharpening was a very common and widely used skill in many trades. A typical 6-7 by 2-2.5  inches stone is all you need. Ideally get them in 1 inch thickness, as that way they will last for generations. As mentioned above, a three-stone set of Washita Oilstones are a great option, and can be found online or on auctions.

The type of steel you have is important to know when selecting the stones. For normal carbon knives and German stainless steels which is what most common cheap knifes are (and cheap Chinese steels), Arkansas stones are perfect. You may use oil , but you can easily use plain water with two drops of dish soap (Dawn) to increase surface tension, and you do not mess your knives with oil. If you have the newer alloys, like Japanese VG10 and above, or powders, you may need synthetics, or diamonds as they are hard to sharpen and need aggressive stones.

A good diy leather and canvas strop is also a great cheap addition with great benefits (YouTube is your friend). Do not ever use sharpening steels, as they damage the edge. There are angle assisting devices available, usually expensive, and mostly using diamond or synthetic stones. I find them redundant, but they can be useful for the initial setting of the bevel, an important step.  

Last, but not least: Japanese stones (known as jnats) are a very special category of water natural stones, primarily originating from Kyoto. They are more expensive, but very much worth it, as they produce very keen and smooth edges, even in hard alloys like Japanese ones. They are used with a rubbing stone (called a nagura) and typically you might need to use two-three different naguras in progression from rough to finer grit, and as you rub them on the stone and dilute with water, they disintegrate into very fine particles producing very fine edges. If you want to be amazed, check: TomoNagura.com (not marketing my site by the way), simply directing you to some cool  info I have found in the past.    Having them for kitchen knifes is a luxury. They are suited for real passionate connoisseurs or chefs who use and need high end knifes that need to be very sharp, such Japanese or Asian fusion restaurants that need to cut fish decoratively. For most everyday kitchen use, they are an overkill.

Selecting stones goes hand and hand with selecting knifes. For home use, I do recommend softer steel knifes like German steels (Henkels, Victorinox etc) or some of the better Chinese steels as they are very forgiving, durable and will not chip, and are easily sharpened quite keenly with Arkansas stones. A good place to look for them are restaurant supply stores, as they have steels and designs that can endure heavy restaurant use.

Japanese high end steels. or other high end knifes with hard alloys will produce extremely sharp edges that are very fragile and will chip. Unless you are into sushi, there is no need to go after them, but yeah, they are special!  If for some reason you buy synthetic stones, the Japanese synthetics are in a class of their own, absolutely the best. Get what you can afford, but they are far superior than the rest of synthetics in both durability and function.

One more thing: it is important to learn about getting your stones flat, and how to achieve that with your particular stones (again, YouTube is your friend).

I sincerely hope you find this info useful, as I see so much confusion online. Our frugal predecessors were masters in freehand sharpening using natural stones, with no permies, no Youtube, no TikTok, no Facebook and no phones! As much as we have devolved, I think we still can do it!



       

Here is my contribution:

Vintage Japanese Sewing Machines. They are quite sought after by many antique collectors and sewing enthusiasts for their superb all metal construction (no plastic moving parts), durability, many features as seen in modern machines but are mechanical, not electronic, which makes them easy to maintain and repair yourself at home. There are straight stitch only machine models, most commonly known as Singer 15 clones, and there are also straight and zigzag machine models, as well as machines that have stretch and chain stitches as well. The Singer 15 clones are the "Buy-it-once" KING of these machines. They were made by several Japanese manufacturers (Maruzen, Janomi, Brother, Toyota etc....) from the 1955 to roughly 1976. The class 15 clones are straight stitch only (but a superb straight stitch) and are an improvement over the original (and legendary) Singer class 15 machines (the most manufactured and sold sewing machine in the history of man, by far), otherwise known as the "farmer's sewing machines" as they could stitch over everything. The Japanese clones have better build quality, better paint, improved pressure foot and feed dog release, and can be found everywhere from free to $20-30.00 in auctions. They can be used (retrofitted) with any motor as the motor is externally mounted and is swap-able. More importantly, these machines can be used (retrofitted if need be) in a treadle and/or with hand cranks (bought on ebay for $15-20.00) with no electricity at all, which incidentally also provides a greater degree of precision and control over the stitching process.  They made and sold millions of these machines all over the world and though "old", most of them are still around in like new shape and only need oiling. No modern electronic machines match their utility, longevity, repair-ability. All metal class 15 clones are still to this day made in many other parts of the world, such as India, China, Middle East, Africa, South America etc....so you can still find on ebay brand new OEM parts, if needed. None of the current production ones though can match the original vintage quality of the Japanese clones (though there are some great clones made in Italy , France, Spain and Germany that can be excellent quality, but they did not make as many as the Japanese, so are rare...). These all metal, superb solid machines are still available in US, Canada and EU by the millions in many local auctions, craiglist or ebay postings for dirt cheap.  No homestead should be without one, especially the hand crank ones!

1. Which documentation methods from the video do you find useful and why? Methods include Ortho and Topo Maps, Aerial Images, 3D Models, 360-Degree Video, and Virtual Tours.
All of them are useful. They may provide additional and even unique info not possible to be acquired even if you spent an hour or more visiting a site.
2. If this platform was live and you could tour dozens of farms online, would this interest you?
Of course!
3. What are you most interested in learning from established farms?
The list is long...., but I find it useful to have analytical information (both quantitative and qualitative) about each farm beyond the usual general info. As such, I would love to know how they perform against an established benchmark for each variable (see below...)
4. Would you consider using this content in a PDC or classroom setting, or would it be for personal learning?
Yes!
5. Are you most interested in learning about urban agriculture, homesteads, small farms, or large-scale farms?
Interested in all!
6. At the beginning of the second video, I go over the Edge Perma mission. What parts of our mission resonate with you?
Your mission to educate resonates with me, and I see a lot of potential here. That is the reason for actually posting for my first time to Permies forums, even though I have been a lurker for years....
Having said that, I would strongly suggest you move further into analytical aspects for each farm. Make each one of them a research center in a multicentric study. Ortho and Topo Maps, Aerial Images, 3D Models, 360-Degree Video, and Virtual Tours are cool and useful indeed, but their value will fade quickly if you limit yourself on the "visualization" aspect only. Ideally, I would suggest you have a pilot of 10-15 initially farms spread well geographically/by climate and/or size. You are part of Permies, a great place to network with many experts for various subjects to put together a detailed, by consensus template of metric benchmarks/conventions for each location, quantifying and qualitatively assessing everything...i.e: from quantity and quality of inputs, to outputs/yield, rainfall, irrigation, swales, power generation, regenerative/sustainable/efficient practices.  etc... ideally for a number of years and under diverse climate/economic conditions. You could have academic centers and/or government institutions interested in supporting you logistically even with funding if you approach these issues not only as a teaching platform but rather as a research and education project. It will take some time indeed to put something half decent together involving many data inputs that can be compared over time, but it will be worth it. I am a newbie on Permies and in the subject matter (though I read a lot....),  but happen to be an experienced 3D/4D visualization guy in Medical applications. Visualization is limited in scope but once you look into volumetric 3D (static) and 4D (3D over time, or dynamic 3D)  analytics, the impact these methods have in identifying the most efficient improvements are dramatic. This way also your education is not based on merely "anecdotal" evidence from some "successful" farms, but from rigorous research that many farmers would eventually find beneficial for their bottom line.  

7. Please list any farms in your area that may be good candidates for this project. We want to know who you want to learn from!
I live in Southeastern PA and the Amish are the one farming community that always fascinated me with ancient well honed sustainable practices puzzling to outsiders. Lancaster PA has many farms to visit.
8. What would you be willing to pay for a virtual tour of a farm? This includes all methods of documentation mentioned and hours of video content with the farmers. (Half of this cost goes directly to the farmer)
Price is irrelevant here, I am afraid. But it has to be cheap enough while providing unique info with global reach. While 20.00$ in US is reasonable, it is a lot for farmers in Bangladesh or Ethiopia, incidentally places where sustainable and "primitive" (read regenerative) practices are kept alive to this day. They may have some unique tricks to teach too! I wonder if you can have different pricing schemes depending on the farm and/or amount/quality of info provided.  

9. If we were to launch a crowdfunding campaign would you be willing to pre-purchase access to the site and farm tours.
I would!

10. If we offered a course specifically for educators teaching you how to use these same methods, would that interest you?
Depends what it offers, but am quite interested to see how your project evolves over time, and will keep an eye on it. I sincerely wish you all the best, otherwise!