2 stone setup (for a friend)

I am looking for a 2 stone combo for my friend (did me some really big favour and help).

He is not a knife enthusiast like people around here, but he can appreciate a nice knife. Until now he has little experience with japanese water stones, but he is perfectly capable of managing the technique (he has eye for detail).

The knives that would be sharpened by this setup are mostly average stainless steel knives with one RWL34 (rarely - hunting knife) and VG10 (Tojiro DP).

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I am located in Europe so would prefer to buy on this side of the pond, otherwise I would be tempted to get 600 & 6000 from Jon (but the import taxes keep me away this time)

I know I could just get him a 1k/6k King stone or 1k/6k Bester, but I would like to get him something a bit better (we may discuss that) - and in particular something that last longer.

First that comes to my mind are stone from Maksim - and I am wondering whether a JNS 800 together with JNS synthetic Aoto could be a good choice, or rather 800 + 6k or even something else.

I could imagine that splash&go could be better than soaking stones (JNS 800 is a soaker, but sounds like a great stone), but I would not limit

I am opened to you suggestions and ideas.

thanks

I vote for JNS 800/6000 combo. 800 gives you more like a 2k finish, and the JNS 6000 is prefectly fine to remove the 800 scratches, and yes, the 6k is even used by shigefusa!

First, Maksim has great products and outstanding service. Being in Europe it makes a lot of sense to buy from him. His 800 is a nice big stone. A pleasure to work with. It cuts quite fast too. The synthetic aoto is a great stone as well. It cuts fast and leaves a nice finish. I would be inclined to go with the syn aoto rather than the 6000 if he is sharpening mostly stainless steels. I find that carbon steels do well on the JNS 6000 but it offers a bit too much polish on stainless edges. One thing to keep in mind is that any setup regardless of the number of stones will require flattening. If a flattening plate is not in the budget you could look at cheaper alternatives.

You may get him the Choseras 800 and 3k, with
edenwebshops.co.uk
edenwebshops.de
edenwebshops.fr

Make sure to compare their GBP and EUR prices.

All he needs is a jns 1k for those knives.

Thanks. JNS 800 and JNS Aoto is something that sounds really interesting.

I think just 1k stone would leave an edge a bit too rough - at least for the Tojiro DP knife (that I got for free in one knife exchange here and decided to give it to my friend)

Flattening - I will give him my 'old' flattener (I use diamond plate from JKI now), but would probably advice him to use sand paper on a flat surface - I found that easier to use.

I was too thinking of Choseras, but in that price range (or a little more) I can get 2 stones from JNS. I have made business with Maksim before and enjoyed the experience.

Since I would give my friend some in-situ lesson - I will have an excuse to try any stone that I will buy for him

Instead of the sandpaper you can use drywall screen. It lasts longer and clogs less.

I briefly contacted Maxim and he suggested JNS 800 and 6k stones so I guess I will probably go with that combination.

Still - I would be curios about the difference between the JNS 6k and JNS synthetic Aoto.

I asked Maxim and he recommended the 800 & 6k combination (reasoning that these are not as hard as 1k and Aoto) - I think I will go with this setup.

JNS 800 and JNS 6k ordered