Next stones in the line up

So this is what I have in my sharpening kit for now:

Sigma Select II 400
Sigma Select II 1200
Bester 4000

I have a budget for two more stones right now and I am wandering what the next steps in progression are.

To make the things more complicated they have to not require much babysitting, from european vendor or from a vendor that gives reasonable shipping to Europe with low chances of customs intercept (it is just hell where I am from).

A few questions.
What knives / steel types do you want to sharpen?
How are your edges turning out with your current progression?
Why do you want more stones?
What do you want the new stones to be able to do?

If you have carbons that can take a high polish an 8k could benefit you. Any higher than that would only be necessary for yanagis etc

Steel types - I intend to acquire in the next year stuff made from Aogami Super, AEB-L, SRS15, and if I can find affordable Hap-40/SG-2 will give a shot too. Everything will be above HRC60.

Types of knives - so far I have planned to buy another gyuto, petty/paring and something for cutting various types of cured dry tough meats and charcuterie into transparent pieces (if there is anything on the market, have no idea what kind of knife will do the job)

Cooking and sharpening are hobby - they wont be used at any production/heavy duty tasks. I just want to see how sharp you can get a piece of steel.

My current edges on the knives are acceptable - I can get them to shaving/ printer and slightly ligher paper cutting but that is it - I don't blame the stones or the knives though - I have a lot to improve my technique.

I would invest on a lapping plate Atoma or DMT if you don't have one already.
As for the stones, you have two options. If you don't like the performance of one of your current stones, try a new one in a similar range. Or, If you find that you might need an extra stone in the progression, coarser/finer just buy it.
Your current progression looks self sufficient tbh.

Never the less, if I would add two stones in different ranges from what you have I would get a polishing stone, may be Naniwa SS 5K (or perhaps something in 8K range) and something coarser in case you need to do major repair, like Norton Coarse India.

You do not need 2 more stones IMO. I am not familiar with the Beston 4000 (and so I do not know what type of finish) But I would say something in 6000 to 8000 range would work fine. I use Gesshin 6000 and it is a great stone as is JNS 6000 which I used shortly.

The other option is to get a natural stone - something like Takashima would be probably a good start (but you rather ask someone with experience or directly a vendor like Maksim @ JNS).

Diamond flattening plate is definitely a good advice - the one from Jon @ JKI works great.

I have naniwa flattening plate. I do need a stone in the 6000-8000 range and I was thinking about maybe 10-12K. But I have no idea how the brands perform. For now it seems I have access to JNS 6000, Bester 8000 and Cerax 8000.

Lizzardborn said:

I have naniwa flattening plate. I do need a stone in the 6000-8000 range and I was thinking about maybe 10-12K. But I have no idea how the brands perform. For now it seems I have access to JNS 6000, Bester 8000 and Cerax 8000.

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I wouldn't worry about the 10-12k stone, you don't really need it. Save yourself some $ for your knives

Geo87 said:

I wouldn't worry about the 10-12k stone, you don't really need it. Save yourself some $ for your knives

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+1, you do not need stone with finer grit than 6000 for kitchen or outdoor knives.

The JNS 6000 is a great stone. See my Gesshin & JNS stone shootout for a short comparison.

Matus said:

+1, you do not need stone with finer grit than 6000 for kitchen or outdoor knives.

The JNS 6000 is a great stone. See my Gesshin & JNS stone shootout for a short comparison.

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Great stone with 38 Euro shipping. But when one asks for an advice it is better to accept it. Anything else that (very bad) new sharpener can use from Maxim's site worth 50-sh euro so that I can enter free shipping zone? It is obvious that JNS 6000 will be the new stone but I just cannot afford the 140 plate right now.

You could consider the small Hakka stone for ca 90€ for you or the Naruto Nail pro clippers for 49€ or the shears for 50€ for the miss

I would probably find the excuse to get some nice Itinomonn knife