pick a 6k stone for me

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gravity84

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Gravity, look into Dave Martells takenono splash and go. It's and amazing finishing stone for both carbon and SS. For me I mostly use it as a dry strop for refreshing the edge between sharpenings. I don't have many stones but if this stone were lost/damaged I would. Up it again.

I wrote this before reading the whole post, Talim is correct, I use the 5K Rika in between the 1200 Bester and the Takenono
 
I've used a 6K King for almost 20 years on woodworking tools, and more recently on my knives. It wears slowly, works nicely as a splash and go, and does a great job for me. Haven't used anything else in that grit, but it does the job. Probably similar to the Suehiro, but I've not felt the need to buy another one to test it out.

Any of them will work for you, I suspect the differences are in wear rate and "feel" more than actual performance in terms of polish and scratch removal. My King cuts rapidly but feels rather numb -- no real sensation of cutting, unlike my Namiwa SS 4000 grit. That said, my synthetic blue aoto is worse, especially when it get muddy -- doesn't feel like a sharpening stone at all, but cuts rapidly and produces a very nice edge on softer stainless

I suspect you would be happy with either the King or the Suehiro, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with the Shapton either, it's just more expensive. Might wear less, but I don't need to flatten my King very often, it seems to just cut steel without wearing much. Shapton might be a better match with very hard steel though, I only have medium hardness knives other than the Tojiro DP at the moment, and it works great on the King.

Peter
 
moritaka ao super gyuto, gekko vg10 gyuto, tadatsuna inox petty, dojo ao super pairing
 
I would second (3rd, 4th whatever) Talim's suggestion. It performs well across a variety of steels and the price is right.
 
maybe im alone here but id buy that 6ks from jon. i realize its $30 over the price limit but still worth mentioning as its a great stone.

although i have used both the rika and takenoko. if only considering those two i'd buy the takenono(also slightly above your price) ... its not as fast as the rika and it wears a little faster but imo has a better feel... in fact one of the smoothest feeling stones and leaves a way nicer finish. the takenono of the three will the have the best finish.

looking at your price range and list... really the rika is way faster and great on differing steels. you wont find many limitations until you want to move up to a higher grit.
just my opinion but particularly inox and vg10 will be easier and faster on the rika as opposed to the king. the shapton is a decent stone that wears pretty well but its pretty hard and feels slippery personally i hate it and i sadly havent used a suehiro to compare but going off your list only i'd get the king. that king will easily serve you well til your interested in something else.
recap
jon 6ks but a bit of a stretch if your limit is 50
takenoko a bit more of a polisher and real taste of a finishing stone then most 6k but also a stretch in price
rika your price limit and one of the most used stones/recommended stones in this grit range.
king cheap but effective. if your just looking to get your feet wet also as you see here its enough for some. plus it has a good feel which imo is a huge deal.
 
Out of curiosity what makes one 6k a better finishing stone than another 6k?
 
gravity84 said:
Out of curiosity what makes one 6k a better finishing stone than another 6k?
Click to expand...

Personal preference. As Fred of Foodie Forums has said, "Grits is grits", so the level of polish will differ minimally among 6k stones. This is why attributes like "feel", "feedback", "speed" and other things enter into an individual's like or dislike of a particular stone.

Rick
 
well ya that is true but in this case the tanekono is more of a 6-8k so i'm saying a better finishing stone bc it leaves a brighter or less hazy appearance. like all things one guys minimal difference is another guys reason to spend more or less money.
 
If it gets up around 8k on a gyuto it may tend to run across some food items. I think many people find that up to 6k produces finishes that will work on most food fairly well.

Edit to say that if you're using it to polish the bevels that would be different.
 
As a woodworker for the past 35 years I've gone through a few King stones but recently I decided to try the Shapton Glass. I like the glass stone but, it seems to load up very easily. I also just got the Shapton Pro 5K and the Suehiro Cerax 6K stones and so far I like the Shapton Pro. I say so far because I have only had the later two for a week and I'm just getting used to them doing some chisel repairs. But, If I had to give a recommendation based on what I've experienced so far, it would be the Shapton Pro.

Jack
 
Welcome Jack!

You may find that chisels made of the same steels as your knives react differently to certain stones. I know a few and they seem to prefer harder stones than most knife guys, because the dishing is so concentrated on their stones.
 
Speaking from the woodworking world, easily dished stones are a nightmare. A little convexing on a knife from a slightly dished stone isn't a big issue, and in fact is often desirable. Convexed edges on plane or chisel blades can make then unusable, causing them to chatter, steer, and in general fail to cut properly. Much worse if you are rescuing old mistreated blades as I usually am.

Having to stop and flatten a stone every dozen strokes is a real pain.

That said I struggled along with King stones for years, but recently got a King Deluxe 300 (a very very hard stone, if not abused will stay flat for a very long time, not the same as the other Kings) and a Bester 700 and 1200. The 1200 also stays flat much longer than other stones, and is quite hard. Cuts like crazy though and will draw a burr on a wide plane blade with a full 30 degree bevel in just a few strokes.

Chisels are worse than plane blades because they are narrower -- down to 1/8" and I even have one that is 3/32" I think. Lathe tools are bad too, tend to dig a trough in the surface. Hard stones are a necessity.

On the subject of 6K grit stones, I just bought an Arashiyama 6K, I will see how it compares to a King S-3 6K that I've used for a long time. The King works OK, isn't hard to flatten, and wears pretty slowly since it's only used for polishing, but I have a Kitayama and think the new stone will match up with it better. I may spring for a Suehiro Rika someday too, just for fun.

Peter
 
Has anyone compared the Suehiro Cerax to the Sueriro Rika stones of the same grit? I have used the 320 and 1000 grit Suehiro stones and they seem to cut pretty fast a lot like my Shapton Glass stones but they don't load up as fast as the Shapton Glass. I guess these stones might be pressure sensitive so I'm still feeling my way as I restore a chisel set.

Jack
 
They will all work fine. Its probably more important that you get a uniform scratch pattern and reduced burr before going to the higher grit than the actual higher grit brand itself.

I think people are far too OCD when it comes to synthetic stones...Grit is grit, get the stone that suits your budget. Any of the stones will do the job. King is cheaper because it has less stone volume.
 
Peter, I also have the Kitayama 8K stone that cuts a lot like my King 6K stone. For cutting speed and retaining flatness I like the Shapton Pro 5K stone followed by the Suehiro Cerax 6K. For quality of edge I like the Shapton Glass 8K stone which I use after either the Shapton 5K or Suehiro 6K stones.

I just finished my widest chisels the 36mm and 42mm wide ones and the stone that impresses me the most is still the Shapton Glass 8K.

Jack
 
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