Favorite Touch Up Stone for Work

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JanusInTheGarden

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This question is a bit biased towards the pro crowd but it should be an enlightening informal poll for everyone.

What have been your favorite touch up stones to use in the workplace? Do you value an aggressive stone or something of an extremely high grit? Do you go for good value stones so if it gets broken you don't have to cry over the shattered remnants (stories welcome), or do you find its worth the risk for a better stone? Any particular brands/styles? Limit yourself to just one? Portability?
 
Just touch up, gesshin splash and go 5k, not aggressive enough that I have to buy a new knife every year, but still brings the life back to the edge, and I dont have to worry about soaking.
 
Just touch up, gesshin splash and go 5k, not aggressive enough that I have to buy a new knife every year, but still brings the life back to the edge, and I dont have to worry about soaking.

that sounds like my Rika, too. i'm just a home cook, though.
 
Just touch up, gesshin splash and go 5k, not aggressive enough that I have to buy a new knife every year, but still brings the life back to the edge, and I dont have to worry about soaking.

Love to hear that, mine shipped today!
 
I have been thinking of taking a stone to work just to see if anyone other than me would use it.
 
Shapton Pro 2k at work, Rika 5k at home. I'd probably switch to the Rika even for work these days too.
 
Lately I've just been stropping on a dry king 6k if the edge just needs a little breath of life. Works well for me.
 
Kitayama or currently a Natural stone that I found in the local mountains. More so the natural lately, I would say the finish from it is from 3k-6k depending, my only beef with it is it doesn't really develop much mud. But the edge results are great and aesthetics aren't terrible either. Probably not on par with a J-nat, but gets the job done so no reason to complain.
 
DMT extra fine, no hassle no mess. Puts a working edge back on my spyderco folders for work.
 
I do touch-ups on a leather strop glued to a piece of scrap wood or, if I'm in a hurry, a dickoron sapphire steel. If I need to put a fresh edge on, honestly any 1000 or 1200 grit Japanese waterstone will work fine. I have a 1000 grit shapton that looks cool and a $40 (I forget the name) 1000 grit for work, but I the edge i get on both is the same. Your stone-flattener is really the key piece. Many of my co-workers can't seem to be bothered to get one and keep asking me why their edge sucks so hard :viking:.
 
my touchups are w/ a strop usually, but sometimes I'll dip into the arashiyama 6000.
 
Gesshin 5000 splash and go stays at work and I keep the 1000 splash and go to touch up a few of my employees knives. They both do a great job at what I need from them.

-Chuck
 
What compound do you guys like on the strops for touching up at work?

What is it you like about the arashiyama?

Somewhat off topic, has anyone tried the $20 stone flattener available on the dishonorable website (speaking of dishonorable, can we get a seppuku emoticon--would be awesome, unless its culturally offensive).
 
What is it you like about the arashiyama?

The Arashiyama is available on the dubious asterisk website ********** and I don't know where else. But luckily I got mine in Tokyo, not too long ago, and recommended by a shopkeeper and so I'm free to like it. After purchase, I was happy to find out it's fairly well-known and well-regarded.

Hmm... I'm no sharpening scientist like many here (yet) but I'd say somehow this stone felt comfortable right away - smooth of course and a bit gentle and forgiving, which is good for learners like myself. I remember a bit from what I read about it after, and my experience has been consistent. It does its work pretty quickly and builds up a healthy slurry which I think then breaks down a bit and so if you continue it seems to go from 6000 to a higher grit, finer finish - somewhat like natural stones work, I believe.

As I don't have any stopping stuff I've used this, just with a bit of water. Has worked fine.
 
dishonorable? what do you mean?

What compound do you guys like on the strops for touching up at work?

What is it you like about the arashiyama?

Somewhat off topic, has anyone tried the $20 stone flattener available on the dishonorable website (speaking of dishonorable, can we get a seppuku emoticon--would be awesome, unless its culturally offensive).
 
It means minor maintenance, to correct small imperfections. Comes from putting some paint on a finger and skipping the brush, just dabbing it where it needs it, thus "touching up" the paint.

So a touch up stone would be what you would use to repair an edge that has not failed, but has somewhat dulled.
 
Don't work in a kitchen, but I just touched up all of my knives on my 5K SS as usual by just light stropping...in a few strokes they are back to ridiculous razors.

A polishing stone works so much better than a loaded felt/leather strop, in my opinion.
 
Don't work in a kitchen, but I just touched up all of my knives on my 5K SS as usual by just light stropping...in a few strokes they are back to ridiculous razors.

A polishing stone works so much better than a loaded felt/leather strop, in my opinion.

Did you do this wet or dry?
 
Cadilac J,

What is a 5K SS? I try to learn something new every day : )
 
Arashiyama to me is a pretty forgiving stone. It stays very flat, hardly needs flattening, builds up a decent slurry, and hard to gouge. Basically, the definition of a low maintenance stone.

Especially on poly boards at work I find it's kinda pointless to go beyond this stone and a strop.
 
It means minor maintenance, to correct small imperfections. Comes from putting some paint on a finger and skipping the brush, just dabbing it where it needs it, thus "touching up" the paint.

So a touch up stone would be what you would use to repair an edge that has not failed, but has somewhat dulled.


:)

I still dont understand what touch up means.
My knives are either ******** dull or sharp. There is no in-between.

But anyway, with the right choice of nagura you could achieve perfectly usable edge for any kitchen knife with one natural stone.
 
Touch up to me is when they start feeling "less sharp" I will take a couple passes on my finishing stone or strop to receive the edge for another day or two rather than repeating the entire sharpening process.
 
Yep, I'm working on testing that theory out right now.

That is not a theory. But you might test out which stone/nagura works best/fastest for you

So if I have one stone, which is the one for touch ups?
 
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