masibu, how fast is suehiro chemical 320? and how is the feedback? dishing? ive been wanting to try this one
From my experience with the chemical it seemed to be pretty hard on initial use but over time it broke down easier. I think it needs a good lapping before use to essentially grind down the "crust" on the outside. It didn't feel like it was particularly fast cutting initially but once you get deeper into the stone it muds up much easier and started cutting better.
It's nowhere near as soft/dish prone as the shapton 300 but not quite as hard as the king 300. Feedback was pretty reasonable for a coarse stone and it can take a fair bit of pressure. I doubt there would be much risk in gouging the stone unless you're doing something seriously wrong. I haven't used the stone for a long time and that was just bevel setting so my memory is a little fuzzy when it comes to wide bevels/thinning but again somewhere between the king and the shapton in cutting speed but it depends on the contact area of the blade to the stone and the pressure used.
The shapton sheds grit pretty readily with moderate force even with large contact areas (and dishes badly with bevel setting for example as it sheds grit excessively). The king doesnt shed grit nearly as easily meaning you can put more pressure onto the stone and grind more efficiently. If you sharpen with low force on a large contact area it will be less effective than the shapton though as the grit will start to round over instead of abrading. This only tends to happen if sharpening something pretty abrasion resistant though.
The suehiro is probably somewhere in the middle all round. id rate it closer to the king in terms of "dishiness" but with better feedback. The cutting speed was pretty good for me as I tend to put a fair amount of force on coarse stones when thinning otherwise it can take forever. It can also be used for removing chips etc without difficulty and dishing too much.
Over time I seem to be more drawn to soaking stones that I can leave soaked somewhere at work as opposed to splash n goes (despite how awesome some splash stones are). I also hate the sharpening stands supplied with some stones. The good splash stones are usually much more expensive and even then I find a soak helps most splash stones anyway. id rather have something durable that isnt going to die from oversoaking. The suehiro chemical was pretty much perfect in that regard (for me at least) and I do regret letting go of it a bit but I enjoy trying out different stones and finding new progressions to fill different roles/needs.
For stainless knives a full soak progression of suehiro 320 - cerax 700 - bester 2000/sigma 2000 is pretty affordable and covers most needs quite well. If you have carbon knives you may want an 8kish stone just for kicks but even that isn't required. Theres room in the bucket though to toss a sigma 8k in there as well if I ever buy one. I would try the rest of the cerax line if they didn't have stands on their stones.
I'm going to be doing some side by side comparisons in the coming weeks when i can slot in a day for my own sharpening "experiments". I'll post my findings on the forum if only for myself to look back on later. I'm waiting on k+s to restock the ginsan sukenari gyuto to order a cerax 320 at the same time for comparisons sake as well. I suspect that the cerax is probably a bit harder than the chemical and dishes less but im yet to use it.
