Well Labor,your wish is my command.I just bought one out of curiosity because I had read how nice it is.Yes,I know,I have a Syn Natural and a Rika 5k and I only used the Arashiyama for the first time last night because I only got it yesterday but just one time and I think I really like it too,of course,it just might be a little redundant to what I already have but the edge it gave me on my Blue 1 blade was a good one and I could do that fancy tomato slice without holding the tomato.The stone seems to have good feedback and it was easy to find my edge.It slurried up nicely with a yellow mud and put me in mind of when I used to play in the mustard when I was a baby.Yes,I can remember that but can't remember yesterday.Oh and speaking of mustard yellow,I even thought of that yellow yukkie baby food that nobody liked. I used to feed my daughter that stuff and I almost lost my dinner.If you can get pass all that then you will enjoy the stone.I did.Like me,I am sure you already have many stones that you like and do the job and really,the Rika 5k is such a wonderfully nice stone we could probably just be as happy stopping with it for our kitchen knives,but no,we always have to explore,at least,I do.Now I did think it cut fast and no,I didn't find it clogging up either and it also left my edge a mirror polish.Maybe other's will chime in but my one time review is all I have for the moment but I plan to use it more and more when I feel like taking my edge that far.
I believe that the Syn Natural is around 4k-5k and leave you with a nice toothy edge.It has good feedback as well and is an enjoyable stone to use and often times,finish on.The Arashiyama is a 6k to 8k stone so it is different and leaves you with a little refiner edge,if that's what you want.
I have a different experience from you with the stone. I use it mainly as a splash and go and it doesn't produce as much mud nor does it give much feedback. That said, it does quick work with all my knives and produces a good deal of sharpness on the knives I've used them on without much effort or progression needed. All I do is go from a 1k Shapton Kuromaku to the Arashiyama thats it. Then a quick cleanup of the edge with 1 micron diamond paste on leather after every meal prep session and my knives just keep going and going. My fav finishing stone so far (don't use jnats).
Arashiyama is a soaker. You can see the water being sucked super fast, I have absolutely no idea how you can bear to use the stone splash and go, you are basically sharpening on a dry stone if you don't soak it.
I've never seen the stone soak up water that fast and was always told to either splash and go or permasoak. Usually after a dip for 2 mins its ready to go and doesn't absorb any more water. My kitchen workspace is usually wet after sharpening.
Just had another person tell me he also uses it as splash and go, mine definitely needs a soak before use or it's pretty annoying and feels horrible.
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Humm,me too,the first time I used it,I was surprised that it acted more like a splash and go instead of a soaker.A further second use yesterday proved the same.Being skeptical,I lapped the surface good with the Atoma 140 just in case there was a crust on it.All that I needed was a squirt bottle to spray and get it going and the water just seemed to lay on top.To create a good slurry,I used my mini diamond plate and worked up a nice mud while sharpening.OK, I'm obviously the odd duck on this one
I think it would be most interesting to read your impressions if you do dunk the 6k.
If you look earlier in this thread you’ll notice both valgard and Jon mention that it’s fine to soak it, and even preferred(both of them are definitely stone authority figures) I’ll let you know the difference it makes.
