Haven't gone beyond 1k grit in a while

Kitchen Knife Forums

Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Boondocker

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 17, 2014
Messages
255
Reaction score
406
I used to have a naninwa as progression, but slimmed down my stones and currently just own a chosera 1k (I'm pretty sure? It's been ages) and my 5k superstore. Is it worth going up to the 5k for my yanagi and deba that I'm using for sukibiki mostly
 
So that was me for years. After the initial rush to get stones, stops compounds etc, I just focused on good sharpening habits and stopped at 1k. Sometimes followed by the JNS ‘red aoto’

recently wanted to get back into it and was surprised how much refinement it added to the edge to add a finish on a finer grit stone in the 5-8k range.

Doesn’t last too long vs the 1000 edge (Which goes for miles) mind you, but it makes me smile.
 
So that was me for years. After the initial rush to get stones, stops compounds etc, I just focused on good sharpening habits and stopped at 1k. Sometimes followed by the JNS ‘red aoto’

recently wanted to get back into it and was surprised how much refinement it added to the edge to add a finish on a finer grit stone in the 5-8k range.

Doesn’t last too long vs the 1000 edge (Which goes for miles) mind you, but it makes me smile.
Yeah when I was line cooking I'd take my gyuto to 5k then have to touch it up at 1k before service. Seemed inefficient so I just stopped at 1k. Will have to give the 5k a shot on my knives and see if I notice a difference
 
1k will be good for most use cases, but imo it feels like a lot of wasted metal. Now I just focus on sharpening on as high grit as possible to get it sharp so as not to waste metal.

Obviously pro chefs have different applications, but for home cooks, high grit as possible to maintain sharpness works most of the time.
 
I do the same. Sharpen 1k refine 5k then maintain at 5k. Just works for me and most of my knives.
 
This opens an old discussion. High grit stones are more demanding in terms of precision, consistency, pressure and so on. It's not exactly the refinement itself that's the problem.

This is really true. For me it depends on the knife. I have a Vic butcher that I don't like high grit. Best stone I have for this is Chosera 800. Other Vic's are no problem to take higher. It looks like the hardening is a little bit different on this knife. Too soft for high grit, maybe.
 
At work I like the results of SP1K followed by SP2K. Used to use the Gesshin 1/6K combo but the Shapton gets me where I want to be quicker. I do keep a SP5K at work if I want to use it.

At home I've got a rock garden and can play with different combinations of stones.
 
I don't (yet) have anything higher than 1k, but from what I read here on the forum most of you seem not to go higher than a 5000-grit whetstone. Many even prefer 3000 or 4000 and some stop even lower than that.
That made me curious on the thinking behind Shaptons Glass stone sets. They're available in 500/2000/8000, 1000/3000/8000 or 500/2000/16000 grit sets. Naniwa on the other hand has a much more reasonable set for their Pro stones in 400/1000/3000 grit. Is that a difference in philosophy or something? What's Shapton's thinking here? Would you, if you had one of the Shapton Glass sets, see yourself use the 8000 grit stone much?
Buying a set like that seems convenient and you often end up getting a good deal as well. I just don't really see the point in getting an 8000 grit stone for regular home kitchen use. As I said, Naniwa's 400/1000/3000 set seems much more reasonable and I don't understand why Shapton doesn't do a 320/1000/4000 set or something.

P.S. Maybe I could've started a new thread for this topic, but I only realized that now.
 
maybe for edges ... as soon as it needs thinning ... youll want to polish it higher than 1k .... 1k still has food "grip" 3-5k is my favorite edge/ polish for performance.
 
maybe for edges ... as soon as it needs thinning ... youll want to polish it higher than 1k .... 1k still has food "grip" 3-5k is my favorite edge/ polish for performance.
Are you talking about food release?
I was under the impression higher grits tend to be stickier..?
 
maybe for edges ... as soon as it needs thinning ... youll want to polish it higher than 1k .... 1k still has food "grip" 3-5k is my favorite edge/ polish for performance.
When thinning I find sandpaper to be my best friend to refinish the blade, much faster than stones.

@Helmore higher grits are usually meant for razors and such, also for bragging rights and mirror bevels for this cool photoshoot of your foldie.
And of coruse you can finish your kitchen knife on any grit you want. May be, for you personlly, 15K will be the sweet spot. You will never know until you try.
 
Are you talking about food release?
I was under the impression higher grits tend to be stickier..?
When thinning I find sandpaper to be my best friend to refinish the blade, much faster than stones.

@Helmore higher grits are usually meant for razors and such, also for bragging rights and mirror bevels for this cool photoshoot of your foldie.
And of coruse you can finish your kitchen knife on any grit you want. May be, for you personlly, 15K will be the sweet spot. You will never know until you try.

There is a balance between stickier and too suction(y)
I FEEEEL, that 1k still has that "new Damascus" Grip on food.
I feeeeel , that 3-5k has the most slippage without being suction(y) and making the food feel like rubber.
I feeeel, sandpaper to leave a good looking finish, but a bad feeling finish when cutting food. it looks great, but i notice i prefer the knife-finish-performance off the stones .... These ideas might just be in my head, but i know all three are in there pretty good. 🤣

Ive taken my blades up to 30k+ .. Fully shaved my face with a 210mm Denka Gyuto, a 240 takeda Gyuto, a 150 takamura petty , 150 masakage nakiri mizu, 175 Masakage bunka yuki , .... really i could sharpen anything to the point where im confortable to shave my face .... if 15k is where its at for you, all the power to you my friend.
 
Back
Top