Help me build a stone progression for polishing

[NotAddictedYet]

Currently I have these stones and this is the progression I think I can put together:
Gesshin 220 -> SP320 -> SG 500 -> ??? (something 800-1k) -> SP2000 -> Aizu (3k?) -> Shiro Suita (6k?)

I had a pretty nice (and niice smell) green aoto in the 800 range. Unfortunately lost that one to a leak and mold..Same for a hideriyama.
Also I think I have a SP5000 somewhere if I can manage to find it..

Gesshin 220 would be for knives that need heavy thinning/cleaning up high or low spots.
SP320 would be the most common starting point for knives with belt marks.

I have 3 questions:
- Any problem do you see in the existing stone lineup that could cause problem for my polishing?
- What's a suitable medium coarse (800-1k) stone? Should I lean toward the lower grit (800 or lower) or 1k is fine? Does it matter if it's a natural (i.e. natsuya) or synthethic (i.e. SP1000), if I am going to SP2000 next? Maybe going straight from SG500 to SP2000 is ok?
- Do I need a natural stone in between the Aizu and Shiro suita?

 

[ethompson]

Skip the aizu or other mid grits, at least to start. They're fun, but not necessary. Instead get something synthetic in the 5-6k range and from there you can jump straight to something on the softer / coarser end of the suita spectrum like a Maruo shiro. The smaller your jumps in synthetic stones the more efficient your scratch erasure will be. I prefer to never more than double grit at each stage.

As for the natural stone - a Maruo shiro suita, Maruo shiki uchi, and some certain Ohira suitas are relatively common good bets for a first stone. You want something not overly fine and not hard.

From there, see if you like the process. The last thing you want to do is sink a ton of money into JNats and then end up not loving polishing all that much. Unlike a few years ago, its not a given you'll be able to get your money back (or close enough) on stones anymore and you might end up taking a pretty big loss.

 

[Cliff]

I'd go with SP1K to fill that gap and then maybe a 3K superstone before naturals

 

[ethompson]

Avoid anything too soft and muddy on the synthetics, those hide too much

 

[NotAddictedYet]

Thank you both for your advice. Looks like I am good with naturals since I already have a Maruo shiro suita which will be my finisher for now.

I will need to get a SP1k for sure. Any recs for a synthetic 5k that excels in polishing? @ethompson

Also I just realized I have a JNS red aoto at home as well but I don't think it would be too useful at 2k-4k according to JNS.

 

[Cliff]

Superstone 5K is great for polishing, performs well above grit rating. See how you do with the 3K. I think the JNS synthetics are great if that's where you want to stop. That is, the 800 and the Red Aoto will hide any number of sins. If you move on to fine naturals, you'd rather have used something else. But, on their own, they are a good one-two combination and leave nice results.

 

[NickMinton]

Just know that the JNS Red Aoto is super super muddy. A great polishing stone but just an FYI

 

[aporigine]

Thank you both for your advice. Looks like I am good with naturals since I already have a Maruo shiro suita which will be my finisher for now.

I will need to get a SP1k for sure. Any recs for a synthetic 5k that excels in polishing? @ethompson

Also I just realized I have a JNS red aoto at home as well but I don't think it would be too useful at 2k-4k according to JNS.

I like my Cerax 5k a lot. It’s silky yet grippy. It’s not a hard stone, so above cautions apply.

 

[KasumiJLA]

I've been enjoying my Naniwa diamond stone lately and they are great cutter and you can see clearly what material you are removing from the blade. It took me a while to appreciate them but since I started polishing on stone again I am really happy with my purchase.

As @ethompson said, too soft and the mud that it will make will hide the imperfections. And on your next stones you will pay the price and you will have to go back, which is frustrating and unpleasant as you might know.

I also use Naniwa super 3k and this super soft stone glaze really fast, which is a good thing for polishing. I have 3k, 5k, 8k and 12k. I love them all! Most often I simply stop at 3k and the surface is nice and clean and ready to move on to jnat.

 

[Bico Doce]

I really like the Shapton pro 5k for cleaning up the core steel before jumping to jnats