Kawa
Senior Member
Years ago when I started sharpening I had to decide what stones to buy. Soon filtered and went for Naniwa. As I saw it back then, i thought Naniwa had a 'cheap' and a 'premium' line (according to price): superstones and chosera.
I went for the 'cheap superstones' because I didnt know if id like sharpening...
I bought the 220/1000 combo and 2000/5000 combo stone. I sharpened with those for years, but not too many knives (maybe 30-40 in 6 years time...) Only for the last 2 years I started to be more serious. Since Corona my average went up to about 2 knives a week and I guess I'm chasing that rabbit right now that will dive into it's hole... This also led me to subscribing to this forum about 2 weaks ago.
After reading here over multiple topics, I notice the general opinion(s) my questions will be about are mostly:
a) superstones are good for mirror polishing
b) superstones tend to finish on a higher gritt then the number tells you
c) high mirror polish isnt adviced for kitchen knife use. Moslty I read 3/4k max. Unless for yanagiba's and such, which superstones also seem to get related to often.
d) A good edge should be able to shave and be sharp at around 1k
Ok, so where do I start from here...
A long side i bought a chosera 600 and a naniwa professional 400 (obviously to me now one of those wasnt needed), because I wanted to try the 'premium' line, just to test out the difference.
I notice: the chosera/professional are much harder, give a very different feedback (I think its better), the sound is more obvious when Im hitting the right angle... It felt like a better quality stone.
Then I started to read some topics and soon learned that there are just different stones with different hardness, feedback and such, and one isnt better or worse per se.
The thing is, I have nothing to compare my stones to, other then 'low medium gritt chosera/professional' versus 'higher gritt superstones'
Ok, here come some questions:
1) How is the superstone 1000 being reviewed around here?
I never seem to read this one in advices towards new sharpeners...
My review: it is a very soft stone, which gives a very matte finish. But it's slow, I never start a dull knife on this stone, because I find it cant handle mini-chips or flat spots on the apex. It does feel like the turning point between the coarse and fine stones.... The chosera 600 is almost more 'mirror finished' then the superstone 1000, but the scratches are a lot deeper.
But also: I am not able to get my knives shaving sharp on this stone, which made me conclude for the last few weeks I have lots to learn... I'll come back on this later
2) Why am I liking the finish on my kitchen knives (and from relatives) from the superstone 2000 and even better the 5000?
Mostly i read that a too high finished gritt kitchen knife, about more then 4k I read, doesnt have enough teeth to cut all the food in a nice way. Slides too much etc...
I don't seem to have troubles with that on 2k or 5k. For me. For me, without reading too much in the starter years, i experienced: the higher the finish, the sharper the knife.
Ofcourse I did tomato tests. Also on newspaper tests the higher the gritt, the more silenced and smoother it glides through. Where I can't shave at 1k, I can easily shave at 2k, even smoother at 5k. Why is 1k to 2k such a difference for me?
I have made a leather strop which I applied red rouge to (Dialux bar), which in theory shouldn't be able to do much towards hard knives (since its for gold), but it does wonders for me. It makes the knives scary sharp: easily push cut through newspaper, hears popping. This all ofcourse, on the knives I dont fail on
Does this say anything about my sharpening?
Ill stop for now, there are more sub-questions I have. But I'd like to see some input and eye-openers maybe... I'll jump onto the answers when the raise new questions..
Thanks for reading so far, you earned a break now!
I went for the 'cheap superstones' because I didnt know if id like sharpening...
I bought the 220/1000 combo and 2000/5000 combo stone. I sharpened with those for years, but not too many knives (maybe 30-40 in 6 years time...) Only for the last 2 years I started to be more serious. Since Corona my average went up to about 2 knives a week and I guess I'm chasing that rabbit right now that will dive into it's hole... This also led me to subscribing to this forum about 2 weaks ago.
After reading here over multiple topics, I notice the general opinion(s) my questions will be about are mostly:
a) superstones are good for mirror polishing
b) superstones tend to finish on a higher gritt then the number tells you
c) high mirror polish isnt adviced for kitchen knife use. Moslty I read 3/4k max. Unless for yanagiba's and such, which superstones also seem to get related to often.
d) A good edge should be able to shave and be sharp at around 1k
Ok, so where do I start from here...
A long side i bought a chosera 600 and a naniwa professional 400 (obviously to me now one of those wasnt needed), because I wanted to try the 'premium' line, just to test out the difference.
I notice: the chosera/professional are much harder, give a very different feedback (I think its better), the sound is more obvious when Im hitting the right angle... It felt like a better quality stone.
Then I started to read some topics and soon learned that there are just different stones with different hardness, feedback and such, and one isnt better or worse per se.
The thing is, I have nothing to compare my stones to, other then 'low medium gritt chosera/professional' versus 'higher gritt superstones'
Ok, here come some questions:
1) How is the superstone 1000 being reviewed around here?
I never seem to read this one in advices towards new sharpeners...
My review: it is a very soft stone, which gives a very matte finish. But it's slow, I never start a dull knife on this stone, because I find it cant handle mini-chips or flat spots on the apex. It does feel like the turning point between the coarse and fine stones.... The chosera 600 is almost more 'mirror finished' then the superstone 1000, but the scratches are a lot deeper.
But also: I am not able to get my knives shaving sharp on this stone, which made me conclude for the last few weeks I have lots to learn... I'll come back on this later
2) Why am I liking the finish on my kitchen knives (and from relatives) from the superstone 2000 and even better the 5000?
Mostly i read that a too high finished gritt kitchen knife, about more then 4k I read, doesnt have enough teeth to cut all the food in a nice way. Slides too much etc...
I don't seem to have troubles with that on 2k or 5k. For me. For me, without reading too much in the starter years, i experienced: the higher the finish, the sharper the knife.
Ofcourse I did tomato tests. Also on newspaper tests the higher the gritt, the more silenced and smoother it glides through. Where I can't shave at 1k, I can easily shave at 2k, even smoother at 5k. Why is 1k to 2k such a difference for me?
I have made a leather strop which I applied red rouge to (Dialux bar), which in theory shouldn't be able to do much towards hard knives (since its for gold), but it does wonders for me. It makes the knives scary sharp: easily push cut through newspaper, hears popping. This all ofcourse, on the knives I dont fail on
Does this say anything about my sharpening?
Ill stop for now, there are more sub-questions I have. But I'd like to see some input and eye-openers maybe... I'll jump onto the answers when the raise new questions..
Thanks for reading so far, you earned a break now!