Shapton Kuromaku Whetstones, Wow!

[Transmaster]

The set of Shapton KLuromaku Whetstone I have has done something that I have not been able to do up till now. Put a razor-sharp edge on my Marine Kabar utility knife. Its blade is made from 1095 Cro-Van steel with a hardness of about Hrc 58. The factory edge is 20º on each side. The Japanese King whetstones I was using just were not up to the job. I had a 6000, and an 8000 grit stone. Too fine a grit I realize now. I started with the Shapton 1000, to the 2000, and finished with the 5000, effortless paper slicing.

I have the Shaptons in 1000, 2000, 5000, 8000, and 12000. Would it be a good idea to add a 320 to this set?

 

[Stevem627]

You could add a 320 for some heavier work if you have knives with chips, and the lower grit stones aren’t expensive, so it’s nice to have one in case you need it, or want to do some bevel setting or thinning.

 

[Rangen]

While I have a huge bias in favor of the Shapton Glass stone line (though I like the Kuromakus I've tried), I don't think that is coming into play too much when I say that what you should add to your excellent lineup is a Shapton Glass 500. It will repair small chips (or bigger ones with more time); it will put all the edge on a crappy knife that such knives can take, and I suspect you will find more uses for it. One of my favorite things to do lately is to touch up my knives on the SG500, with gentle pressure, until it cuts paper towel cleanly, then go straight to a finisher like a BBW or JNat suita, just for a few strokes, to give a nice hybrid of toothy and keen.

 

[Transmaster]

Advice taken I have ordered a Shapton GS500.

 

[Mr Kooby Shemayrew]

Posts at 6:44am. Buys another stone an hour and 2 minutes later.
You’re going to fit in well here!

 

[Transmaster]

I look at stuff like these stones and tools in a toolbox. I have a Paudin 5" petty knife that in my ignorance did the slice tilt the blade over about 35º and slide it from left to right on a cutting board. With the welded Damascus blade that put tiny chips in the front 3/4" of the blade. As I have said elsewhere Had I known about these Chinese mass-produced Damascus kitchen knives I never would have purchased any of them. I have my German Zwilling and Wüfthof knives for that sort of use.

When I look at these Shapton whetstones I wonder what my Wilderness outfitter Grandfather would have thought of them, and I really would love to see what My Great Grandmother Crips would think of them. Around 1900 she was William "Buffalo Bills" Cody's head cook, and Chuckwagen cook. I have some of the cast iron cookware she used at the time. Sadly I do not have any of the knives she might have used. I have one photo of her with what looks like what must be at least an 18-inch Chef's knife. Do they even make a 450mm Chef's knife today? She also had a meat clever she used to butcher deer and elk carcasses. I do know she had a stone foot pedal-powered sharpening wheel. Examples of such wheels I have actually used have about 500 to 800 grit.

 

[Transmaster]

The Shapton GS500 stone is incredible. I tried my Henckel 4" paring knife on it. Carefully honed it at the correct angle, then switched over to the 2000-grit Kluromaku Whetstone. In just 5 minutes or so I was shaving hair off of my arm. This is one of those "had I known" moments, had I known about the GlassStone series that is what I would have purchased. The Kluromaku series is very good but the GS series is better. As it is I am well equipped with quality whetstones now. The difference from the Whetstones I have had up till now is huge.

On the sharpening tutorials on YouTube posted by custom knife makers, they talk about feedback. I really didn't know what they meant by this with a sharping stone, now I know, and it makes a tremendous difference.

 

[Hualicopter]

The Shapton GS500 stone is incredible. I tried my Henckel 4" paring knife on it. Carefully honed it at the correct angle, then switched over to the 2000-grit Kluromaku Whetstone. In just 5 minutes or so I was shaving hair off of my arm. This is one of those "had I known" moments, had I known about the GlassStone series that is what I would have purchased. The Kluromaku series is very good but the GS series is better. As it is I am well equipped with quality whetstones now. The difference from the Whetstones I have had up till now is huge.

On the sharpening tutorials on YouTube posted by custom knife makers, they talk about feedback. I really didn't know what they meant by this with a sharping stone, now I know, and it makes a tremendous difference.

I haven't even started sharpening yet, and I want to get a GS500 stone from all the reviews I read of it.

 

[Transmaster]

I cannot wait to sharpen my Marine KaBar using the GS500 It has always been a real booger to put an edge on. It is supposed to be sharpened at around a 22º angle on each side.