Show Your Newest Sharpening Gear

[HumbleHomeCook]

We have a thread for our newest knives and our newest kitchen gear, but I don't see one for our newest sharpening gear. Let's change that!

I can't offer any pics just now but I do have a new lapping stone coming from @SolidSnake03 and a new strop inbound. Both of which should be here Friday or Saturday.

That said, what's your latest sharpening related gear? Please share.

 

[HumbleHomeCook]

Alright, alright, I'll go first.

This just in and I'm stoked! NanoHone NL4 "course" lapping plate. Forum friend @SolidSnake03 is well established as a crazy man who is afflicted with a low-pricing syndrome and this time I was able to take advantage of him...er... the situation.

I'd already done some work earlier and knowing this was out for delivery I left my stuff setup just waiting for it to get here. And when it did, I was flattening a Shapton Glass 500 fifteen minutes later. Wow! Soooooo nice! I've been using an 80grit diamond plate and I think this is supposed to be around 200-240 so it's a little slower but no big deal and it works so much better. Smooth, no sticking, and very even surface.

No, it is not 3" but I'm not sure I see that being an issue at all.

I've wanted one of these for a long time but the retail price always kept me away. At the price I got this, it's a no-brainer but at retail? I'll need to use it a bit more but it sure is nice.

 

[SolidSnake03]

After cycling through so many stones, soakers, splash and go, diamonds, Vitrified diamonds etc… I came back to these and bought this set again. After using a unknown amount (it’s a lot….a lot a lot) of soakers, splash and go, Diamond plates, Vitrified Diamond and more I wanted to try Chosera’s again. Could have just stopped with these a long time ago, probably should have but I’d have learned a lot less. That said my Vitrified Diamond stuff isn’t going anywhere anytime soon either

 

[dafox]

View attachment 137111
After cycling through so many stones, soakers, splash and go, diamonds, Vitrified diamonds etc… I came back to these and bought this set again. After using a unknown amount (it’s a lot….a lot a lot) of soakers, splash and go, Diamond plates, Vitrified Diamond and more I wanted to try Chosera’s again. Could have just stopped with these a long time ago, probably should have but I’d have learned a lot less. That said my Vitrified Diamond stuff isn’t going anywhere anytime soon either

1K, 3K, 8 K?

 

[SolidSnake03]

You got it! 1k, 3k and 8k Snow White. Don’t know if the 8k is technically a Chosera (don’t think it is) but I count it as one since it goes along so well with them

 

[Bart.s]

My most recent buys:

Shapton Pro 220, needed a solid rough stone. King Deluxe 800 Wider, well, at some point you have to try a King Deluxe, right? JNS red aoto and kiita fingerstones during the last JNS sale.

Basically bought as a kasumi progression, pretty quickly found out that I suck at it and need a lot more time practicing. Hope to get there eventually =).

 

[cotedupy]

I got a new stone-table-cupboard thing for ‘my end of the kitchen’ the other day .

 

[adam92]

You got it! 1k, 3k and 8k Snow White. Don’t know if the 8k is technically a Chosera (don’t think it is) but I count it as one since it goes along so well with them

Do you feel the edge 8k chosera better or snow white

 

[childermass]

After using a small handheld Finnish Wästikivi natural stone for quick touchups in my kitchen for many years now I decided to try one of their long sharpening sticks.
Not quite sure which one to get I decided to take two different ones and give them a try side by side.

Being Phyllite these are basically dual grit depending on the side you use.
I am planning to keep them around for a few weeks to decide which one suits me better and then send the other one on a passaround for others to try this little known but very pleasant natural stone if there is enough interest.

 

[coxhaus]

I just recieved my new Blade Grinding Attachment for my Worksharp Ken Onion sharpener. This will allow me to sharpen angles down to 10 degrees which I think will work for my sushi knife. I also hope it will work better stropping as I am still working the process out for me.

 

[rickbern]

I just recieved my new Blade Grinding Attachment for my Worksharp Ken Onion sharpener. This will allow me to sharpen angles down to 10 degrees which I think will work for my sushi knife. I also hope it will work better stropping as I am still working the process out for me.

View attachment 137233

Love to hear what you think of it

 

[SolidSnake03]

Do you feel the edge 8k chosera better or snow white

Feels like a Chosera to me haha! But really, it’s got similar branding to the Chosera line but it isn’t listed as a Chosera so to speak. I like it a lot better than the Chosera 5k and the 10k. To me the ideal Chosera set is 400, 1k, 3k than Snow White 8k. Or if you want less stones 800 and 3k is an excellent set as well. The 800 is a bit slow depending how much metal you want to remove compared to the 400 but none of the Chosera stones are really metal eaters anyhow.

 

[adam92]

Feels like a Chosera to me haha! But really, it’s got similar branding to the Chosera line but it isn’t listed as a Chosera so to speak. I like it a lot better than the Chosera 5k and the 10k. To me the ideal Chosera set is 400, 1k, 3k than Snow White 8k. Or if you want less stones 800 and 3k is an excellent set as well. The 800 is a bit slow depending how much metal you want to remove compared to the 400 but none of the Chosera stones are really metal eaters anyhow.

I thought chosera cutting speed is good. My currently 1k whetstone is SG, cerax & king hyper. The reason I brought hyper standard version because I follow your old thread, heard very nice review. & I love it so much

 

[SolidSnake03]

I thought chosera cutting speed is good. My currently 1k whetstone is SG, cerax & king hyper. The reason I brought hyper standard version because I follow your old thread, heard very nice review. & I love it so much

So glad you love the Hyper! They are still my favorite soakers by far (The Hyper 1k and 2k). To clarify a bit further, I think the Chosera are fairly fast but not a metal eating stone like the Sigma Power ii stuff or the lower grit Shaptons. That said you are right that they are fast just not “oh man this is eating my knife” fast. Admittedly my perspective is also skewed by Vitrified Diamond stuff.

 

[childermass]

The next thing arrived today

Big natural combo Coticule/Rouge du Salm.

Munetoshi 210mm Gyuto for scale…

The Coticule side is very hard and it will take a while to get it flat towards all corners. I tried it quickly and to my great pleasure black slurry appeared almost instantly only touching the edge of a test knife.
The Rouge side is quite soft and very creamy and a little slower.
Looking forward to properly try it on a knife I actually use in the kitchen.

 

[adam92]

So glad you love the Hyper! They are still my favorite soakers by far (The Hyper 1k and 2k). To clarify a bit further, I think the Chosera are fairly fast but not a metal eating stone like the Sigma Power ii stuff or the lower grit Shaptons. That said you are right that they are fast just not “oh man this is eating my knife” fast. Admittedly my perspective is also skewed by Vitrified Diamond stuff.

After reading this, I gonna try sigma IK one day for sharpen crappy stainless knife.

 

[M1k3]

After reading this, I gonna try sigma IK one day for sharpen crappy stainless knife.

Venev diamond stones work wonders on cheap stainless.

 

[Qapla']

Do you feel the edge 8k chosera better or snow white

Is there in fact a Chosera 8k?

 

[HumbleHomeCook]

I should be showing off my new strop but once again, FedEx sucks and my package has been sitting for days, literally just a few miles from my door. Customer No-help couldn't even figure out if I could go pick it up.

 

[Dominick Maone]

4 and 6k ice bears, Cerax 3k, kitayama 8k, arashiyama 6k.

 

[Rangen]

So glad you love the Hyper! They are still my favorite soakers by far (The Hyper 1k and 2k). To clarify a bit further, I think the Chosera are fairly fast but not a metal eating stone like the Sigma Power ii stuff or the lower grit Shaptons. That said you are right that they are fast just not “oh man this is eating my knife” fast. Admittedly my perspective is also skewed by Vitrified Diamond stuff.

I am curious whether, in making that comparison, you have tried the Naniwa Hibiki stones.

 

[Steampunk]

After using a small handheld Finnish Wästikivi natural stone for quick touchups in my kitchen for many years now I decided to try one of their long sharpening sticks.
Not quite sure which one to get I decided to take two different ones and give them a try side by side.
View attachment 137230 View attachment 137231 View attachment 137232
Being Phyllite these are basically dual grit depending on the side you use.
I am planning to keep them around for a few weeks to decide which one suits me better and then send the other one on a passaround for others to try this little known but very pleasant natural stone if there is enough interest.

I'm very interested in your experience with these... Picked up a small Wastikivi awhile ago that I've kept playing with, and it reminded me of a coarser but lower-abrasive-content version of the La Pyrennes stones. However, the Wastikivi seems to be able to release some usable abrasive when worked, unlike the La Pyrennes.

Both seem to rely on lapping a great deal for their cut, more like files. Once that texture wears down, or you make the mistake to lap them to try to make them straighter, they seem to lose their 'magic'. Pity, as I got some fun, hella-toothy on these, but even F60 SiC isn't bringing it back. Atoma 140 turned a side of mine into something really boring.

How are you maintaining or prepping yours? The Wastikivi's don't seem as badly wonky as the La Pyrennes in terms of straightness, but they certainly aren't perfect. Also, are you using them wet or dry?

 

[HumbleHomeCook]

Oh wow, you've got a giant strop!

Ha! Well, thank you. I mean hey...Hey now...Listen buddy, listennnnnn...You know what they say right? It's not about the size of your strop it's about how you use it. Right?! Huh? That's it, cheer up. Your strop will be fine. Yeah...

Okay, okay...

This guy finally showed up and it does seem like quite a beast after so many years of using homemade strops, cardboard, and the bench model shown.

I've had that 8"x3" for years now and it carries a few scars of my stropping stupidity. But it is still perfectly functional. I wanted a new strop for a couple reasons, one of which is I'm considering switching to diamond spray. I have some large 1um and 0.5um lapping films that might actually last me my lifetime so that's my only hesitation. Diamonds be expensive! I also like the paddle strop concept as I use my strop for routine edge maintenance before use.

And lastly, my grand nephew's fiancé has been bugging me about knives and sharpening and cooking for over a year now! I've done a couple pocket knife sharpening lessons with my grand nephew and we had a date planned for them to cover and spend the day talking knives, making food, and enjoying the company. But then COVID happened and a bunch of life happened and anyway, we're just getting back to those plans. So they're coming over this weekend.

She has a full-bolstered Henkel's 8" chef knife that from the pictures I've seen, looks pretty rough. So they have that and what my nephew described as a "POS little ceramic thing."

So I'm gonna give them a Wusthof utility and pairing knife and my old bench strop. I think we'll talk more knife nomenclature and such and less sharpening this go-around and plan out a round two for that. I'll work on her chef's knife and they can use the strop for maintenance and come back here for the sharpening.

I'm actually really excited! She was showing me knives she liked and she's really been doing research.

 

[childermass]

I'm very interested in your experience with these... Picked up a small Wastikivi awhile ago that I've kept playing with, and it reminded me of a coarser but lower-abrasive-content version of the La Pyrennes stones. However, the Wastikivi seems to be able to release some usable abrasive when worked, unlike the La Pyrennes.

Both seem to rely on lapping a great deal for their cut, more like files. Once that texture wears down, or you make the mistake to lap them to try to make them straighter, they seem to lose their 'magic'. Pity, as I got some fun, hella-toothy on these, but even F60 SiC isn't bringing it back. Atoma 140 turned a side of mine into something really boring.

How are you maintaining or prepping yours? The Wastikivi's don't seem as badly wonky as the La Pyrennes in terms of straightness, but they certainly aren't perfect. Also, are you using them wet or dry?

I didn’t really find time to use them extensively as I haven’t cooked much in the past few weeks as my wife and kid are out of town at the moment. What I can say is that the small handheld I already had works easier for real sharpening because it’s over a centimeter wider and chances of slipping over the knife tip when applying pressure and using circular motions to release abrasive is more straight forward.
These seem to be better used like you would use a steel but it’s too early for a final verdict.

As for maintenance, I have never lapped or done anything with my handheld stone as it was fine for use out of the box. I also got an extra big bench stone that I treat as I would any other rock. I lapped it flat with an Atoma 140/400 when it arrived and didn’t experience any impact on cutting. Maybe it’s mainly a factor of hardness, my bench stone is on the softer side for a Wästikivi and releases plenty of abrasive. It is also a very quick stone.

The two sticks had to be treated on all sides upon arrival because they were showing deep saw marks, I wouldn’t have felt comfortable using them as they were. The big one seems to be harder and is pretty smooth now, it was also more difficult to determine the coarser side. All in all they still seem fit for doing touchups on a tired edge but they definitely will be gentler on the blade than my other two.

 

[Steampunk]

I didn’t really find time to use them extensively as I haven’t cooked much in the past few weeks as my wife and kid are out of town at the moment. What I can say is that the small handheld I already had works easier for real sharpening because it’s over a centimeter wider and chances of slipping over the knife tip when applying pressure and using circular motions to release abrasive is more straight forward.
These seem to be better used like you would use a steel but it’s too early for a final verdict.

As for maintenance, I have never lapped or done anything with my handheld stone as it was fine for use out of the box. I also got an extra big bench stone that I treat as I would any other rock. I lapped it flat with an Atoma 140/400 when it arrived and didn’t experience any impact on cutting. Maybe it’s mainly a factor of hardness, my bench stone is on the softer side for a Wästikivi and releases plenty of abrasive. It is also a very quick stone.

The two sticks had to be treated on all sides upon arrival because they were showing deep saw marks, I wouldn’t have felt comfortable using them as they were. The big one seems to be harder and is pretty smooth now, it was also more difficult to determine the coarser side. All in all they still seem fit for doing touchups on a tired edge but they definitely will be gentler on the blade than my other two.

Ah [Lightbulb moment]... Sample variation is a very plausible explanation for my experience... I'm guessing mine's a harder sample based on your post, as lapping with the 140 Atoma made mine pretty smooth and slow. It still sorta works, but not like with the coarse factory lapping. Like you said, I'm not feeling the difference between the sides much, either. Was starting to think this feature was a myth. Now I know it probably isn't.

Thank you so much for your explanation. Cheers!

P.S. Nice snag with the natural Coti combo, BTW.

 

[PineWood]

BBW (Belgian Blue Whetstone) and a small coticule nagura. The stone isn't blue at all, it is purple and the slurry is red. It's still very early but I like the results so far, I think it will be a great combo for touch-ups. The BBW should be about 4000 grit.

 

[cotedupy]

The next thing arrived today

Big natural combo Coticule/Rouge du Salm.
View attachment 137321 View attachment 137322 View attachment 137323 View attachment 137324
Munetoshi 210mm Gyuto for scale…View attachment 137325
The Coticule side is very hard and it will take a while to get it flat towards all corners. I tried it quickly and to my great pleasure black slurry appeared almost instantly only touching the edge of a test knife.
The Rouge side is quite soft and very creamy and a little slower.
Looking forward to properly try it on a knife I actually use in the kitchen.

Very swish . Serious chunk of rock!

Is there a definitive verdict on what counts as RdS v BBW...? They seem to look relatively similar often...

 

[childermass]

Is there a definitive verdict on what counts as RdS v BBW...? They seem to look relatively similar often...

I‘m honestly not sure. From what I read I think it’s just a reddish and softer variety of the Belgian blue that cuts a little faster.
In all honesty I’m not quite sure the back of my stone qualifies as Rouge du salm, the slurry is quite purplish like the blue I once had, maybe with a slight tint of red:

I made my first post before trying the stone and just wrote what it was marketed as

 

[childermass]

There’s some info on the Rouge/Lorraine stone varieties can be found from page 47 onwards here: https://bosq.home.xs4all.nl/info 20m/grinding_and_honing_part_4_belgian_whetstones.pdf

 

[Tapio]

Today I got more Morihei stones: 500, 1000 and Karasu 9000. Morihei 4000 I have had for some time already. There's also a new strop.