This is a long-ish stone multiple part question, partly to gather my own thoughts, but also to get any feedback from you wonderful experienced people. I am an amateur and mainly sharpen my own knife so unless I do something stupid I don’t expect any one stone to be worn out in my lifetime.
The collection below is collected over the past five years or so. This far I have been focusing on edge sharpness and I can now reliably get a good cutting edge with my various knives. My knives are mainly carbon (shirogami, aogami) but the odd stainless (AEB-L, VG-10) is also in the collection, as are some cheaper stainless beater knives (IKEA FTW!)
Now I want to dive into your experiences with what I have and possibly if something could be handled differently as I also am planning to try thinning and polishing knives. People have said that sharpening is 90% technique and 10% equipment and the more I grind, the more I tend to agree with this. Therefore I really want to get the most out of the stuff I have before buying more. On the other hand, buying is fun
Current inventory:
Atoma 140, 400
Shapton Glass 500, 2000, 4000, 6000 (last one is HC, the others HR versions)
Naniwa Pro 600, 1000, 2000, 3000
JNS Matukusuyama 300 (current version), 800, and synthetic Aoto (blue speckles).
JKI Gesshin 6000 speckled blue.
And a natural, an Aiiwatani (number three in this ad)
(and some strops too, of course)
(jeepers, how did I get so many?)
Stone care:
My JKI Gesshin 6000 has been soaked and dried by the previous owner, now sealed and mounted on base after that owner discovered small cracks, and it is since then used as splash & go. From the JKI website: “The Gesshin 6000 splash and go stone is a resinoid based stone with a white alumina oxide abrasive”. Either permasoak or splash & go. I guess this is still a smart thing to do - to not soak any more?
All other stones were purchased new or in new-like condition and are used only as splash & go with the obvious exception of the JSN 800 which I currently permasoak.
Especially for the Naniwas and the JNS Synthetic Aoto, my understanding is that I will not gain anything by soaking, better kept as splash & go. Correct? Is there any use in sealing and/or mounting either of these stones on a base?
Next steps - thinning and polishing
Efter learning to get the cutting edge right, the next step is obviously thinning and then getting the finish/polishing right. I’m thinking here of both kasumi and more mirror-like polishing eventually. I have gathered up a long list of threads here and youtube videos on the subject that I’m going through, but everyone has their own favorite stones… and as I said, I’d like to start with what I have if possible.
Do you have any direct recommendations for stone use here - should I be good to go with what I have, or is there a recommendation for e.g. different coarse stones to start thinning? I have tried some “relief bevels” on the stainless beaters using the Atomas, but I’m a bit scared to put good knives on these kind of coarse diamond stones.
In other threads, I’ve read Dave Martells praise of the King 800 for starting kasumi finishing but he also mentioned that the JNS 800 can do a good job?
At some point I guess I also need to look at sand papers and finger stones… but that’s probably a bit later in the game.
That was a long posting, and any feedback to my ponderings is appreciated.
The collection below is collected over the past five years or so. This far I have been focusing on edge sharpness and I can now reliably get a good cutting edge with my various knives. My knives are mainly carbon (shirogami, aogami) but the odd stainless (AEB-L, VG-10) is also in the collection, as are some cheaper stainless beater knives (IKEA FTW!)
Now I want to dive into your experiences with what I have and possibly if something could be handled differently as I also am planning to try thinning and polishing knives. People have said that sharpening is 90% technique and 10% equipment and the more I grind, the more I tend to agree with this. Therefore I really want to get the most out of the stuff I have before buying more. On the other hand, buying is fun
Current inventory:
Atoma 140, 400
Shapton Glass 500, 2000, 4000, 6000 (last one is HC, the others HR versions)
Naniwa Pro 600, 1000, 2000, 3000
JNS Matukusuyama 300 (current version), 800, and synthetic Aoto (blue speckles).
JKI Gesshin 6000 speckled blue.
And a natural, an Aiiwatani (number three in this ad)
(and some strops too, of course)
(jeepers, how did I get so many?)
Stone care:
My JKI Gesshin 6000 has been soaked and dried by the previous owner, now sealed and mounted on base after that owner discovered small cracks, and it is since then used as splash & go. From the JKI website: “The Gesshin 6000 splash and go stone is a resinoid based stone with a white alumina oxide abrasive”. Either permasoak or splash & go. I guess this is still a smart thing to do - to not soak any more?
All other stones were purchased new or in new-like condition and are used only as splash & go with the obvious exception of the JSN 800 which I currently permasoak.
Especially for the Naniwas and the JNS Synthetic Aoto, my understanding is that I will not gain anything by soaking, better kept as splash & go. Correct? Is there any use in sealing and/or mounting either of these stones on a base?
Next steps - thinning and polishing
Efter learning to get the cutting edge right, the next step is obviously thinning and then getting the finish/polishing right. I’m thinking here of both kasumi and more mirror-like polishing eventually. I have gathered up a long list of threads here and youtube videos on the subject that I’m going through, but everyone has their own favorite stones… and as I said, I’d like to start with what I have if possible.
Do you have any direct recommendations for stone use here - should I be good to go with what I have, or is there a recommendation for e.g. different coarse stones to start thinning? I have tried some “relief bevels” on the stainless beaters using the Atomas, but I’m a bit scared to put good knives on these kind of coarse diamond stones.
In other threads, I’ve read Dave Martells praise of the King 800 for starting kasumi finishing but he also mentioned that the JNS 800 can do a good job?
At some point I guess I also need to look at sand papers and finger stones… but that’s probably a bit later in the game.
That was a long posting, and any feedback to my ponderings is appreciated.