Steampunk
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I separated out these stones from my original review thread on Coarse Stones, because for me they’re a different animal. This is the range where - if your deburring game is spot-on - you can start getting a usable edge with freehand technique on synthetic waterstones. One that is very, very toothy, but will at least start to shave hair. They’re ‘tweener’ stones. Not coarse enough to be truly ‘coarse’, and not refined enough to be ‘medium’.
Without further ado...
Shapton Glass Stone 500 grit -
This is a tremendously functional stone. It’s not my favorite to use, but if you had to pick a single stone that could kind of do it all… Thinning, bevel setting (Even on PM steels), chip repair, even sharpening to a burr-free aggressive edge… This is the stone that will do it. It might take a little longer than a coarser stone, but it will do it more precisely than a true coarse stone, and leaves a much finer and more consistent scratch pattern. In some ways, this stone feels like the steroid-infused sibling of the Shapton 1K Pro.
I mention the Shapton 1K Pro, because both this and the Shapton 500 Glass excel at maintaining precise bevels on carbon/iron/stainless clad san-mai or single bevel knives. The 500 will release abrasive a bit faster, leave a bit less polish on the blade road, and feel even less pleasant under the blade, but will cut a bit faster (I’d say maybe 30% ? The Shapton Pro 1K cuts way better than its grit suggests on carbon/iron clad knives.) in return, and won’t hide sins on a wonky grind like soft and muddy stones can. If you’re going for an aesthetic kasumi finish, and intend to do it on bench stones, getting the grind evened out is the most important part of the job. To do that, you need a stone that acts like this.
On edge bevels, the stone cuts well even on steels like R2 and ZDP-189… It’ll do the job, and with a bit of finessing, can leave a usable working edge. This is probably the coarsest synthetic stone I’ve ever been able to deburr on freehand. However, my bugbear in this application, is the feedback… It has that grating, hard, chalky, gritty feel that sets your teeth on edge a little bit. It’s perfectly functional on edge bevels, but other stones feel a lot nicer.
On edges, jumping from this to the Shapton 2K's is a perfect span.
For breadknifing, tip repair, and major chips, there are faster stones. For thinning san-mai, and even bevel setting, this stone feels faster than its grit suggests. However, when you actually need to remove 1+ mm of metal, you’re reminded you’re on a 500 grit stone.
As a plus, this is a true S&G stone, it isn’t prone to loading, and is the coarsest synthetic stone I’ve used that won’t flood your table with slurry. Lifespan wise, just pony-up for the double thick version. It’s worth it. It’s a PITA to flatten, if you’re wondering, but doesn’t quite earn the title of ‘King of the PITA’.
This stone works pretty well on Japanese chisels and kogatana/kiridashi, but I prefer diamond plates at this level on western chisels and planes. It can be used for very serious razor repairs, due to the consistency of the abrasives, but I detest the feedback.
Naniwa Professional / Chosera 600 -
This stone doesn’t get anywhere near enough airtime… Where the Shapton Glass 500 is a coarse stone that can pretend it’s fine enough to deburr an edge bevel, the Naniwa Pro 600 feels like a medium stone that pretends it can do coarse stone things.
For thinning, I prefer Shaptons, but this stone will do the job alright… For the hardness of the stone, you’ll get a surprising amount of blue mud, that will stain. However, that mud doesn’t seem to help the stone cut a wide or single bevel any more effectively, and the contrast it builds isn’t really special. This stone isn’t a bad choice for light maintenance thinning, and it’s more competent than most 800-1K stones at this task.
On edge bevels, it’s a different story… It feels creamier than any 600 grit stone has any right to, and leaves an edge that is incredible for red-meat butchery, tomato slaying, and outdoor knives that need some aggression. It cuts in new bevels as quick as you’d ever need to on simpler carbons and stainless, but does gradually slow down the more tungsten or vanadium is present.
After this stone, following with a fine 2K or coarse 3K feels like a nice jump. However, the edge from this stone is getting to be consistent enough that bigger jumps can sometimes be possible depending on the stone. Following this stone up with either a Gesshin 6K S&G, or even a fast Coticule on heavy slurry (La Dressante, for example) is perfectly doable, and leaves an amazing culinary edge.
When it comes to large chip or tip repairs, it’s usefully faster than most 800-1K stones, but you’d only want to use this stone for that purpose if you had literally nothing else available.
This stone is very slow to dish, but when you do need to flatten it, is probably in my top 3 least favorites to have to do. It's close enough to splash & go that I don't mind, but does take a minute or so of water exposure before the water starts to hold, and the binder breaks down a bit to release some abrasives.
For me, I guess the point to this stone is its versatility… If you could only have a single stone, but needed it to be able to quickly get knives back into action that saw some serious abuse in a shift, this would probably be my pick… It’s usably faster at repairing minor chips, reprofiling, bevel setting, thinning, and sharpening than any 800-1K stone, but can still leave a nice feeling working edge without too much effort.
I don't care for this stone on woodworking tools, but find that it does work well for moderately heavy repair work on razors. It's fast, but not too fast, and feels good under the blade.
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Hopefully this helps… Please feel free to post your reviews of stones in this sort of range (500-600 grit)!
- Steampunk
Without further ado...
Shapton Glass Stone 500 grit -
This is a tremendously functional stone. It’s not my favorite to use, but if you had to pick a single stone that could kind of do it all… Thinning, bevel setting (Even on PM steels), chip repair, even sharpening to a burr-free aggressive edge… This is the stone that will do it. It might take a little longer than a coarser stone, but it will do it more precisely than a true coarse stone, and leaves a much finer and more consistent scratch pattern. In some ways, this stone feels like the steroid-infused sibling of the Shapton 1K Pro.
I mention the Shapton 1K Pro, because both this and the Shapton 500 Glass excel at maintaining precise bevels on carbon/iron/stainless clad san-mai or single bevel knives. The 500 will release abrasive a bit faster, leave a bit less polish on the blade road, and feel even less pleasant under the blade, but will cut a bit faster (I’d say maybe 30% ? The Shapton Pro 1K cuts way better than its grit suggests on carbon/iron clad knives.) in return, and won’t hide sins on a wonky grind like soft and muddy stones can. If you’re going for an aesthetic kasumi finish, and intend to do it on bench stones, getting the grind evened out is the most important part of the job. To do that, you need a stone that acts like this.
On edge bevels, the stone cuts well even on steels like R2 and ZDP-189… It’ll do the job, and with a bit of finessing, can leave a usable working edge. This is probably the coarsest synthetic stone I’ve ever been able to deburr on freehand. However, my bugbear in this application, is the feedback… It has that grating, hard, chalky, gritty feel that sets your teeth on edge a little bit. It’s perfectly functional on edge bevels, but other stones feel a lot nicer.
On edges, jumping from this to the Shapton 2K's is a perfect span.
For breadknifing, tip repair, and major chips, there are faster stones. For thinning san-mai, and even bevel setting, this stone feels faster than its grit suggests. However, when you actually need to remove 1+ mm of metal, you’re reminded you’re on a 500 grit stone.
As a plus, this is a true S&G stone, it isn’t prone to loading, and is the coarsest synthetic stone I’ve used that won’t flood your table with slurry. Lifespan wise, just pony-up for the double thick version. It’s worth it. It’s a PITA to flatten, if you’re wondering, but doesn’t quite earn the title of ‘King of the PITA’.
This stone works pretty well on Japanese chisels and kogatana/kiridashi, but I prefer diamond plates at this level on western chisels and planes. It can be used for very serious razor repairs, due to the consistency of the abrasives, but I detest the feedback.
Naniwa Professional / Chosera 600 -
This stone doesn’t get anywhere near enough airtime… Where the Shapton Glass 500 is a coarse stone that can pretend it’s fine enough to deburr an edge bevel, the Naniwa Pro 600 feels like a medium stone that pretends it can do coarse stone things.
For thinning, I prefer Shaptons, but this stone will do the job alright… For the hardness of the stone, you’ll get a surprising amount of blue mud, that will stain. However, that mud doesn’t seem to help the stone cut a wide or single bevel any more effectively, and the contrast it builds isn’t really special. This stone isn’t a bad choice for light maintenance thinning, and it’s more competent than most 800-1K stones at this task.
On edge bevels, it’s a different story… It feels creamier than any 600 grit stone has any right to, and leaves an edge that is incredible for red-meat butchery, tomato slaying, and outdoor knives that need some aggression. It cuts in new bevels as quick as you’d ever need to on simpler carbons and stainless, but does gradually slow down the more tungsten or vanadium is present.
After this stone, following with a fine 2K or coarse 3K feels like a nice jump. However, the edge from this stone is getting to be consistent enough that bigger jumps can sometimes be possible depending on the stone. Following this stone up with either a Gesshin 6K S&G, or even a fast Coticule on heavy slurry (La Dressante, for example) is perfectly doable, and leaves an amazing culinary edge.
When it comes to large chip or tip repairs, it’s usefully faster than most 800-1K stones, but you’d only want to use this stone for that purpose if you had literally nothing else available.
This stone is very slow to dish, but when you do need to flatten it, is probably in my top 3 least favorites to have to do. It's close enough to splash & go that I don't mind, but does take a minute or so of water exposure before the water starts to hold, and the binder breaks down a bit to release some abrasives.
For me, I guess the point to this stone is its versatility… If you could only have a single stone, but needed it to be able to quickly get knives back into action that saw some serious abuse in a shift, this would probably be my pick… It’s usably faster at repairing minor chips, reprofiling, bevel setting, thinning, and sharpening than any 800-1K stone, but can still leave a nice feeling working edge without too much effort.
I don't care for this stone on woodworking tools, but find that it does work well for moderately heavy repair work on razors. It's fast, but not too fast, and feels good under the blade.
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Hopefully this helps… Please feel free to post your reviews of stones in this sort of range (500-600 grit)!
- Steampunk
