Upgrading my bare bones equipment

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resds3

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I wanted to start slow and got a Victorinox 10 inch with a king 1000 and a basic leather strop with some compounds. Im looking to upgrade all my stuff. After some help from some fine folks here and a bit of research Ive narrowed it down to a couple knives. (heres the thread, any advice appreciated https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/threads/yoshikane-vs-wakui.46053/)

I was wondering if the king will be able to deal with a hard steel and hold off on getting a replacement 1000? I was thinking of upgrading to a shapton glass 1000 and 4000 and possibly a new strop and an atoma 400 for flattening/repairing really dull knifes for my friends/family. Open to any suggestions, not on a strict budget but was hoping to keep stuff around ~60 a stone will go a bit higher for big returns in quality or longer lasting stones, thanks for any help.
 
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In my experience the King 1000 is a great stone, especially for the price. I don't think you need to upgrade that if you are getting an Atoma for flattening and repair, and something finer to finish with. At a basic level, the King 1000/6000 is a great combination. Anywhere from 3000-6000 is a great way to "end" your progression. If you are on a tight budget, I would keep your basic leather strop and compound and not spend more there.

I would also add that the King will have no problem with the knives/steels you are talking about getting.

Good luck!
 
thebradleycrew said:
In my experience the King 1000 is a great stone, especially for the price. I don't think you need to upgrade that if you are getting an Atoma for flattening and repair, and something finer to finish with. At a basic level, the King 1000/6000 is a great combination. Anywhere from 3000-6000 is a great way to "end" your progression. If you are on a tight budget, I would keep your basic leather strop and compound and not spend more there.

I would also add that the King will have no problem with the knives/steels you are talking about getting.

Good luck!
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thank you, very helpful. any other suggestions for finishing stones? Was thinking of 2 non soaking stones if i was replacing the king but if im not i guess i have more options
 
resds3 said:
thank you, very helpful. any other suggestions for finishing stones? Was thinking of 2 non soaking stones if i was replacing the king but if im not i guess i have more options
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Maybe my favorite is a Gesshin 4000, but it's not cheap. I think it is worth it, however. I tend to prefer 2k-4k to finish, and only occasionally go higher. I guess it depends on how hard you want to work to polish it or if you are just concerned about cutting ability. There are a lot of good options in the 3-4k range - Shapton, Morihei, Cerax, Chosera - I think you can go with any of those and get good results. Practice at that point is probably most important!
 
As long as you're not sharpening some of the super steels with lots of vanadium and/or tungsten, the stone will work fine. Work on technique.
 
I agree with the others: keep your King 1000 and your strop.
However, I would personally go with an Atoma 140 instead of the 400 (I have both and prefer the 140) and only use it for flattening. This way, it will last you much longer! Also, sharpening on an Atoma 400 isn't very pleasurable imho.
So, my advice would be: Keep the King 1000 and your strop, and invest in an Atoma 140 and a finishing stone. Later, you will likely want to add a coarser stone in the 320 - 500 grit range.
As for finishers: I really like the Morihei 4k and the Naniwa Chosera/Professional 3k. Or the Gesshin 6ks, in case you want to go to 6k-level. Other often recommended stones are the Shapton Glass 3k or the Suehiro Rika 5k.
 
resds3 said:
I wanted to start slow and got a Victorinox 10 inch with a king 1000 and a basic leather strop with some compounds. Im looking to upgrade all my stuff. After some help from some fine folks here and a bit of research Ive narrowed it down to a couple knives. (heres the thread, any advice appreciated https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/threads/yoshikane-vs-wakui.46053/)

I was wondering if the king will be able to deal with a hard steel and hold off on getting a replacement 1000? I was thinking of upgrading to a shapton glass 1000 and 4000 and possibly a new strop and an atoma 400 for flattening/repairing really dull knifes for my friends/family. Open to any suggestions, not on a strict budget but was hoping to keep stuff around ~60 a stone will go a bit higher for big returns in quality or longer lasting stones, thanks for any help.
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I absolutely love king stones, if you want a harder 1k, I'd recommend the chosera 1k. The chosera 3k is also a nice stone, a good, softer choice would be a suehiro 3k. I wouldn't bother going higher than that until you have some serious time on the stones. As far as coarse stones go, my favorite is the gesshin 400. Nanohone 200 is also very good, but it will scratch much higher than you want if you aren't very careful.
Btw, shapton glass stones feel fkin terrible to use, just my opinion.
 
I can only say good things about the Suehiro Rika 5000. It’s cheap and gives a good balance between refinement and bite. Decently pleasant to sharpen on as well. That said, my experience is limited, so...
 
Kitchen-Samurai said:
I agree with the others: keep your King 1000 and your strop.
However, I would personally go with an Atoma 140 instead of the 400 (I have both and prefer the 140) and only use it for flattening. This way, it will last you much longer! Also, sharpening on an Atoma 400 isn't very pleasurable imho.
So, my advice would be: Keep the King 1000 and your strop, and invest in an Atoma 140 and a finishing stone. Later, you will likely want to add a coarser stone in the 320 - 500 grit range.
As for finishers: I really like the Morihei 4k and the Naniwa Chosera/Professional 3k. Or the Gesshin 6ks, in case you want to go to 6k-level. Other often recommended stones are the Shapton Glass 3k or the Suehiro Rika 5k.
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yeah i wanted to add a course stone, i have fixed a few of my friends knives that were amazingly dull and it took forever to work an edge on my king 1000 and was planning on using the atoma 400 for flattening and just getting an edge started on those kind of knives. if i went with like a cerax 320 for ~$30 is there a flattening stone thats recommended for around $40? or should i just get the $70 atoma 400 at that point
 
resds3 said:
if i went with like a cerax 320 for ~$30 is there a flattening stone thats recommended for around $40? or should i just get the $70 atoma 400 at that point
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I would recommend the Atoma 140 for flattening, and for flattening only. If you want to add a coarser stone now, and don't want to stretch the budget, you can also use coarse wet-dry sandpaper for now (or silicon carbide on a scrap piece of flat glass) and then get a decent flattening plate in the future. Jon @Japanese Knife Imports also has a Diamond plate for $55 which will work great.
As kayman67 says, everyone's taste is different, and what I like might not be optimal for you and vice versa. Having that said, if your technique is decent, you'll achieve very sharp edges with any of the stones mentioned in this thread. Whether it is the most enjoyable stone for your personal taste is a different story.
Do you have any feeling whether you may like harder or softer stones?
 
Kitchen-Samurai said:
I would recommend the Atoma 140 for flattening, and for flattening only. If you want to add a coarser stone now, and don't want to stretch the budget, you can also use coarse wet-dry sandpaper for now (or silicon carbide on a scrap piece of flat glass) and then get a decent flattening plate in the future. Jon @Japanese Knife Imports also has a Diamond plate for $55 which will work great.
As kayman67 says, everyone's taste is different, and what I like might not be optimal for you and vice versa. Having that said, if your technique is decent, you'll achieve very sharp edges with any of the stones mentioned in this thread. Whether it is the most enjoyable stone for your personal taste is a different story.
Do you have any feeling whether you may like harder or softer stones?
Click to expand...
I dont i have only used my king 1000, i guess i will bite the bullet and get the 320 cerax and a atoma 140 then
 
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