Wide/single bevel polishing stone...

[Steampunk]

I've been doing quite a bit of thinning and blade finishing on wide bevel knives, recently, and am having fun playing around with a lot of different finishes both natural and synthetic. So far, the highest grit polishing stones that can maintain contrast I own are my Gesshin 6K Splash & Go, my Lv.3 Aiwatanii, and my La Verte Coti. The core is starting to become mirror polished with all of these stones, but the scratch pattern could be a little less obvious. Without spending well north of $300 on a harder J-nat that won't scratch up the cladding (Which is something of a rare bird, from what I've read.), I'm starting to get curious about some synthetic stones that might get me a finer polish on the Hagane than my G6K S&G without also polishing out the Jigane. So far, here is my short list:

• Imanishi Kitayama 8K
• Imanishi 10K (Magnesia)
• Naniwa Specialty Stone (New Superstone) 10K
• Ohishi 10K

If you have any experience with these stones, and their polishing ability on wide or single bevel knives, let me know! Pictures are great, if you've got some, but I'd be happy just to hear your thoughts. I'm looking to see how far I can push the mirror on the Hagane while still maintaining contrast, and am interested in an affordable synthetic stone to do it with.

Thanks for your help!

- Steampunk

 

[Keith Sinclair]

I used the Kitayama 8K wooden base for yanagiba's. That is the stone owner of A-Frames used when he showed me his SB sharpening technique. I also have the Gesshin 8K soaker that I use now for high polish. It is quite different from the 6K S&G.

The Naniwa 10K puts the highest polish, just my preference like the Gesshin 8K soaker.