Japanese waterstone grit for reprofiling?

[daverave999]

I tried using a waterstone for the first time last night, and pleasurable as it was to use, the only knife I wanted to work on was my ZDP-189 Calypso Jr. I was using the 1000 grit side as this was the coarsest but it was pretty slow work.

My supplier also has waterstones in 240, 400 and 800 grit. Which do you suggest I try? The only reason why I'm not 100% sure about the 240 is because I'm inexperienced on the stones so I'm concerned about removing too much metal. Should I just go for the 240 and take it slowly?

Would this be a good addition to my ever growing sharpening gear selection? Would it be too coarse?

 

[Cliff Stamp]

Get the most coarse one you can find for shaping, don't worry about removing too much metal, speed of cutting is never too much.

-Cliff

 

[louisianacook]

I've never found a waterstone cut "too fast" either. After using the DMT dia-sharp 120 grit, I won't be buying coarse grit stones anymore.