Next stone choice?

Solid choice!

Keep in mind the differences in grit ratings across brands though. If you love the Shapton Pro 2000 as much as I suspect you will, you might find yourself looking into expanding or upgrading your stones a bit more(not that I'm encouraging an addiction to buying sharpening stones :) ).

Basically the SP 2000, in how it performs and the finish it leaves, is probably between the Chosera/Pro/Gouken Arata 1000 and 2000. So you may find you will start using the SP 2000 instead of the 1000 you have rather than in progression. What I'm saying is that I suspect the SP 2000 will cut as fast as the Sharp Pebble 1000 and leave a more refined finish.

Anyway, generally Shaptons overstate their grit ratings, Naniwa understate theirs. I find King in the middle of the two. I'm just basing this from talking to a few people who have used all these brands and what I see on forums etc as well as my experience. I haven't used/owned any Shapton stones yet.

So for example: A Shapton 1000 is slightly coarser than a King 1000 which is coarser than a 1000 Naniwa is generally how it seems to go. Not sure about other brands.

Enjoy!
 
The stone has shipped & I’m looking forward to test driving it. Thank you, one and all, for taking the time to help me out on this.
 
I think you made a good choice.
As chalby said: Shaptons are a little coarser than their given grit. A 1.000 stone is more a 800. And the 2.000 probably more a 1.500. A least that is what I have read about those stones.
 
Now for the next goofy question. I’m tempted to sharpen on the back (not labeled) side, so that I don’t wear the label off. You know, just on case I find myself with a similar-looking stone in the future. Anybody know of a reason not to do that?
 
Spats McGee said:
Now for the next goofy question. I’m tempted to sharpen on the back (not labeled) side, so that I don’t wear the label off. You know, just on case I find myself with a similar-looking stone in the future. Anybody know of a reason not to do that?
Click to expand...
I think most people use the plain side for that reason. Let us know your thoughts after you have used it. Congrats!
 
I took her for a spin last night. I got out my Benchmade Sequel (154CM), Native 5 (S30V), Case Mini-Trapper (unknown), and CRKT Offbeat II (8CR13MOV) and sharpened them all. I've been able to get a serviceably sharp edge for quite some time, but I've never been able to get a really razor-sharp edge. I've snitched one of those big desk-mounted magnifiers with a lamp from my Dad, so that I could see what I was doing. (He doesn't use it.) For each knife, I put it on a coarse stone, both to make sure I was starting with a decent edge and to develop a scratch pattern I could see. I did a little reprofiling, as well. (Some was intentional, some not so much . . . )

After that, I went through my Sharp Pebble 400/1000 grit stone, maybe an Arkansas stone (depending on the knife), before moving on to the Shapton. I tried to sharpen the Mini-Trapper on it a little before doing a short lapping with my 600 grit diamond plate, as was suggested earlier in the thread. I don't know that I could really tell a difference between before and after lapping. I'm also starting to realize that some lapping using my diamond plates might do my Sharp Pebble stone some good.

Overall, I'm impressed. The finish is much better than I was getting off my Sharp Pebble 1K, and it wasn't hard to get there at all. All knives came away with very sharp edges (for me), and an outstanding polish (again, for me). Given the grit level, I was surprised at how fast I was able to get to the better finish. I could see swarf on the stone from the first pass of each knife. It's not a mirror finish, but it's "well on the clearer side of hazy," for lack of a better description. I may be wrong, but I feel like I could get a true mirror finish, or very close to it, if I spent enough time developing my skills and using this stone.
 
Spats McGee Spats McGee

I'm glad you like the new stone. I'm a big fan of this fine/medium grit range particularly for kitchen knives. You won't get a true mirror polish, more of a hazy polished finish with this stone, but in practical terms it leaves a very nice balance between a toothy and polished/push cut finish that is very versatile.
 
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