waterstone recomendations

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kane22

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Feb 25, 2013
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I want to try my hand at sharpening with waterstones. Looking for something in the 1000,and 6000 range. Either a combo stone or two. I don't want to buy junk, but don't want to get a bunch of money wrapped up in em. Looking for a good bang for the buck stone. Reviews seem to be all over the place.
 
Last time I checked, when I bought mine, you could get a King 1000 and 6000 (2 stones) for about $50. They are nice finishing stones if that’s what you want but they are not magical.
 
The thing about King waterstones is that they have different series and the cheaper ones don't have much abrasive in them. I'm too lazy to wade through them to find which is which.

If you want a good combo stone, Suehiro Cerax has some that are well regarded.
If you get separate stones Shapton Pros give a lot of bang for the buck, though for my tastes the 5K stone is the dog of the line up.
 
I have a friend who use's the Suehrio Debado stones and he say's they are really good and cut a bit faster then the Cerax and Rika,I have owned a few different Suehiro stones and all I can say is everyone has been great,I don't think make a bad stone.

Also if you look on other forums online like shaving forums and other sharpening forum's you never see anyone bitching about Suehiro saying don't buy them they are trash,it's mainly only good stuff you read about them.
 
I bought a version of the king combination just to give it a go. As far as I’m aware it comes recommended as the best stone in that particular price point, I.e extremely cheap.

My opinion is that the 6000 side is actually pretty decent for the price. It gives you a decent mirror finish although it loads extremely quickly. It has decent feedback and is hard enough that you won’t be flattening it all the time (the point about loading non withstanding).

The 1000 side is almost the complete opposite, soft and creates a mud almost instantly. Gouges were visible from the tips of my knives almost straight away. Wasn’t a fan but then I may have been spoiled by my chosera 800.

I found it to cut stainless (57-58 hardness) quite quickly and effectively
 
There are so many out there is tough to recommend one only. My three favorite combos:

Suzuki Ya 1k and 8k

Norton 1k and 8k

Jumma 800 and Suehiro Rika G8
 
There are so many out there is tough to recommend one only. My three favorite combos:

Suzuki Ya 1k and 8k

Norton 1k and 8k

Jumma 800 and Suehiro Rika G8
 
kane22 said:
I want to try my hand at sharpening with waterstones. Looking for something in the 1000,and 6000 range. Either a combo stone or two. I don't want to buy junk, but don't want to get a bunch of money wrapped up in em. Looking for a good bang for the buck stone. Reviews seem to be all over the place.
Click to expand...

What are you sharpening?

When purchasing waterstones one of your main considerations is how to lap them. I highly recommend the Atoma 140 for this task, its a proven tool and performs the best thanks to the Diamond cluster pattern on the plate.

Waterstones: For the most part King Stones are very high quality they are just old tech that doesn't get as much love. Personally, I think the King 1k should be in everyone's tool kit and is the stone by which all others are judged. With that said, I will pretty much always recommend the Shapton Glass 500 and 2k to go with that Atoma. These three stones can handle more sharpening tasks producing more consistent results than I have experienced with any other stone set. These are also the only stones that I feel enhanced my skills/ability, the need to be precise made my edges flatter and more defined while the sharpness became more crisp and consistent. Ill be the first to say its the skill not the tool but these tools sure do bring out the best of your skills.
 
Thanks everyone! I went with Suehrio cerax 1000/6000 combo. For $65 I thought it seemed like a decent stone to get started with. I couldn't really find anyone that had anything bad to say about them.
I have a KME that I like a lot for smaller blades. I think stones will be better for larger kitchen knives. I have some scandi grinds that they should work better for too. I figure it would be a good skill to have...if I can master it. After watching a ton of youtube vids, waterstones seem like a good way to go.
 
kane22 said:
Thanks everyone! I went with Suehrio cerax 1000/6000 combo. For $65 I thought it seemed like a decent stone to get started with. I couldn't really find anyone that had anything bad to say about them.
I have a KME that I like a lot for smaller blades. I think stones will be better for larger kitchen knives. I have some scandi grinds that they should work better for too. I figure it would be a good skill to have...if I can master it. After watching a ton of youtube vids, waterstones seem like a good way to go.
Click to expand...
You made a good choice.
I don’t have the 1K/6K but I do have the 1K/3K and it is an excellent stone.
It is still soaking as I was using it earlier today.
Suehiro makes some nice gear and I think they do the best job with combination stones with their cover and tray system.

I am not a super fan of combo stones but the Cerax line is done nicely.
Let us know how it goes when you get some time with it.
 
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