Your Favorite Water Stones?

W

Working Edge

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Dec 14, 2020
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I'm hoping to hear from Y'all, regarding which are your favorite water stone brands and grits, and why?
The grit ranges I'm curious about are from 220 on up to 4000 or 8000.
The reason I'm asking is that all the online merchant descriptions of all the brands/stones I have seen, pretty much all are written the same and making the same claims....hard-wearing, fast-cutting, good solid feedback, long-lasting between flattening sessions, etc.
At this point, some real-life experience shared by real users, would be much appreciated.
Many thanks in advance....!
Mark
 
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Eventually this question and the answers should be made into a sticky, since it comes up with some frequency.

Waterstone sets I own/have owned:
- King/Ice Bear
- Norton
- Suzuki Ya
- Juuma
- Shapton Pro
Misc stone set:
- Zandstraa/Foss combination stone paired with Suehiro Rika G8


- Of these my favorite overall is probably the Nortons, but only on woodworking tools and budget stainless, kitchen knives. They are one of the softer stones sets (aside from the 8k), but very fast and very forgiving for burr formation. So steels that might normally entail significant QC to make a clean edge are very simple on these stones. The 8k is a great resinoid finishing stone. The 220 is not a very good stone for rough work - impossibly soft it can only be used with a trailing pass if you don't want it to dish into nothing. I use a King 240 in its place.

- The King stones also work well enough in this role but are slower and do not handle stainless as well. They work very well on carbon steel in the mid to upper 50s Rockwell and can just manage most of the common stainless in the same hardness. These are the stones I learned on before "graduating" to the Nortons.

- My favorite convenience set is the Zandstra Foss + Suehiro Rika G8. These two stones (3 grits) is the perfect minimalist waterstone set for all common steels. Not as forgiving on gummy stainless as the Nortons, but less prone to dishing. The G8 stone is a fantastic finishing stone, my favorite 8k, quite hard for a resinoid/ceramic stone. The Foss stone is hard on the coarse side, slightly softer on the fine. Less prone to dishing than the Norton 1k or 4k yet still very forgiving of burr formation on budget steels. These are the stones I keep on deck 24/7.

- Suzuki Ya are the best quality set overall in terms of hardness, feedback, edge quality, grind speed. They are more demanding in terms of pressure and technique. They require a lot more finesse on budget steels than the softer stones. They stay flat, are difficult to lap if neglected. They are expensive.

- Juuma (I only have the 800 and 2K) are extremely hard and slow wearing, release the thinnest mud in use. Take and hold a very flat surface and very consistent scratch pattern. Feedback is good, not great. Grind speed likewise. They produce a stand alone edge considerably finer than the rated grit and very good quality. For how hard they are, they still manage to not load easily, work well even on budget stainless. They are VERY difficult to lap flat if neglected. I pair them with the G8 as well.

- Shapton Pro very consistent scratch pattern, hard stone, slow wearing. Not the best feedback and so-so in terms of grind speed and loading. Honestly I am not impressed by them. Although they work well enough they don't seem to excel at anything. Very convenient being splash and go and capable of making a very clean edge.
 
HeavyHanded said:
Eventually this question and the answers should be made into a sticky, since it comes up with some frequency.

Waterstone sets I own/have owned:
- King/Ice Bear
- Norton
- Suzuki Ya
- Juuma
- Shapton Pro
Misc stone set:
- Zandstraa/Foss combination stone paired with Suehiro Rika G8


- Of these my favorite overall is probably the Nortons, but only on woodworking tools and budget stainless, kitchen knives. They are one of the softer stones sets (aside from the 8k), but very fast and very forgiving for burr formation. So steels that might normally entail significant QC to make a clean edge are very simple on these stones. The 8k is a great resinoid finishing stone. The 220 is not a very good stone for rough work - impossibly soft it can only be used with a trailing pass if you don't want it to dish into nothing. I use a King 240 in its place.

- The King stones also work well enough in this role but are slower and do not handle stainless as well. They work very well on carbon steel in the mid to upper 50s Rockwell and can just manage most of the common stainless in the same hardness. These are the stones I learned on before "graduating" to the Nortons.

- My favorite convenience set is the Zandstra Foss + Suehiro Rika G8. These two stones (3 grits) is the perfect minimalist waterstone set for all common steels. Not as forgiving on gummy stainless as the Nortons, but less prone to dishing. The G8 stone is a fantastic finishing stone, my favorite 8k, quite hard for a resinoid/ceramic stone. The Foss stone is hard on the coarse side, slightly softer on the fine. Less prone to dishing than the Norton 1k or 4k yet still very forgiving of burr formation on budget steels. These are the stones I keep on deck 24/7.

- Suzuki Ya are the best quality set overall in terms of hardness, feedback, edge quality, grind speed. They are more demanding in terms of pressure and technique. They require a lot more finesse on budget steels than the softer stones. They stay flat, are difficult to lap if neglected. They are expensive.

- Juuma (I only have the 800 and 2K) are extremely hard and slow wearing, release the thinnest mud in use. Take and hold a very flat surface and very consistent scratch pattern. Feedback is good, not great. Grind speed likewise. They produce a stand alone edge considerably finer than the rated grit and very good quality. For how hard they are, they still manage to not load easily, work well even on budget stainless. They are VERY difficult to lap flat if neglected. I pair them with the G8 as well.

- Shapton Pro very consistent scratch pattern, hard stone, slow wearing. Not the best feedback and so-so in terms of grind speed and loading. Honestly I am not impressed by them. Although they work well enough they don't seem to excel at anything. Very convenient being splash and go and capable of making a very clean edge.
Click to expand...
Thanks, HeavyHanded, for taking the time to answer.
Much appreciated.
 
I can only report that I like the stones I use, but I can’t compare them. Mostly Naniwa stones.

I’ve got a Naniwa superstone 220, then professional 400, 1000, and the very fun green brick of joy 2000. I often finish on a nice and hard imanishi 6000, which has been great. They’re all splash and go, because I’m not waiting for that shit.

I was surprised that the Naniwa pro stones don’t seem to come coarser than 400, but the superstone 220 works fine.
 
It's not an easy question to answer. I really like the Shapton Glass stones, for their creamy feel (above 220, I mean), and slow wearing. I like the feedback on them, but not everyone does.

Naniwa Pros and Nanohones feel more gritty, but are very worthy stones that I get good results on.

Gesshin soakers have great feedback, and seem to work well on both carbon and stainless, even low-quality stainless.

The only summary I can make of this is that if you stick to the good stuff, you can't go far wrong. Much of the rest is personal preference, that you probably can't sort out until you try some stones out for yourself.
 
Chosera,Shapton Glass,Suehiro G8 10K and 20K and pretty much anything Suehiro makes is great stuff.
 
Naming stones is easing, picking them is hard.

Each set assumes you have an Atoma 140 for flattening and a strop with compound for finishing.

Shapton Glass 500, 2000 and (optional) 16,000- Very hard and very fast stones, best on very hard tool steels and woodworking tools. Easily producing some the sharpest edges. These stones will literally make you a better sharpener.

Naniwa Chosera/pro 400, 800, 3000- Hard to even call these second place but they don't work as well on very hard steels. Very smooth, quick and produces the cleanest scratch pattern of ANY waterstone. About perfect on kitchen cutlery or low to medium alloy stainless steels. Steeper learning curve but the most "zen" stones you will find.

I could name many more but its kinda pointless, you can go cheaper and make it work but I wouldn't, I've been there and its not as much fun. No matter how much you hear "its not the stone its the sharpener" good stones WILL make a big difference in the effort and result. I can use lesser tools and yield exceptional results but I also have a lifetime of skill to make it happen.
 
I’ve been using King stones for many years. Started with an 800 grit that was quite soft but worked well enough. The I got a 220/1000 combo. I long ago wore out the 220 side but the 1000 grit side is still my go to medium stone if I want a water stone. I replaced the 220 side with a 220 grit Norton that has served well, though it does wear quickly. I also have a 4000 grit King that I use sparingly. I mostly use oil stones now even for my Japanese kitchen knives.
 
I just started getting into Japanese knives. I bought myself two King stones, one 300 grit splash & go and the ubiquitous King Deluxe 1000. I also have the little King nagura stone (#8000). I'm waiting for my knife to arrive in the mail this coming Friday (Kiritsuke 210mm). It was made by a younger blacksmith from Tosa. I'm going to give the stone a practice run on a Dexter Russell I've been using. Eventually I plan on buying a #6000, but don't feel like it's necessary just at the moment.
 
me2 said:
I’ve been using King stones for many years. Started with an 800 grit that was quite soft but worked well enough. The I got a 220/1000 combo. I long ago wore out the 220 side but the 1000 grit side is still my go to medium stone if I want a water stone. I replaced the 220 side with a 220 grit Norton that has served well, though it does wear quickly. I also have a 4000 grit King that I use sparingly. I mostly use oil stones now even for my Japanese kitchen knives.
Click to expand...

The King 800/4k was my go-to for a long time, I will always like the feedback and overall feel of the King stones, they are the baseline I use for mental comparison of all other waterstones.

What oil stones do you currently use instead?
 
I’m still using the Norton Economy stone I got from Home Depot years ago. I’d like to upgrade to a Norton Course/Fine India and a couple Arkansas stones but just haven’t pulled the trigger yet.
 
I have naniwa professional 800,1000 and 3000.
If I could start again I doubt I’d buy the 1000. It’s a great stone but I usually jump from 800 to 3000.
Generally I don’t let my knives get that blunt, so the 3000 gets most use. I don’t really feel the need to go any finer, as the 3000 gets them very sharp.
You get good feedback and the wear very slowly.
I use them on all types of steel , and they work fine.
I tried a 5000 super stone but it seemed a bit soft for me.
 
MrEdgy recommended Naniwa pro 400 for reshaping and Aotoshi 2k green brick for touch-up sharpening. I like these stones. The green brick pairs well with O1 and blue#2.
 
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