Thread: Natural Japanese waterstones update

All the best for Xmas and the New Year.

Regards
Paul

Amazed is all I can say gentlemen at the information contained in this thread and I wish I'd found this forum sooner. I've recently dived into the Japanese knife market, which of course requires the skill of sharpening with stones. So far I've only purchased a dual grit 400/1000 and a 3000 grit stone. I purchased these as they were reasonably cheap and I wanted to become reasonably confident with the action of sharpening before laying out reasonable coin on a set of good quality stones. I've only used them on some old knives that I had lying around so far. On topic though, I'm contemplating purchasing a Natural stone from these guys ....

Knife Shop: Japanese Knives, Knife Sharpening, Cookware - Chef's Armoury

I know very little regarding the naturals whereas you guys seem exceptionally knowledgeable. I was looking at the Yaginoshima's in particular as a finishing stone. Are these decent prices?

Cheers
Paul

...and Hooray for first post!!

Welcome Paul.

On the prices, Chef's Armoury is generally more expensive. eg see here a better price for Naniwa Superstone 20mm #1000 as a comparison.

The Yaginoshima are too hard for knives.

The Hideriyama are softer for knives, but very expensive.

The Tsushima may be a better option.

Neil

If anyone is looking for an Aoto (#1000 - 2000) for under $200, just found another local source.

The Wood Works - Aoto

The label looks familiar, but I have no idea about the quality.

Neil

Originally Posted by NeilS

Welcome Paul.

On the prices, Chef's Armoury is generally more expensive. eg see here a better price for Naniwa Superstone 20mm #1000 as a comparison.

The Yaginoshima are too hard for knives.

The Hideriyama are softer for knives, but very expensive.

The Tsushima may be a better option.

Neil

Thanks for the response and wow. If I'm converting that correctly, for a Chosera stone it's almost half the price from that link you provided.

Thanks for the tips regarding the Naturals. I had a feeling (after reading this thread) that the Yaginoshima may be a bit too hard and like you say, the Hideriyama are quite expensive. Oh well, I'll stick with the ceramics for now until something more suitable comes along. Thanks again for the help.

Paul

FWIW I've dealt with WoodWorks before and they're straight-up.