Are You Using the Right Grit? Ultimate Sharpening Stone Guide

what stones are essential for your knife sharpening setup let's talk about grits baby if you're new to the knife sharpening you don't know how deep this rabbit hole goes if you're experienced like myself you probably have gone down too far so that you can't escape hi i'm naoto i'm an export sharpener at knifer i spend a lot of time using and learning about these sharpening stones so i'll be your guide to the world of sharpening if you're new to this channel you can find lots of videos about me teaching how to sharpen the knives on our sharpening playlist as well our monthly live show nauto's nerdy power hour i know how confusing and overwhelming this information can be so i will outline the basic information about these sharpening grids then i'll talk about each individual stones finally i'll go through all the grits that every knife sharpener needs let's talk about grits grits are the size of abrasive particles in west stones smaller the number is the larger the size of the particles thus it cuts deeper into steels the larger the number is the smaller the particles are so that leaves much finer edge so we use variety of grits not only to just sharpen but to repair or thinning or polishing the bevels of the japanese knives generally at knifeware we break these grits into four different categories coarse medium fine and super fine for the coarse grits we use to repair the edge or use it on very very low knives medium grits are fantastic to finish most of your european style knives as well as great stepping stones to the fine stones for japanese kitchen knives fine stones we use to finish most of japanese knives and having a very balanced edge between smooth and bitey finally the super fine stones are great for those people who want to give super mirror edge or super silky edge as well it's great for straight razors having said that not all the same grit stones are created equal it all varies depending on type of material they use and type of method that they use ultimately though that changes how long and how well the stone works well that's why the cheap and cheerful stones didn't last as long they wear fast and they don't cut as fast either a lot is also dependent on your skill but having the right tool is also very important so let's talk about the main brands that we carry each brand represents slight different way of making it and a slight difference in the quality well let's start from the knifewear branded stones these stones are fantastic we hand picked which grit to go in knife or branded stones so that you don't really have to think too hard which stones to pick these stones will work for any sharpening levels from beginners to the export we're so proud those are manufactured by naniwa abrasive the one of the best sharpening stone manufacturers in the world speaking of naniwa here are their professional line of stones formerly known as chosera these stones are a little bit hotter stones than our knifewear branded stones so that it will last a little bit longer it doesn't wear as fast as well so those professional series was originally created for straight razors therefore it is much harder than most other whetstones hollow restones are great because it does not wear as fast as softer stones so that it keeps its flatness for longer period of time and then we have these chapter glass stones these could be great complement to the professional stones because they have such wide variety of grits anywhere from 220 all the way up to 30 000 grit the glasstone series they put the sharpening stone on top of tempered glass to avoid the stone from warping or distorting so that every time you sharpen them as long as you true them the surface flat now i'm going to talk about each individual different stones so why don't we bring the camera over let's start from the coarse stones this is lobster 150 or 180 grit stone this is fantastic very inexpensive it cuts steel really fast but the stone itself wears really fast as well it is relatively inexpensively made so it's really good but it can wear really fast it's great to bring it in the fields and such as well the this chapter glass stone 220 grit this stone is fantastic you don't have to soak them in the water just splash and go and i will use usually use them to thin the blade and also it doesn't leave that deep scratch so it's fantastic actually now for a 220 grit this is great it's got a nice thickness it does wear slightly faster than the shaft and doesn't need to soak in the water for a little bit before you use them but it does cut really fast and relatively speaking it does not wear as fast as other 220 grit stones i also use this for removing the chips or re-beveling reprofiling and everything professional 400 grit stone this is fantastic splash and go it's not as quite coarse as 220 obviously i sometimes use this stone to put the very quick edge on say for example hanko's wu stuff dishrinox and finish leave that edge at 400 grit what happens is that it leaves nice coarse toothy edge that bites into the tomato skin and such a little bit easy chapter glass 500 this is going to be a great stepping stone from a 220 or the 150 grit especially when you are thinning the bevel with those coarse grit stones because those coarse grit will leave a little bit more deeper scratches and these are fantastic to remove those scratches off as well for those knives that need a quick touch-up this is actually quite good before going into the 1000 or the medium grit stones professional 600 similar to the professional 400 grit stone is slightly finer as you know 400 and 600 i don't particularly find much use on this one but it works very similar to the 400 it's also the splashing glow type so if you are to choose either or you can just get one next medium grit stones medium crystals are anywhere usually from 800 to some categorized to a 2000 so i have them all the way up to a 2000 grit here let's start professional 800 grit stone this is great the uh this could be your finishing stone for the western style knives like a henko's wusthof ikea knives that leaves pretty good toothy edge as well as for the nice smooth edge as well knifeware 1000 this here requires a little bit of sulking in the water but it's nice and soft easy to deal with it's really nice muddy stone that leaves very nice edge also fantastic stepping stone before making a so-called kasumi finish softer grit stones that requires a little bit more chewing but nonetheless it is fantastic stones to have chopped in 1000 grit shaft and glass series is also fantastic it's easy to work with it's splashing gold it's hard to over time it cuts faster and leaves fantastic edge on them this is really good when you sharpen them it does have good feel to it professional 1000 grit this is from my personal use i've been using them for a little while a little bit hard hard stones are great it will retain the flatness for longer so that it when you're sharpening straight razors and stuff it does have very very nice precise edge to it um and also when you're sharpening the back of the single bevel knives these knife stones are fantastic as well chapter glass 2000 this could be one of my favorite stones in our collections right here this is great to finish basically your western knives henkel's wu stuff to that little bit more next level i've mentioned in thousand and eight hundred you could finish your knives with those grits when you bring it up to 2000 it shines it just starts to sing a little bit more for the same reason i love this professional 2000 stone as well i used to sharpen the lots of western knives european style knives with professional 400 and finish with this a 2000 grit that made the edge super super nice and smooth for those european style knives found sometimes it's a little bit more overkill and does not last as long but it is nonetheless fantastic edge when you're sharpening with your 2000 grit alrighty next uh let's talk about fine stones fine stones are usually around 3 000 grit all the way to somewhere around 6 000. fine grits i usually use it to finish most of the japanese knives leave really nice smooth silky edge as well as to leave certain bitiness so that the uh it doesn't slide off from the certain types of food first the shapton glass 4 000 this is the grayson i finished lots of knives with the 4000 leaves really nice smooth silky edge as well leaves certain bitiness to the edge bites is great because those bites will cut into the tomato skin or the pepper skins a little bit easier chapter 6000 for the same reason i use them to finish some type of knives the especially some stainless steel knives like vg10 not the not so much with the high carbon steel or the high speed powder steel where these steels are a little bit easier to make it as smooth um with the 4000 uh in order to get safe for example vg-10 into the same smoothness at 4000 you may want to bring it all the way up to 6000. arashiyama this uh this is great this is this stone is the one of the few stones that we have that is made so-called the resinoid uh construction it's a resin based so from the touch you can't really tell but if you're sensitive enough you can tell it's actually a little bit cushiony because it's a resin based this resin-based soft stones is fantastic it touches on the bevel of the knife really nice and even so when you're trying to make so-called kasumi finish which is to make that cladding steel a little bit more foggy and the coarse steel nice and shiny this stone is fantastic when you try to make it a little bit more finer use this as well like a mirror polish use this as well with less mud if there is less mud you get much finer mirrory polish so knife or 4000 stone this is my go-to fine stone that we have in our selection this is nice splash and gold type it leaves really really nice smooth edge and once you get really nice mud you get you could get a kasumi polish as well as you can get really nice beer polish at the edge as well the edge you create with this gonna be super nice and silky slightly less bitey than some of the other stones but it is gorgeous gorgeous stone here last but not least the professional 3000 stone here really nice and hard splash and go this does work like four thousand five thousand type of uh smoothness and polish this as well if you want to get really nice silky edge with the fine stones professional grits are for that let's talk about super fine stones super fine stones i only use them occasionally for those edges that i'm looking for like very specialized edge like um sashimi slicing and agiba that does not cut into the skin just going to flush and to do very smooth cut that's what i'm looking for and that's what these super fine stones are for as well for those who's looking to get really really nice mirror polish if you use the right setup you could get as close to the mirror polish as well let's start shattering glass 8 000 like a other shopkin glass stones this is also a fantastic setup to finish your most of your edge with it gets really nice and sharp and shiny this won't give as much of mirror as the other stones do though but still got really really nice silky sharpness with this one if you were to look for a super silky edge this knife were 8 000 stone is gonna give you really really nice smooth edge this is also really popular stone for those food is sharpening a uh plain blades and those planers you need to have as even or as smooth edges possible it's nice and muddy so that the edge becomes a little bit more rounder silkier and smoother when you're sharpening yet if you like the bevel or edge to be really nice and mirror this tayama is the one for you the ketayama stone like the their counterparts arashiyama 6000 this kitayama 8000 resinoid is going to give the edge really nice more like a mirror polish a little bit of easy so if you were to make the bevel nice and really shiny get the kitayama it's actually pretty good resino is the like a arashiyama it's a resin base they use a resin as a adhesive so it's a little bit softer to touch well this is a chosera 10 000 grit now they change the name and it's the professional 10 000 grit from naniwa it's so hard when you make it a super singing shine and singing edge get this one despite the hardness it is actually quite nice and muddy it's easy to use so this has been one of my favorite stones over dks and i use a little bit less these days because we have a little bit more selection around this grit for those of you who really wants to get your knife as close to the mirror get these um three to get that step up to get the 30 000 mirror polish that edge you get with the 3000 especially for kitchen knives it may be a little bit of overkill i say it because the i am looking at the kitchen knives more for the functionality rather than look but if you really like to get your you know edge that shiny get this you can't get any finer than 30 000 grit if i were to pick stones for my ultimate setup that is my setup first knife for a 220 nice coarse grit to begin the thinning process if there is any chips repairs that need it be done this is the stone next chapter 500 stone this is actually fantastic stone all the deep scratches that you created with 220 will be removed with the this 500 stone then knife for 1000 the bevels that i sharpened with the 500 this will give really nice misty finish arashiyama 6000 for the nice so-called kasumi bevel what happens is that the outer layer cladding will get really nice misty then the core steel will shine up very nicely shaft in 2000 this is my first stone to put the micro bevel on jumps up to knife or 4 000 this is great to finish most of the knives with and professional 5000 this will give really really really nice smooth edge as well as really nice balanced bitey edge at the end as well the last but not least you will need this atoma band plate to chew or keep the flatness for all the stones you have that's my setup i know there are lots to take in but you don't have to know all of these these informations are for us as a professional sharpener and as a mentor to other staff but these informations can be very useful when it comes to you choosing a stone that's right for you so that wraps up leave us in a comment what we might have missed your favorite gear and check out other sharpening gear at knifewear.com if you want to learn more about nice sharpening check out our playlist for knife sharpening techniques [Music] you

Channel: Knifewear

Views: 43,756

Keywords: Japanese knife, japan, blacksmith, knife sharpening

Id: mykEwTerU08

Length: 19min 32sec (1172 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 14 2022