Starter kit for Konosuke Swedish Stainless Gyuto 240mm

[jla_nge]

First off this forum is the bee's knees!! Thanks for all your help!

So I decided to get the Konosuke Swedish Stainless Gyuto 240mm as my first japanese knife! I am going to take the unanimous advice to learn how to sharpen my own knives in lieu of searching someone out in town, can I get some advice on a starter kit? We also do not have a ceramic rod, should I purchase one?

Thank you!

[Kit Craft]

First off this forum is the bee's knees!! Thanks for all your help!

So I decided to get the Konosuke Swedish Stainless Gyuto 240mm as my first japanese knife! I am going to take the unanimous advice to learn how to sharpen my own knives in lieu of searching someone out in town, can I get some advice on a starter kit? We also do not have a ceramic rod, should I purchase one?

Thank you!

First off, congratulations on your new Kono as it is a hell of a nice knife.

As to a starter kit. Let us go through this step by step but first I want to say that you have a knife that is ground thinly from the spine to the edge and is very thin behind the edge itself. This means that it will be quite some time before it needs thinning and also it touches up so easily that you could probably get by with just a fine stone for a very long time in a home setting. Let us look at the basics below.

Progression: There are a couple of trains of thought on this, two seem quite popular.

1) Coarse, medium and fine. This is the basic setup that most suggest. After or in lieu of some people do add strops etc but we are getting complicated now. The issue is the old debate of what is coarse, what is medium and what is fine. In the realm of waterstones most would say coarse is 120-600, medium is 800-2000 and fine is 3000 and above or something like that.

2) This option seems just as common but less so on this forum directly and that is a medium coarse to medium fine stone and a fine stone. An example would be a 1000 grit and 6000 grit stone or thereabout.

3) In addation people will tell you about methods and devices used for flattening and they can range in price from free, to a few dollars to hundreds of dollars. You can use coarse sand on a cinder block, drywall screen or wet/dry sandpaper on a flat surface such as glass or granite, a flattening stone or stone fixer or lastly a diamond plate, which seems to be the most popular.

Stone type: This will be about convenience or not.

1) Soaking stones are those that require time in water before being used to sharpen your knife. These also require extra time to dry fully and that can be a pain for some. Most combination stones are soaking stones.

2) Splash and go stones are a type that you can spray with water and go. When done your dry them off and put them away. End of story. Well, all stones need flattening but we went over that.

That said, Mark offers some starter sets on the site which are great, if you want soaking stones. In that case you really can not go wrong with what he suggests. The Arashiyama set is splash and go and complete and one I recommend. Otherwise you can look at the Shapton professional or glass stones.

Bottom line:

"All in" Set: You should never actually need more than this. https://www.chefknivestogo.com/ar7pcesset.html

More Budget minded set: Also great. https://www.chefknivestogo.com/coshstset.html

One and done: You can get by for ages with just this stone and a few sheets of drywall screen. And later on you can add around it if you so wish. https://www.chefknivestogo.com/shpro20.html

So many ways to go here. Some of the combo stones such as the Cerax are good to consider as well. I am sure lots of members will be by to share their thoughts as well! Ask us further questions, read all suggestions and give it some thought. Think about what suites you and your lifestyle/habits best.

[salemj]

A lot of ink has been spilled on similar subjects lately. My summary would be this:

Get a good 2k stone (or one in that range)
Get Mark's strop kit

Between these two, you should be good for the first 1-2 years, and you can build any progression around this.

[Kit Craft]

A lot of ink has been spilled on similar subjects lately. My summary would be this:

Get a good 2k stone (or one in that range)
Get Mark's strop kit

Between these two, you should be good for the first 1-2 years, and you can build any progression around this.

I can get down with this! I love me a 2k stone, as noted above I am particularly fond of the Shapton Pro 2k. That strop kit is a hell of a deal.

One note of caution, though. Stropping and sharpening are two different skill sets and a screw-up on a strop gets fixed on a stone. Particularly with the options in the strop kit this can be of worry because the material used has "give" to it and can round over your edge and it can do this very, very easily.

[salemj]

Kit's advice is, as always, very well considered and worth its weight in stone.

The only reason I followed him with something much more reductive above is because I thought it might provide a one-and-done answer to the question while also directing the OP to the many other discussions of this topic on the forum (I also wrote it while he was writing his response). But I think Kit is right to point out that there is a lot to consider and a lot to discuss, regardless of how simple (1-2 products) the final purchase will be!

I didn't realize the SP 2k was back in stock—people love that stone. I wish I had one! I would have recommended it if I had checked that it was available, although I have never personally used it.

[Kit Craft]

Kit's advice is, as always, very well considered and worth its weight in stone.

The only reason I followed him with something much more reductive above is because I thought it might provide a one-and-done answer to the question while also directing the OP to the many other discussions of this topic on the forum (I also wrote it while he was writing his response). But I think Kit is right to point out that there is a lot to consider and a lot to discuss, regardless of how simple (1-2 products) the final purchase will be!

I didn't realize the SP 2k was back in stock—people love that stone. I wish I had one! I would have recommended it if I had checked that it was available, although I have never personally used it.

Man, I sure wish I could find the SP2k of finishing stones but alas I have yet to do that. Seriously, I like that stone. It is just a wee bit coarser than I like to finish carbon on, for a gyuto, though. Otherwise I might just quit buying stones, right, like that will ever happen.

Mark notes that he gets the direct from Japan stones now, on the product page. Shapton Ha No Kuromaku but I have stones from "both" sets and can not tell the difference. Even in my beloved 2k. Seems the same to me. My first 2k, an American Pro model, actually broke from being so thin a few months back which is why I have the JP one.

[old onion]

I can vouch for the SP 2K stone. I just purchased mine about a month ago and find that it is becoming my favorite stone also. I just love the feel and the feed back that I get from it.I don't feel anybody could go wrong choosing it.Today,I was sharpening an old Green River knife from my Mountain Man re-enactment days and I went right from my 320 SP to the SP 2K and scared myself. I think my 1k SP will be sitting it out.

[Kit Craft]

I can vouch for the SP 2K stone. I just purchased mine about a month ago and find that it is becoming my favorite stone also. I just love the feel and the feed back that I get from it.I don't feel anybody could go wrong choosing it.Today,I was sharpening an old Green River knife from my Mountain Man re-enactment days and I went right from my 320 SP to the SP 2K and scared myself. I think my 1k SP will be sitting it out.

The way you put that made me smile. I too like to "play mountain man" as my wife puts it. She firmly requested that I shave though.