Beginner stone advice

[Atrim]

Hello there! My name is Andrew and I am new to the forum and sharpening. I have been reading a ton on the forum as well as elsewhere but still having a bit of trouble pinpointing a solid set up to get started. Learning to sharpen with stones to maintain my newly acquired gyuto which has completely changed by cooking life. Hoping you can help me before I purchase some items!

Would I be in the right ball park to get something like a 1000 and 3000 (Suehiro or Shapton for example) set up along with a diamond flattening plate and a strop? Are the combo 1000/3000 Cerax stones good for beginners & good value? Or would it make more sense to go ahead to get two separate stones? Is a lower grit stone to pair with a 1000 more important for a beginner than a 3000 finishing stone? I was leaning toward a finishing stone since I'll mostly be using the stones to maintain my already sharp knife rather than sharpening dull knives but really open to hearing from those with experience! Perhaps I need to practice a bit with my older stainless knives before I start sharpening my Japanese carbon steel knife - maybe then a lower grit to pair with the 1000?

Very excited to be on this journey and really appreciate any advice you have for me!

Thanks in advance!

Andrew

[telda13]

Hello Andrew and welcome!

I would recommend the Shapton Pro Stones, in particular the 1500 grit https://www.chefknivestogo.com/shaptonpro1.html. The 1000 grit one is good too. I started with the Shapton Pro 320,1500, and 5000 grit, and later added the 1000 grit Shapton Pro. I rarely use the 320 grit since I touch up my knives pretty often. I also have a 3000 grit Naniwa Super Stone. I use this in conjunction with the Shapton Pro 5000 to touch up my knives. I will probably "upgrade" the 3000 grit stone eventually, due to personal preference.

One of the decisions that you will have to make is if you prefer splash and go stone (like the ones mentioned above), or stones that you will have to soak (I believe you have to soak the Cerax before sharpening, but I don't own one.)

And yes, get a flattening plate.

[ex1580]

Welcome to the forum Andrew! What knife did you get?

I like the idea of maintaining rather than sharpening but it often doesn't work out that way. Maybe the knife needs more attention because it's worse than I thought, or maybe my standards for sharpness have gotten too high, haha. It's a lot easier for me to start with something in the 400-600 grit range and get the bevel set, then the next steps are only refinement. The purpose of that first stone is to get all the way down to the apex as efficiently as possible. Anything less is incredibly frustrating. Which stone really depends on the steel you are sharpening and your preference for feedback (or a natural feeling stone) versus just getting it done as fast as possible.

All of the stones on the CKTG site are good stones. I realize this is not helpful so I'll say that you may want to take a look at some of the newer ones such as the Shapton Rockstar (500, 1k, 4k will take care of anything in your kitchen) or if your knife is really wear resistant the DMD diamond stones. Another important piece to the puzzle is that you have a good stone holder so nothing is moving around on you. A 140 diamond plate is an invaluable tool to clean and maintain stones.

Strops are a whole different rabbit hole and I will just say that I like diamond sprays rather than pastes or waxes because they work really well with only a few passes and there is little mess involved. That's all you need to know. But while I'm here I'll mention that I seem to have settled on a 3 micron to 1 micron progression because it works nicely for the knives I sharpen the most. Books have been written on the topic of stropping but I like the first lap (down and back) to be a few degrees higher to make sure the burr is gone and then I feel like I am using the next 5-6 total laps to polish the bevel nicely.

There is always wiggle room in any progression and over time you will learn to listen to what the knife is telling you. Enjoy!

[Mowgface]

I think you’re on the right track!

A 1000/3000 is a great place to start. Even a combo stone with those grits would last you as long as you want it to.

For me the Mid grit (800-2000) was the most important starting out. Coarse enough to get you going and also allows for more repetitions without removing too much steel.

As I became more experienced, the low grit stones became the most important. As I had my skill and technique down, speed became more important.

A good place to start sifting through the pyramids of stone options is whether you mind soaking your stones for 15 min, or would rather splash and go. While there are pros and cons to each in terms of intricacies, you’re new to this! Just focus on getting knife to stone.

[Atrim]

Thanks so much for the replies so far - it's very much helping me narrow things down!

Seems some of the stones mentioned are OOS at the moment so might have to choose from what's available.

Soaking vs splash & go is not that much of a concern for me in practice - open to either! I am, however, having a bit of trouble knowing which ones are which. Seems like the Suehiro are soaking & the Shapton or Naniwa are splash & go? Do I have that right?

My new Gyuto is an Anryu 210 Blue #2.

[Kekoa]

Your Anryu is an easy knife to sharpen, so any of the CKTG stones will work well on it, and it is a knife to be proud of, congrats!

Naniwa Chosera and Super stones are splash and go, while their Lobster value series are soaking stones, but they only require about 5 min. before they are ready to go. Shapton Glass and Pro stones are splash and go, but it sounds like the Rockstar line may be a soaking stone from the description. They are recent additions so I am not exactly sure. I believe all the Suehiro stones are soaking stones, my #1000 Cerax is.

While I like my soaking stone, if I were to make a suggestion without knowing someone's preferences well, I would suggest getting splash and go stones because they will give results just as good and they are more convenient to use. I really want to try a Shapton Glass or Pro, they are both well spoken of lines, and I have a Naniwa Super stone #2000 that does it's job without fault, so any of those three lines would be my suggestion.

As far as grit, I never go higher than #2000 currently, and I think a beginner doesn't need to worry about going beyond #3000, and you may never want to really. A good three stone progression would be a 320 or 500, a 1000, and a 3000. Coarser grits are more important in my opinion, so if you knock it down to two, drop the 3000. Higher grits require more skill to reap the benefit from, and often medium grits will provide better cutting performance for longer due to toothiness, as well as provide more feedback during a cut, which is often more comfortable to use until you become more accustomed to fine edges in use.

Double sided stones are pretty much just thinner versions of single stones so they won't last as long. For most people who aren't sharpening as a profession that probably isn't an issue. I like the idea of single stones more just because (no justification for it really), and because I sharpen a lot so I wanted my investment to last as long as possible. A double sided stone may be a perfectly good option if there is one in the grits you prefer.

[ex1580]

I think the Arashiyama 1k is a really good stone for the money for whatever it's worth. But, it's out of stock too. Well, looking at what is in stock I would go with Shapton glass 320 and 1k. I know a lot of people love the 500 but the 1k removes steel fast but leaves a nice edge and if I need to go faster I go big, haha. Eventually you could finish it on the 4k, or a loaded strop.

Anryu knives are beautiful and a joy to use. I have one too.

[Atrim]

I really appreciate the continued insight & starting with the 320 & 1000 makes a lot of sense - thanks for helping me narrow it down! I can always add something higher later.

I've been over the moon with the Anryu! I'm a pretty avid home cook with decent knife skills but have been working with cheaper knives for years. I ended up getting it on Mark's recommendation when the Moritaka 210 gyuto sold out while I was taking too long thinking it over. All good in the end - I can always add a Moritaka later too!

[Radar53]

Hi Andrew & welcome. Some great advice above for sure. I would come at this from a "learning to freehand" perspective. After some 15 years sharpening with an EdgePro I dived headlong into freehand. I certainly knew the process of sharpening and could already get knives very sharp, but I really struggled with maintaining my angle and feeling / finding the edge-of-the-edge as needed for freehand.

My saviour was a really coarse stone (Nubatama 150), as it provided me with more feedback in finding the edge and trying to keep the angle consistent. Like most people I was keen to get onto the finer stones ASAP, but every time I made the jump I just went backwards. So to try & contain my ambition, I committed to 3 months just on my 150.

With cutting down the variables I got more feel over time and when I felt more comfortable I would move up to say a 500 grit stone. Sometimes that worked & sometimes it was back to the lower grit stone for more practice. Step & repeat. So I would suggest starting on a low grit stone until you can get a repeatable edge bevel. Then try & take that onto a finer grit.

My suggestion would be to get this combo stone Cerax Combo 280/1.5K ~ here https://www.chefknivestogo.com/ceco28.html

It's a good stone at a reasonable price and it performs well. Practice on old knives before you venture to you new Japanese treasures. Beg, borrow or steal old, blunt carbon-blade knives from friends, family or second hand stores and practice on those until you can get consistent results, firstly on the 280 and then with the 280 followed by the 1500.

This is all you need to get started and once you progress past this and are looking for more stone options, you can retire the 280 / 1500 to be your "away" travel stone, so it wont be wasted.

Also watch some sharpening videos here's some suggestions;
Peter Nowlan Sharpening playlist videos <https://knifeplanet.net/2017/05/13/knif ... ne-course/> Peter is a legend on this forum.

Good luck & HTH

[ex1580]

I forgot to mention that those blue angle guides are very helpful. It allows you to check your angle whenever.

[polytope]

I second all the advice about starting with a coarser stone. Not only are they much less likely to be frustrating ("is this even doing anything to the knife?") you can often emulate a finer stone by just easing up on the pressure as you go along. It's also a good habit to get into, to get things as clean as possible on one stone before moving up.

I like the blue angle guides too. If you find that water makes them stick to the blade of your knife when you check your angle, flip them upside-down so the writing faces the stone.