Should we add more King stones?

[ChefKnivesToGo]

I'm wondering if we should add King Stones. Currently, we only sell a combo stone. I'm on the fence. I know some customers like them.

[Jeff B]

How well does the combo sell? If it does pretty well that might be an indicator of how others would do.
For many starting their sharpening journey King is what they hear about most, are exposed to first, but usually get them somewhere like Amazon. I think they would have to be very competitively priced to compete with stones like Shapton and others in a shop like yours.

[taz575]

The King 800 is a good kasumi stone. I would stock that one, but in small numbers. I had a King 1000/6000 combo as my first Japanese stone and it was very slow and soft and dished quickly, which made it harder to learn to sharpen on.

[XexoX]

The King 800 is a good kasumi stone. I would stock that one, but in small numbers. I had a King 1000/6000 combo as my first Japanese stone and it was very slow and soft and dished quickly, which made it harder to learn to sharpen on.

Good information Mr. 575!

[ChefKnivesToGo]

Yes they are soft and muddy so some guys like them for those qualities. The downside is it's not economical to buy just a few. They're cheap, heavy and need to come by sea freight to make them work for us.

[gladius]

In addition to the King Deluxe line, the King Hyper stones are excellent and very fast cutters, on par with other ceramic stones. Compared to the Deluxe line, they are larger, slower to dish, faster cutting but still are soakers with very good feedback.

[ex1580]

I have no plans to buy a King. Never used one and nothing about them sparks my interest. Now, Sigma Power Select is another story. I keep telling myself I don't need one. That doesn't mean I don't want one though, haha.

[XexoX]

Yes they are soft and muddy so some guys like them for those qualities. The downside is it's not economical to buy just a few. They're cheap, heavy and need to come by sea freight to make them work for us.

From this, I'd say no, don't get more. But then, I'm not a successful business man, I don't play one on TV, and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

[jmcnelly85]

I kinda view getting a bunch of king stones as loading up on a bunch of shun knives. They might move, and maybe even snare a new customer or two, but you’re putting yourself in a congested competitive field ranging from your local hardware hank to Jeff Bezo’s army of Chinese dimestore.com distributors. I view something like bringing back and expanding on the kohetsu stones or seeing if some of Ken’s old sources are willing to move some more exclusive hard to find stuff as more “on brand”’ for what you have going here in the US. With the lobster and rockstar lines you have the budget entries covered, and I’m sure the hyper stones are good but are they good enough to get me to switch from shapton pro’s?

I wouldn’t be surprised if it works out but I just picture you sitting on a ton of bricks.

[Ourorboros]

The King Hyper and Neo stones are very good. But from the outside looking in, it looks like stones don't move without bunch of people in the forums advocating for them.
One problem with King is that their line is all over the place. A $20 1K King isn't cutting like a King Hyper. It's hard to make a blanket statement about them like you can with Shapton Glass or Cerax. How many, even in this forum, are going to go through and figure out.

I think the lineup is a problem too. A lot of people seem to recommend sticking with a single line of stones for their progression. It might be easier on a beginner. Yes, if you hunt them down King has everything from the 200's to 6K. But if you don't offer that, then fewer new sharpeners may jump in.

[Radar53]

As for others not sure about King stones from a business perspective, but if you could dig up and secure Ken's Nubatama collection, now that would be something ..........

[ChefKnivesToGo]

Thanks guys. I told them I was going to pass. If they had an office in Chicago, I would buy them, but the idea of importing them doesn't excite me, and we have a lot of alternatives.