Naniwa "Super Stone" Fine 1000 Grit Japanese Whetstone Sharpening Stone, NO stand, 21cmx7cm surface (8.25"x2.75")
This fine stone is used for prepping a final edge. This will smooth out the initially rough edge left by by a coarse stone or will return the burr for final finish with an extra fine 5000 grit stone.
I searched for YEARS to find stones like this. Most I found were either poor quality (bad finish, not flat & smooth) or WAY too expensive (come on, it's a sharpening STONE, not precious metal!). These are high-end stones (near the very top of the many lines Naniwa makes), individually boxed (nice boxes -- they make nice gifts!), and bonded to high quality plastic bases with non-slip rubber feet. I also spent a little extra money on these to get them a full 2cm (nearly an inch) thick, since many of the cheaper stones you'll find people importing are just 1cm thick and so can wear down after a few years of use, or worse, can crack more easily since there's just not enough strength in the thin material. The ceramic compounds used to manufacture these is also of very high quality, and so they strike a great balance between ability to cut a nice edge without too much work and still being very long-lasting and strong. These are truly excellent sharpening stones, suitable for any serious hobbyist, pro, chef, wood-worker or outdoorsman. Note the nice large size too -- most other cheaper stones you'll see around shops or mail order in North America are smaller and so are more difficult to work with (and will wear out more quickly), especially with kitchen knives where it's nice to have the extra surface area when sharpening a santoku or chef's knife.
Made in Japan.
These stones are made by the Resin Bond method, which yields a higher quality stone than the old baked method used with cheaper stones, and it offers 90% of the performance of the more expensive and fragile Magnesia method stones. Also, a great benefit of this method is that the stones do NOT require soaking in water prior to use (in fact they should NOT be soaked). A quick spray or splash of water is all that is needed and you're ready to go.
Click here for a multi-lingual brochure (scroll down for English) by Naniwa explaining the use of a Japanese whetstone. |
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