Thread: Karasu Japanese Whetstone

That's a very nice looking stone and for $70 definately not an outrageous price. How long had you been honing when you decided to start using that type of stone?

After trying three systems, Naniwa, Shapton and Chosera, IMO, Japanese naturals allow further edge refinement. I also like nagura/1 stone honing. Those systems are excellent and yield consistent results. I've been using Japanese naturals for about 7 years but still have my Norton 4/8K.

I love my jnats!
Synthetics, once you learned how to use them they're easy to use, fast and gives a good edge but somehow boring.
Jnats can always give you a challenge and the combinations base stone - nagura is almost endless.
It's easier when you got a few Jnats to buy more of them, old unmarked stones you can get fairly cheap and just fit them in your system by grit and performance.
But if you go for your first stone and you want it to be a razor finisher, you better pay up and go with a trusted seller.