~1K Stone for razors & knives

I've been considering a new 1K hone for a while now. I picked up a second hand King 1K/6K about 5 years ago and it's been my sharpening workhorse since. The 6K has developed some cracks but I was never very keen on that side anyway. I find the 1K side an adequate stone but I'm getting a little tired of constant lapping & soaking.

The 1K Chosera seems to be pretty popular as a bevel setter but just curious if wanting something that works well for both knives and razors would change things. The Chosera is appealing as I can use one face for knives and another for razors, maybe even the side for penknives, to cut down on lapping but I had been looking at the Shapton pro/glass stones too which sound to be fairly hard wearing anyway.

I'm not sharpening any exotic steel just carbon knives & razors and a few cheap stainless steel kitchen knives. My current set up is a DMT 325 D8C for lapping/rough work > King 1K for bevel setting > Coticule to strop. Also hoping to pick up a Japanese natural for after the coticule soon.

In razors terms I want something that I can take directly to a coticule as I do from my 1K King, and for knives something coming from the, well worn, DMT 325 D8C. I don't antipate buying more synth stones in the near future but who knows where HAD will take me.

The Chosera is great for razors and knives. As is the Shapton Pro. Both good choices imo!

I have no idea about a replacement 1K. For splash and go perhaps the 1K super stone, or a shapton glass 1K.

I'm using a king 1/6 as my bevel setter as well, and the 6K side has been replaced with 5, 8, 12K naniwa super stones.

There is something you can have a bit of fun with tho. If you take a container and put some oil in it, then drop the 6K side into it and let it soak in ( don't get any oil on the 1K side) then the 6K stone becomes something very different. You still use water on it but don't soak, just splash and go, And you still build a slurry like normal with a diamond plate, But as you work that slurry thinner and thinner it breaks down and doesn't release any more slurry. It's almost like a friable grit stone if you do this. And the final polish after is comparable to the Naniwa 8K. It actually makes that 6K side a very nice mid finisher. And the final polish is mirrored rather than the standard frosted.

I always put water on the 1K side with a squirty bottle till it no longer absorbs rather than soaking. It takes about 2 mins of prep time to get the 1K side to stop absorbing, and once it has stopped then your ready to use it as a splash and go.


Naniwa superstone 1K £37.50

Naniwa Super Stone 1000, 20 mm on base | knivesandtools.co.uk

Naniwa chosera 1K £45.50

Naniwa Chosera 1000 Sharpening stone | knivesandtools.co.uk

Shapton glass 1K £42.56

Shapton Stones


You may also need a 2 or 3K stone. The king 1K is a very slow shallow cutter, and it doesn't cut deep into the metal. Meaning that the coti's have shallow scratches to remove. The other more aggressive stones will probably cut deeper and take more work out time without a 2-3K intermediate step.

I like the Shapton Pro also. They use a different grit scale than Naniwa, and I'm currently using the Shapton Pro 2k, which produces a very similar scratch pattern to the Naniwa 1k and is faster IMO.

Cheers, Steve

Thanks for the feedback

Iceni:
Even though my 6K side of the King conbo is negleted & cracked I'm still not sure I can bring myself to soak it in oil. The Chosera 1K on Eden is at the top of the list atm. Cheers for the Shapton stone UK link, you don't know of a UK seller for Shapton Pro's by any chance?

Steve56:
The Shapton pro I had in mind was the 1.5K. The 2K might be an option, cheers.

Nope I have not seen anyone selling the pro range directly from the UK, I'll have another look if I get chance.

Pro 1500, £38 + £5 delivery.
Shapton Professional Whetstone - Niwaki

The company has an address in Dorset as well so they may well be part UK based, I would check before you buy.

I really really love my jns 1000, bit higher, but its a beast

Shapton pro 1k and bester 1200 are my two favorite 1k grit stones.

the bester requires a soak, though, and is a thirsty and not-so-silky stone. Neither is silky, I guess.

The shapton pro 1k uses what is effectively 800 grit abrasive now, IIRC, it's 1k under an older japanese grit rating system.

Any of the stones mentioned, really, are good stones.

I just ordered a Shapton Pro 1500 & 5000 from Tools from Japan, £67 delivered. Hoping this will be a nice upgrade from the King 1K/6K. Thanks for all the input.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Proinsias

I just ordered a Shapton Pro 1500 & 5000 from Tools from Japan, £67 delivered. Hoping this will be a nice upgrade from the King 1K/6K. Thanks for all the input.

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Very nice stones I use exclusively. In fact the whole system is great. The 1k, 1500 & 2k are great for repairs & bevel setting & you can start at whichever level is needed. On good condition razors the 2k is my bevel setter.
DaveW's post is interesting. I always likened the 1k pro to 800 grit & the 1500 closer to 1k or 1200 grit.

As a general bevel setter that can cope with anything I really dig the 1k Chosera.

I also really like the 1k Shapton on glass, that's a great stone as well.

The Naniwa SS 1k is good too, but it's a softer stone so I find it tends to load up with dwarf and dish out much quicker than the other two.

My pick would be the Chosera tho, best money I ever spent On a hone.

+1 on the Chosera. I'm a bit biased though, I've graduated from other 1K's. Performance is excellent in every way that I need. Once it gets the water that it wants, its a true splash and go.

I also started with a King 1k. Then I bought the Chosera 1K and haven't look back. I would dare to say its 2-3 times faster than the king, 30sec on running water then splash and go from there vs soaking the king for about 5-7min. The quality of the bevel is better IMO vs the king. What I mean with this is that after the bevel has been set with the Chosera, the edge takes to the 4k better than when coming off the 1k king, this is just my opinion from the times I did played with both for a little while and long time ago, but I could be wrong.

My new toys arrived from Japan today :) . Shapton pro 1.5K & 5K. After a quick lap I tried them out with a few knives and a razor and I'm really happy with the upgrade. My wife is very happy to see it comes in pink stackable tupperware and that there will no longer be stones lying around in buckets of water or drying out over days.

Rather minimal testing in the 12hrs or so I've had them but the difference is obvious & immediate. The 1.5K chews through steel at quite a rate, I don't think it is as fine as the King 1K but the speed is a nice bonus when trying to keep the angle on a knife or deal with razors with harder steel. I noticed a big difference doing the tips of knives, with the King a fair amount of my brainpower was dealing with not gouging the stone.

The 5K also seems a little coarser than the King 6K but the jump between the two seems fine and the 1.5K scratch pattern is quickly removed. It's a much nicer stone to work with than the King 6K which I never really took to. I was surpised by how fine it felt compared to the amount of metal it was removing, I was never quite sure when things were done when moving from the King 1K to the 6K, after years of messing around the Shapton 5K pretty much shouted "I'm done, previous scratches are gone" after a minute or two.

Once I've got the back of them lapped I see far less lapping in my future as I can keep one side for knives and the other for razors. All in all really happy with my purchase at this pretty early stage, they are fast, hard, slow wearing and a pleasure to sharpen/hone on. I will need to get my razor from the 5K to the coticule and get some shaving done shortly.
My King 1K/6K has served me well these past 5 years or so but the Shaptons have simplified & cheered up my sharpening.

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Thanks again for the input guys.