Thread: My jnat bevel-setter / arato (iyoto)

I chased the natural bevel setter for a while but never found anything that I really liked so I shifted gears and started looking for a natural to put directly behind the chosera 1k. Botan works well for this, so does my striped iyoto but my favorite stone for this so far is a Hakka. Slurried it easily wipes away 1k scratches and paves the way for whatever I use next.

I think someone may have misspoke. Just leave it as that and move on.

What you guys are missing using botans and such as a bevel setter is how good arkansas stones interchange with jnats.

Your dream bevel setter to go before a middle stone is no more complicated or expensive than just getting one of the inexpensive soft stones from natural whetstone. Slurry it with a diamond hone on one side and flip it over and less pressure on the other and it'll be ready for a nagura progression or a prefinisher and then a finisher.

Originally Posted by Dcaddo1

I chased the natural bevel setter for a while but never found anything that I really liked so I shifted gears and started looking for a natural to put directly behind the chosera 1k. Botan works well for this, so does my striped iyoto but my favorite stone for this so far is a Hakka. Slurried it easily wipes away 1k scratches and paves the way for whatever I use next.

You use a Hakka on razors? I haven't tried that yet, but just got my hands on a koppa sized one from JNS. I love it. Don't know why it had not occurred to me to try it on a razor. It's hard but cuts well and feels awesome.

Hakka reminds me of hiderayama. I had a hiderayama self slurrying stone that would put a matte finish on things, but ultimately it was duplicated by tsushima, and tsushima has more dimension (even though it's not that pretty - then again, hiderayama stones aren't particularly pretty either).

I ran into mine accidentally, though. Someone sold it to me claiming it was a super fine finisher and that it was hard, and it had been sealed with lacquer over the side stamps and was well cared for. Unfortunately, it wasn't a great stone, nor was it very fine. I thought maybe I was stuck with it until I learned later that the knife sharpeners like those semi-finish self slurrying stones. The matte finish from it was a strong matte finish, no directional scratches that you could see, but you had to work a polish stone on whatever you sharpened for a while to remove all of the matte finish - that would've been quite nice for the jigane of a large knife because that finish would've lasted on the surface without getting burnished off easily.

I have a hideriyama suita as well, and it cuts well but is soft and can dish. I think it might make a good botan-like nagura but haven't tried yet. One day I would like a Tsushima as well... I have a nagura but not the stone. Looks like a good cutter for the grit. People say they are versatile. Only so much money.

Originally Posted by Atchbo

You use a Hakka on razors? I haven't tried that yet, but just got my hands on a koppa sized one from JNS. I love it. Don't know why it had not occurred to me to try it on a razor. It's hard but cuts well and feels awesome.

Yes, usually after the C1k. It's a soft stone but doesn't dish too badly. It will wipe out chosera 1 k scratches and set you up for whatever is next in your progression. Like Dave said, it leaves a very matte finish so you have to be careful because the matte can cover up scratches and fool you.
I finally found a good piece of Yae Botan, so lately I've been using it in place of the Hakka. For me, the Yae is a better option, but the Hakka still works great and I enjoy using it.

Originally Posted by DaveW

What you guys are missing using botans and such as a bevel setter is how good arkansas stones interchange with jnats.

Your dream bevel setter to go before a middle stone is no more complicated or expensive than just getting one of the inexpensive soft stones from natural whetstone. Slurry it with a diamond hone on one side and flip it over and less pressure on the other and it'll be ready for a nagura progression or a prefinisher and then a finisher.

Exactly. I, like so many others, have looked for a natural bevel setter that works for a long time now. I bought a 2K (supposedly) guangxi stone that I had high hopes for but after some time I had to admit it was not a bevel setter (or close to 2 k for that matter) I almost gave up when I came across a bunch of posts here talking about arkansas stones as bevel setters. In the knife world a 1k is considered a very fine stone. Well, a soft arkansas is considered a medium stone. Hello? Can you say natural bevel setter? Exactly what I e been looking for. The small pocket stone I have IMO,with slurry,works as good if not better than my 800 king and better than my 1k Norton. Not only faster than my 1K Norton but seems to do less damage which speeds up the rest of the process. It's a no brainier for me.

The search is over.

Well, one day I will come across a soft ark but today I picked up a binsui to add to the roster.

Here's my coarser JNats. Behind is a extra coarse Atogoyama akepin, very similar to a 2k synthetic in fineness, but slower. In front is a red Hakka, super smooth and in the 5k synth range. Both are excellent, but a Shapton Pro 2k is faster than the Atogoyama, and suita cuts faster and is finer than the Hakka. You have to be careful with suitas and razors, they can drop some rogue grit now and then from pockets or lines, whereas the Hakka is beautifully uniform.

Cheers, Steve