I'm still new at this honing. about a year. I start out with the Naniwa 1K then the 3K move on up to the 8K I was finishing with the 12K naniwa. Come Monday I will add the 5K naniwa after the 3K and lately I've been finishing with the Suehiro 20K. A friend told and showed me the 20K and I had to have one. As he said it just takes the edge to all together different finish. for me it was just great. I'm pretty sure now that I've got the straight razor stones I need so I'm looking for a good stone for my kitchen knives. I'm looking at the japan tool site trying to decide what to order. on the stones for the straights I originally got a Norton 4/8 K and used it once. didn't like it so I put it on the bay. used the coins for the the 5K.