Thread: Any opinions on the Naniwa Chosera/Pro 600 wrt/ the other stones in that line?

I am looking for opinions of what, if anything, might differentiate the Cho/Pro 600 from its brethren; besides nominal grit level. For instance, I've seen it written once or twice that the 600 along with the 2000 & 5000 are softer than the others, relatively speaking.

Maybe it's just luck of the draw of what internet searches have returned to me, and which blurbs have stuck with me, but my impression is the Chosera 600 is one of the least discussed stones in that line-up.

Originally Posted by Occamsstrop

I am looking for opinions of what, if anything, might differentiate the Cho/Pro 600 from its brethren; besides nominal grit level. For instance, I've seen it written once or twice that the 600 along with the 2000 & 5000 are softer than the others, relatively speaking.

Maybe it's just luck of the draw of what internet searches have returned to me, and which blurbs have stuck with me, but my impression is the Chosera 600 is one of the least discussed stones in that line-up.

That might well be that a 600 grit is also the least needed stone if you think of honing razors.
If you want to set a bevel, the common starting point is a 1000 grit stone, even though I reach often for a 3000 grit unless I need to remove more steel.

For most shavers a 600 is superfluous.


B.

Originally Posted by beluga

That might well be that a 600 grit is also the least needed stone if you think of honing razors.
If you want to set a bevel, the common starting point is a 1000 grit stone, even though I reach often for a 3000 grit unless I need to remove more steel.

For most shavers a 600 is superfluous.

B.

I am in this camp.

Anytime a 600 grit abrasive is needed you are making a razor in the forge or you
might switch to the old worn DMT you might use to lap a waterstone hone flat.
A new DMT in the 600 grit range might chip hard razor steel.

It is another situation when sharpening woodworking tools or camp knives at 30 degrees or German kitchen knives
tempered to a rather soft but durable and easy to sharpen hardness.

If you want to get a hone in this grit range get a decent one and a splash and go Chosera would
be my pick. Gesshin 600 Grit at about the same price looks promising.

If you want a hone for quality kitchen knives ... this would be a better choice than a DMT in my opinion.

The closest I get to 600 is a 600 grit rubbing stone on the 1K Chosera. I use it primarily for restoration bevel setting. It get no use in regular honing. In fact my 1K sees very little use outside of restoration honing.

I have one and used it for removing chips, geometry correction, factory Gold Dollars (usually major geometry correction lol) etc.

Currently I'm using a double-thick Shapton HR Glass 500 for that purpose, it's faster, just about as fine and I follow it with a Shapton HR Glass 1k.

Cheers, Steve

Originally Posted by Steve56

I have one and used it for removing chips, geometry correction, factory Gold Dollars (usually major geometry correction lol) etc.
Currently I'm using a double-thick Shapton HR Glas 500 for that purpose, it's faster, just about as fine and I follow it with a Shapton HR Glass 1k. [...]

Would you say that it pretty much performs completely similarly to the other Chos/Pros; except for its being a 600, instead of say 400, 800, 1000, etc. obviously. Or is there any other property of the 600 which you have found to set it apart from the others; some quality which would differentiate it from the 400 & 800, in particular.

Originally Posted by Occamsstrop

Would you say that it pretty much performs completely similarly to the other Chos/Pros; except for its being a 600, instead of say 400, 800, 1000, etc. obviously. Or is there any other property of the 600 which you have found to set it apart from the others; some quality which would differentiate it from the 400 & 800, in particular.

I can't really say, I have a 320 Shapton Pro which is very similar in it's characteristic (and quite different than the 2k, 5k, 8k Pros), it's even almost the same color as the C600. Above 600, I never used the Choseras mostly because of the cracking issues.

If you're wanting to move metal fast, Shapton Glass HR is just hard to beat, they're one of the fastest options available. The speed is also why many do not recommend them for beginners, using a super fast-cutting stone while you're learning that you're using way too much pressure has ruined many a razor.

One advantage of the Shapton Glass HR is the white color, it's easy to gage what's going on by looking at the swarf. With the 320 Pro/C600, the stone is so dark it's hard to see what the swarf is doing. Minor point of course, but the light color is nice. It's one reason why light colored jnats sell for more than dark ones.

Cheers, Steve

I do keep reading great things about the Glass HR 500 double thick. Lots of people really seem to like them a lot. I will have to keep an eye open for it for when HAD strikes again.

But in the meantime, I have a local opportunity for a very lightly used Cho 600 at a good price and I am rather tempted to get it to spread the wear between it and a Pro 400 which I like even though it wears pretty fast from the usage I give it.

That said, it would've been more interesting still if the 600 performed qualitatively differently from the 400 and 1K.

I have only used a handful of stones under 1k, including at least two of the Choseras (though I cannot remember offhand which). I have always found that anything (other than a DMT) under 1k is softer and/or wears faster than I'm comfortable with. They also tend to have large grit particles that break loose and scratch the razor. As mentioned above, I prefer to use a well worn DMT as opposed to a typical whetstone in that grit range.

Can't say it better than Steve. I can only add that if you can get it cheap, buy it and compare it to your 400 and see which one you like best. Then sell the other one.