Thread: Suehiro Stones

Originally Posted by celticcrusader

I think you are reading my question incorrectly, there's nothing wrong with the 20K it works perfectly well I use it to hone hundreds of razors each year, and the stone gets lapped on a regular basis, I'm just wondering does the stone absorb any water as it doesn't appear to.

I've never noticed any water absorption but then I've never soaked it, just spray and go

I can tell you this, I have had one of their 3K stones for 10+ years and will say its a good stone. It is a very soft stone, I imagine it is to imitate clay based naturals. Its thirsty and must stay wet or it will start to clog. I use this stone a lot with knife making, less on razors. Which series is it...I have no clue. I just know its a 8x3 cream colored Suehiro on a cedar or similar wood base.

Originally Posted by ScottGoodman

I can tell you this, I have had one of their 3K stones for 10+ years and will say its a good stone. It is a very soft stone, I imagine it is to imitate clay based naturals. Its thirsty and must stay wet or it will start to clog. I use this stone a lot with knife making, less on razors. Which series is it...I have no clue. I just know its a 8x3 cream colored Suehiro on a cedar or similar wood base.

Soft + yellow\cream + 3000:
1.Suehiro new Cerax 3000 new
- middle soft stone, softer than naniwa SuperStone.
Two mods:
with plastic base. https://www.suehiro-toishi.com/en/ce.../cr-3000-y-re/
or combo with blue 1000 jis cerax https://www.suehiro-toishi.com/en/ce...ax/cr-3800-re/

2.Suehiro Kouga 3000
- softer, with wood stand.
.. Due to appearance it must be this one
https://www.suehiro-toishi.com/en/gyomu/3000/
..no base edition https://www.suehiro-toishi.com/en/gyomu/3000-35/
I bouight my stone there Suehiro 'Kouga' #3000 finishing stone. Small. : Tools from Japan, Japanese woodworking tools direct from Japan.
name "kouga" -- the same source.

3.Suehiro SKG
(double sided: 1000 + 3000) - cheapest one. I didn't use it - don't know about it. It's a softer than cerax new and not so pure was said.
https://www.suehiro-toishi.com/en/kitchen/skg-43/

For someones HAD:

Suehiro G-8 8000 GC
is quite nice stone , especially for knives with rouge carbide structure (didn' luck with VG-10 knives).
need to be soaked, soft stone..
like nani superstone in hardness or softer, but not so loose as cerax 1000\3000 - it's a lightweight stone with dense surface.
[rus] Suehiro G-8 GC (-- pics of a cutting edge)

I use Cerax 8080 for razors instead because.. yup.. to greedy.
Bit softer, bit loose, need to be soaked. WA insted GC
I don't like nani - too dense and too plastic tactile feelings.

From GMN i like the most GMN-150 because it's easiest to use among all three of GMN stones:
sometimes they work rouger and make ugly scratches --that happens because their density and hardness.
Make surface clean from greese and smooth, less pressure, higher accuracy - hellps to solve.
But looks like i don't need it(GMN-150) for knives or chisels. For razors - I have naturals.
8000 jis is enought for me. +\- nat. finish, of course

=======
Debado series
https://www.suehiro-toishi.com/en/un...bado-3-series/
too greedy to buy it -_-
It's a new series that started ..this year as i remember.
Splash'n'Go.
Ryou, Taiga, etc - no info. All i have: it's not a GMN stones.

New Kouseki
https://www.suehiro-toishi.com/en/kouseki/srk-10000/
omg.. just saw a moment ago.


So.. deluxe, chemical, kitchen series - it's about rouge or cheap stones.
Looks like - that's all.

Originally Posted by Botanic

Soft + yellow\cream + 3000:
1.Suehiro new Cerax 3000 new
- middle soft stone, softer than naniwa SuperStone.
Two mods:
with plastic base. https://www.suehiro-toishi.com/en/ce.../cr-3000-y-re/
or combo with blue 1000 jis cerax https://www.suehiro-toishi.com/en/ce...ax/cr-3800-re/

2.Suehiro Kouga 3000
- softer, with wood stand.
.. Due to appearance it must be this one
https://www.suehiro-toishi.com/en/gyomu/3000/
..no base edition https://www.suehiro-toishi.com/en/gyomu/3000-35/
I bouight my stone there Suehiro 'Kouga' #3000 finishing stone. Small. : Tools from Japan, Japanese woodworking tools direct from Japan.
name "kouga" -- the same source.

3.Suehiro SKG
(double sided: 1000 + 3000) - cheapest one. I didn't use it - don't know about it. It's a softer than cerax new and not so pure was said.
https://www.suehiro-toishi.com/en/kitchen/skg-43/

Yes, the Suehiro Kouga 3000 is it.

Update 2/3:

I got my second Suehiro stone in today! Woot!



It’s a 280/1,000 combo stone.

Comes with a nice little rubber thing to hold her down. It’s a nice touch.




Anyway, I of course decided to lap it right away. When I wet the 280 side, this is what I saw.



It was kind of odd, and I can’t think of any reason why the center would soak up so much moisture compared to the sides. Really odd. I’ll make sure to soak and lap it a few more times. In spite of this though it cut like a champ! I SO like the feel of these stones over the Nani’s. But the Nani’s have done me justice for a while, so I got to see how these act over time.



One thing is for sure, both of these stones are small. This one however is an odd size compared to the rectangular shapes I’m used to. It’s approximately a 4 x 3 stone. And I loved it. I did a small pairing knife and a 6” chef knife to test it out - the size is awesome!

I wonder if the rectangle shaped stone is a take-off of quarried stone or something, because this shape works! You’d think every synthetic maker would sell one this size/shape.


Pretty happy. And if USPS is to be believed, my “Dual Stones” will arrive tomorrow! I can’t wait lol. It’s like Christmas.

I love how diverse we all are! I for one only like stones 8" or longer. Looks like HAD is strong in you at this time!

Originally Posted by ScottGoodman

I love how diverse we all are! I for one only like stones 8" or longer. Looks like HAD is strong in you at this time!

The HAD never goes away... it lingers. It bides it’s time. It tells me that these stones larger siblings must surely be worthy too. Lol, it is a sickness.

Dude, I SO get the 8” thing. As do so many... others. Damn it’s hard not to insert a joke here lol. But anyway, the fact is, I was poor for what seems like my entire 20’s. So I hiked and camped, a lot! I did almost all of the Appalachian trail, Vancouver Island, the Great Lakes region - you get the picture by 30. All I had was a crappy set of 1.5” x 5” Arks during that whole time. I learned to love palm honing.

I have 8” stones. I like em. And I’ll get more. But my Arks and my diamond stones are all 6x2’s by design. I prefer em. I guess that is odd now that I think about it. I really don’t need portability anymore lol.

Originally Posted by markbignosekelly

I've never noticed any water absorption but then I've never soaked it, just spray and go

That's interesting - now don't get me wrong, I have no idea what I'm talking about because, well, I don't have one, but here goes.

Back when I got my Nani's, I used to soak my stones before honing. They worked great. Then one day my combo stone, my 3/8K started to separate and warp. I was told to stop soaking by the vendor, so I did.

Worst advise ever. My Nani's do not cut worth a darn when they are just sprayed down vs. soaked. I had bad hone after bad hone just spraying. The difference in performance for me, when I soak my Nani's vs. spray them is freaking HUGE. I only figured that out after mistakenly soaking a stone again when I got distracted. I'll never not soak a stone again. But that's me... I am NO honester! I'm just a guy with some stuff that makes other stuff sharp if I do my part lol.

That said, the set that I got here, the "Oil/Water" stones, as dense as they reportedly are will be submerged for long periods of time before use. Unless I switch to a vegetable oil. We'll see. All I'm trying to say is I'm a saturation whore. I like em wet!

The SG20k surely doesn't seem to absorb any water at all, or if so, it's approximately what botanic described as 0.3mm into the surface, or effectively nil.

My Naniwa Super Stones have all warped away from their (crappy, plastic) bases using the necessary 5 minute soak. No cracking or crazing, and I always do about half a dozen figure-8s with the DMT325 prior to use, so they have managed to stay pretty much flat at the working surface.