Thread: Gokumyo #10 000

Dylan and Randy's posts about the Naniwa Chosera #1000 finally lit a fire under my hone savings account and I went out and got one too. Not only did I get the #1000 but I got the #2000 as well (and already own the #3000 and #5000). I have long been mulling over a #10000 and have been putting it off for over a year. I decided to stray from the Chosera and get a Gokumyo #10000. The price of the #10000 Chosera was the same and I am very curious about the Gokumyo so I got that too.

HAD rearing its abbrasive head?

Yes well I like to sharpen blades other than razors too so I thought I would get what I got. I realise that I will probably never regularly shave off the #10000 and will always include my J-nat at the end of my honing, but I haven't done a full synthetic start to finish honing in about two years and am curious to see what kind of edge these hones will give. Having already owned the Chosera 3K and 5K for a number of years I have a good idea about the lower two. It is the Gokumyo that I will post most about. I'll be at it tonight and see what comes of it.

To be continued...

The cheapest price I could find for a full set of the Gokumyo hones #400, #2000, #6000, #10000, #15000, #20000 is 120,650 JPY. Yikes!! What makes a #400 Gokumyo Debado cost 14000 yen where a Shapton Glass or a Naniwa cost a fraction of the Suehiro Gokumyo?

P.S. 120,650 JPY = $1400-ish USD

HONE ADDICT!

Please let us know about your experience with them!

How about your adventures in the Jnat dept.?

Originally Posted by Kees

How about your adventures in the Jnat dept.?

I am still very interested in J-nats. I just wanted to have a set level on a razor before I went to Morihei to try out a hone or two. I can't do a long Nagura progression while there so I thought this standard would be a good starting point to testing different hones.

Originally Posted by ZethLent

to try out a hone or two

I can't wait to read about that part

I just finished two razors on the new hones. One razor went from nothing to shave ready (a Mappin and Webb full hollow). The other razor was already shave ready off of my Japanese Ohira (Japanese full hollow). So I honed it 'down' so to speak.

The Gokumyo has a lot of feedback. More than the #3000 or #5000 Choseras. The #2000 had more of a gritty feel than the #1000 too.

The honing was super easy. I did about 20 laps on the 10K and stropped on Cordovan only. Both razors felt the same. It was like coming off of a coticule. There was no scratchy feeling, and no pulling. Just a good sharp/shave ready razor. A great shave. I could shave off of this level and never complain. I did one side of my face with one and the other side of my face with the other. Both were sting free with both the Bay Rum splash and the Lucido splash. Neither razor had any trouble plowing through my chin area either.


The Gokumyo comes attached to a rubber mount. The size of the stone is about the same surface area as the Chosera, but less a few mm in thickness. I think if I had got the Chosera 10K it would have been a full 1cm thicker. We will have to see how it wears to decide if it was a good deal for a hone 1cm less in thickness, for the same price.

I am happy so far with the results. Because the two razors felt so similar in the test shave I am sure that the razors I bring to Morihei will have the benchmark I was aiming for, so that I can compare finishes off of different natural finishing hones.


And a couple of pics from the honing session:

With this review you have earned yourself the official HAD Enabler Award.

This is OT for this thread, but could you post more about the Chosera 3k and 5k? Since I got the 1k, I'm finding myself wanting one or both.

Originally Posted by holli4pirating

This is OT for this thread, but could you post more about the Chosera 3k and 5k? Since I got the 1k, I'm finding myself wanting one or both.

yes please Seth, fan the flames of desire lest they lick the HAD riddled flesh from our bones.

Originally Posted by holli4pirating

This is OT for this thread, but could you post more about the Chosera 3k and 5k? Since I got the 1k, I'm finding myself wanting one or both.

The #3000 and the #5000 are a lot less porous than the #1000 and #2000. The #1000 seems to suck water like mad. I was constantly having to re wet the surface, even after soaking it for 20 minutes. The #3000 and #5000 feel nearly exactly the same with regard to feedback and weight. The #1000 is nice but the feel of those other two are really buttery smooth and the water doesn't soak into them like it does with the 1K.

The steel removal on the #1000 was visible but there was little or no swarf left on the hone. Maybe it was sucked into the hone? On the #3000 and #5000 the swarf is readily visible but even when honing a kitchen knife and the water is all black, the hone never feels loaded and keeps on cutting. A quick dip under a running faucet and a palm polish will remove all of the dark swarf and leave a nice clean surface.

The edges off of these are a lot more crisp than off of a Coticule or BBW. Under 30x magnification the scratch pattern is very consistant. I would say the edges are even better than those I used to get off of lapping film.

All in all they are well worth the money. The Gokumyo #10000 too I would say but it is still too new for my to say for sure. I look forward to the razors that come off of it.