Thread: King 1000/6000 Water Stones

I learned on the King series. I also have others. If you are happy with your 12K grit then why spend more money?

I've got a king 1k/6k combo stone. They cut really nice once you get a slurry going. I very versatile places to start IMHO. I blame it for talking me into buying a whole collection of rocks.

Buy a nagura to go with it. Makes a huge difference.

Don't know who mentioned being happy with a 12K grit but it wasn't moi! Have an inexpensive Japanese Nagura also. Working long crazy hours performing hospital mnt., I have had more luck with the Norton 4K/8K than the Norton 1K. Then again, I did not realize until speaking with a senior member tonight how MUCH one must sometimes take off of a Norton 1K to get rid of the grainyness and make it work at setting a bevel! Spent another hour tonight lapping the Norton 1K to (hopefully) make it work. Needless to say, the Norton lapping stone leaves MUCH to be desired, and I am glad that I bought a DMT 325 after researching this forum. Fitting in honing between work and a girlffriend is not that easy, but I'm trying!
Disburden, if I can find a quality tool that makes my job easier, then I will buy it. I perform hospital mnt. for a living, after being laid off from hi tech after 12 long years. Work on a skeleton crew fixing anything and everything. Squeezed amongst my plethora of Harbor Freight hand tools are two DeWalt portable drills worth about $250.00, and a $100.00 Fluke multimeter. Even my boss makes fun of Harbor Freight, but then again he doesn't buy many tools for us!
Although I did ALOT of research before purchasing the Norton stone set, after reading how quickly the Chosera sets a bevel with very little soaking, I'm there! The King 1K looks like a great stone also, but I understand that it is a softer stone and requires more soaking prior to use, besides more work to set the bevel. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Am the first to admit that I'm a newb, but am learning!
Still, I have been very happy with how the Norton 4K/8K has honed some of my razors. Still learning, and that is why my nicer blades that were professionally honed are tucked away, and I'm shaving (and nicking sometimes) with my $10.00 Golden Monkey, my $60.00 Dovo, my $60.00 Cowboy, my free Hamburg Ring, my $40.00 Sheffield Herskovitz, $30.00 Jahn's Jewel and 2 vintage Gillete safety razors, when the straights just aggravate me. Heck, I even cross over to the dark side and shave with the Gillette Fusion I inherited from Dad, when the face is recovering from some of the more painful straight razor attempts
Again, great forum. Really learned alot from everyone and hope to continue to do so. Great group of people with a wealth of experience-Rant off!-Gearhead

Originally Posted by mdarnton

I have been using a King 1000 and Gold 8000 for about 30 years for my violin making tools. Frankly, the 1000 doesn't get a whole lot of use except for flattening the backs of plane blades, but it's a fine stone.

The 8000 has been my go-to stone all that time, and when I started using straights a few months ago, of course that was the stone I went to, and it hasn't disappointed me. I still get the best edges off my 8000, not my Chinese 12K, not my Naniwa 12K, and I account for that by the fact that I know exactly what the 8000 is doing after all these years and how to get the most out of it, and can make it do some things that both it and I know it shouldn't. I use it to set bevels, just fine, and as a fine finishing stone it gives me the smoothest edges (I use it in a slurry-heavy-pressure/wet/totally dry-almost-no-pressure progression, back-honing, as I have for 30 years on knives and such). I really don't expect others to get the same out of it, but for me, it's about all I need.

That's the long way around to say I also have a King 6000, and it gets no use at all.

I have the King #1000 for bevel setting, and am very impressed with it, now looking at King #4000 and #8000, but there seems to be more than one King #8000 and they vary in price alot. One is called G3, significantly cheaper, the other G1. Can't seem to find any info on the difference. Anyone know?

I remember having that confusion when I bought a second stone for home recently. The G-1 is the one I have.

Correction edit: the G-1 is thicker, the G-3 is a thin version. It's 22mm thick vs 15mm thick.

Naniwa does the same thing, making a thick and thin version of their 12K.

Originally Posted by gearhead222

Thanx Saitou! I'll be the first too admit that I'm still a newb, but my Norton 1K feels very grainy and doesn't appear to be very effective at setting the bevel. Have had MUCH better luck using the 4K/8K lapping method as shown by Gssixgun in his videos. Do I need to keep lapping with my DMT 320 to get a suitable surface? I took at least 1/16" of an inch off of my Norton 8K before it worked effectively. If the King 1K is a better stone, besides being lappped and chamfered from the factory, I will buy it-Gearhead

The King is a muuuuuuuuuuch better stone than the Norton........ at starting the kasumi polish on Japanese kitchen knives prior to finishing with jnats.

As for razors , here's a good comparison thread : http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...l-setting.html

Sounds like you need to fix or replace your Norton or is it HAD ?

Originally Posted by mdarnton

I remember having that confusion when I bought a second stone for home recently. The G-1 is the one I have.

Correction edit: the G-1 is thicker, the G-3 is a thin version. It's 22mm thick vs 15mm thick.

Naniwa does the same thing, making a thick and thin version of their 12K.

Aha yes, makes sense. Thank you.

I remmeber one japanese seller saying that it's a closely guarded secret in japan that the King stones are made from ground down JNAT Particles hehehe

Dear Onomaru55 and others-Although I lapped the heck out of the Norton 1000 (and may lap it some more), I broke down and ordered a Naniwa Chosera 1000 for around $95.00 shipped. Now, I have only myself to blame if I cannot set a bevel Will still use the Norton 4/8K, as it is working, the King small Nagura, the Naniwa SS 12K and my big Daddy 3" wide strop. Will keep you all updated-Gearhead

You'll probably buy a King 1k at some point too .
Can't have enough bevel setters.