So, I am Shopping for a 1k Stone for Setting Lots of Bevels

I need an economical and practical 1k stone. I need a reasonable amount of meat on it so I can lap it a lot and use it a lot. The only 1k stone I have is a half inch thick Naniwa Superstone and I don't want to wear that out honing a bunch of Gold Dollars. Here is what I sort of narrowed it down to.

Suehiro CERAX 1000, 8.07 x 2.87 x 1.14" $49.99
Shapton Kuromaku 1000 210 ~ 70 ~ 15 mm $48.64
King K1000 red/brown 8.2 x 2.8 x 2.4" $39.99
Naniwa Chosera 1000 8.3 x 2.8 x 1" $99

Anybody who has used TWO or More of these, please give me your impressions in comparison. I am sort of leaning toward the first two. The king wears quickly. The Chosera seems a little overpriced right now.The Shapton I think is a bit on the thin side though I am not a metric guy so the Cerax is sort of in the lead right now as I shop around.

I do have plenty of coarse stones and they take most of the punishment but I really think my 1K Naniwa Superstone is out of its element as I am honing over a dozen Gold Dollars some days. I like to hone in the evenings, sitting on our brand new kinda expensive electric 6 way reclining couch as me and the Missus watch movies and stuff, and she positively vetoes bringing the belt sander to the couch LOL! Now I know the Chosera is likely the best but is it twice best? Looking at the price. I seem to remember them being quite a bit cheaper not so long ago.

From the 1K I am going to 9u, 3u, and 1u film, then .5u, .25u, and .1u diamond on lapped balsa. The gray 15u film I got recently will give me a chippy edge now and then so it is out. Lately I have been going from 600 Chosera to 30u film and then 9u and so on but the 30u film has a tough time of it when the 600 Chosera gets a little out of tune. My stone lapping gear stays out in the shop and I don't like to always be going back and forth.

I also see a Norton Brown 1000 Grit 8 x 3 x 1" (approx) for $56.99 but I became very disillusioned with that brand about 15 years ago when they seemed to go downhill in quality. Are they any better than they were a few years ago?

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The big green brick for me, hands down.
You get what you pay for.

To me the most important property of a bevel setter is that you enjoy using it, because you will likely spend more time using it than the next three stones together.

A lot of people like the 1.5k Kuromaku over the 1k. I used the 1k once and kept asking the owner if he was sure that it was a 1k as it felt way more coarse.

I like the plain Jane, old school , no frills king 1k. Inexpensive if you ever wear it out it inexpensive to replace, shop around ive seen it for less. There also a larger king approx 9x4x3 which would take years to wear out. I will slurry it to speed it up. Only draw back is it’s a soaker, may need to get re-soaked if long honing session. No warping or crazing issues.

Shapton Glass HR 2k.

The green brick gets my vote for mega amounts of honing. The monster King needs soaking and the Shaptons are thin. I use the Shapton glass myself but keep 2 nani pro 1k stones (green brick) in the drawer.

Again.... The green brick, in conjunction with the brown turd. (dressing stone ) as Naniwa calls it. Keeps things flat, as well as used as a slurry stone. Makes short work of bevel setting.....no lie.!!!

I've bevel set hundreds, with it. And have only had to lap it twice while using the dressing stone.
Well worth the few extra bucks, for longevity.

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Originally Posted by bluesman7

To me the most important property of a bevel setter is that you enjoy using it, because you will likely spend more time using it than the next three stones together.

A lot of people like the 1.5k Kuromaku over the 1k. I used the 1k once and kept asking the owner if he was sure that it was a 1k as it felt way more coarse.

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I’m using the 1.5k Kuromaku instead of the 1k as well. I really appreciate its ability to avoid loading up as compared to the Chosera 1k.

Okay, thanks, all. Looks like the consensus leans toward the Chosera and I found one quite a bit cheaper than the $99 offer I first encountered, so I pulled the trigger. I did give the monster 4" wide King some thought, But really I went in to this thinking the Cerax would be the most likely candidate. I have one in 320 grit and it is overall a nice stone.

I still recommend the dressing stone, for the Naniwa. It keeps the surface clean of swarf, and like adding a super charger, to a already hot rod engine. :tu

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Originally Posted by CrescentCityRazors

Okay, thanks, all. Looks like the consensus leans toward the Chosera and I found one quite a bit cheaper than the $99 offer I first encountered, so I pulled the trigger. I did give the monster 4" wide King some thought, But really I went in to this thinking the Cerax would be the most likely candidate. I have one in 320 grit and it is overall a nice stone.

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If a store, where did you find the cheaper price?

I think everybody loves their Chosera Green Bricks. I concur with Mike on the efficacy of the "brown turd" for getting a bevel started, especially on hard steels!

It has been over 10 years but I remember my Choosera 1k was aroud 50$ I hope they have not gone up to much as I need to replace one in year or two. Lol!

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Originally Posted by JP5

If a store, where did you find the cheaper price?

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www.Chefknivestogo.com $80, free ship, don't know if it comes with the slurry stone or not but I got all sorts of rocks and plates I can use if I want to go that route including a little DMT card somewhere. I had pretty much decided I wasn't paying $99 for it. Just seemed awful high for a bevel setter.

Current honing batch is already past the 1k stage. Next batch I might do say 10 on the Chosera, 10 on the sandpaper and compare results and estimate wear and tear and cost per razor. I will probably hand pick the razors to need no coarser work than the 1k. I usually use the red resin type wet/dry sandpaper for bevel setting, then film. I have a Naniwa SuperStone setup, from 1k to 12k, and I have some big guns from 120 grit Shapton up to a 600 grit Chosera but no heavy duty 1k, just that Naniwa so if I want to do a batch of razors on rocks I kind of have a gap where I least want it. The Naniwa SS 1k just isn't aggressive enough for honing a big batch of razors, and it wears quickly considering it is already not very thick. Otherwise it is a nice bevel setter when only one or two personal razors need honing. That's not the case, right now. I have about 275 razors waiting to be honed, 60 more supposedly on the way, and another order of 100, blade only, custom logo etch, in the negotiation process. So the honing is getting kinda industrial here. Honing new Gold Dollars in quantity can eat up a lot of rock, paper, or film, you know.

I have or have used most of the top line 1k stones on the market, of your 4 I have the King, Shapton and the Chosera. It does not really matter which stone you use at 1k, some are faster, (a wee bit) some smoother, (another wee bit) but you will not be shaving off the 1k edge.

If you are doing repair work, reprofiling, you will be using lower grit stones or Diamonds. I do use a 1k stone after 1k diamonds to smooth out the edge of knives and tools to reduce much of the deep 1k stria, it does not take much.

For razors my go to 1k, for the past year has been the King, I have several and pick them up at flea markets for a couple bucks. I think they are still about $20 new. I like the feel of the muddy stone, it cuts quick and can polish depending on stroke and pressure, it is a good teaching stone.

I do not like any of the Super Stones, because of the load up issue, I rarely use my 12k and switched to the 8k Snow white instead, with the same or better performance, and no load up. I go to a finish stone from there anyway.

My recommendation for any new honer is the King, because of price and performance, spend your money on your finisher

For you, that will be hogging off steel or resurfacing Diamond or Low grit shaped steel, buy the cheapest stone that works. There is no benefit in buying a high dollar 1k, because of the feel.

Don’tget me wrong the Chosera and Shapton are nice stones, but after any finisher, no-one could tell the difference, even if you set the bevel on 1k wet and dry.

I'd suggest keeping the slurry really thin if you're going to try to have the Chosera 1k release the slurry. Pieces can get pretty big, and they can cause scratches above the bevel, especially on heavier ground blades. When I want a slurry on my Chosera 1k (which is rare, because it's a pretty quick cutter), I use a finer, softer stone. I have a soft coticule that's great for this purpose.

Also, I know you already bought it, but I just wanted to chime in and say I think you made the right choice. I've used the King 1k and Norton 1k a lot, the Naniwa Superstone 1k a fair bit, and tried the Shaptons very briefly; the Chosera 1k is my preference by a long shot. It's a great balance of hard, fast, gentle, and shape-stable (my main gripe on the superstones). Plus they last a LONG time.

I think I have had my chosera 1k for 10 years now. I have never used it with slurry and never found the need to do so. I got mine from Paul’s finest and it’s really great. I must have honed over 500 razors on it, and it still looks as thick as the day I bought it

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Originally Posted by Euclid440

Don’tget me wrong the Chosera and Shapton are nice stones, but after any finisher, no-one could tell the difference, even if you set the bevel on 1k wet and dry.

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Good point. I could set the bevel on a brick and nobody would have a clue after a full progression including three stages of pasted balsa. I am just trying to maximize my cost and time efficiency. Part of my time with any stone is spent re-lapping it. The cost is the price of the stone delivered to my door, divided by the number of razors that the stone hones in actual use with appropriate lapping. Feel is good but mainly I was looking for a good balance between speed and time and cost, on a per razor basis, with fairly high volume for a one man operation. Looking at the King, I would probably be lapping it after every razor. Buying sandpaper, changing sandpaper, back and forth between house and shop, etc and it just didn't look efficient in terms of time per unit. I will admit that the cost of the stone is attractive, and there is enough meat there to stand up to a fair number of razors. I will also confess to not really liking them very much just on principle and the way they feel to me in use, but I could ignore that if it looked like the best choice. My customers won't care how much I enjoy honing their razors and they won't even know.

I wanted to give the bevel setting stone choice some serious thought because out of all my honing tools, it is probably the 1k stage that I will be spending the most time with. Even with coarse stuff for the heavy steel removal, the 1k will be seeing a lot of laps just cleaning up after the big guns and setting up the bevel for the progression. If I was only honing the odd razor now and then, the issue would be a non issue because I already have several alternatives. They just don't lend themselves well to honing a dozen or two dozen razors at a time.

[QUOTE=holli4pirating;1909597]I'd suggest keeping the slurry really thin if you're going to try to have the Chosera 1k release the slurry. Pieces can get pretty big, and they can cause scratches above the bevel, especially on heavier ground blades.

This is why I recommended the Naniwa dressing stone.
Its particularly designed, for the 1k chosera.

Might want to hold off until you here from Joseph aka JOB15.
I think he picked up the new Suehiro Debado MD 100. It's good size at 8.85 x 3.54 x 1.06.
Last I talked to him about it,he said he prefers it over the Naniwa.
This is what he said to me about it: "Personally i think the Debado 1k is great. It is not as violent as the Naniwa which makes for a better bevel set in my mind.
It is rock hard and you get great feedback as it cuts the steel."

Agree - personally prefer the 1.5k

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Originally Posted by Sl8r

Might want to hold off until you here from Joseph aka JOB15.
I think he picked up the new Suehiro Debado MD 100. It's good size at 8.85 x 3.54 x 1.06.
Last I talked to him about it,he said he prefers it over the Naniwa.
This is what he said to me about it: "Personally i think the Debado 1k is great. It is not as violent as the Naniwa which makes for a better bevel set in my mind.
It is rock hard and you get great feedback as it cuts the steel."

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I was wondering about that one. But I already pulled the trigger on the green brick.

Why not try the Chosera 800?

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Originally Posted by celticcrusader

Why not try the Chosera 800?

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I already got the 600.

Shoot... late to the game. Like several others, I have the 1500 Kuromaku. I find it a lovely stone. I've seen it for $45.

My green brick is redundant now after years of service.. I have my 1k Shapton glass stone in the workshop for checking bevels off the grinder, i'm on it quite often, it's really nice to work with and now feels soft after switching to the Debado... I have a feeling the Debado will outlive me easily..
No point..i'm just rambling

Cheers everyone :)

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This thread is a perfect example of why SRP is such a great forum.
People asking questions then others sharing in their experience. This is how one man sharpens another.

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Good thread guys! :)

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Originally Posted by randydance062449

.This is how one man sharpens another.

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:dropjaw:

:rock:

While it's clear some people prefer other stones to the Chosera 1K (e.g., JOB15 liking the Shapton Glass), I'm curious: does anyone dislike the Chosera 1K or regret buying it?

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Originally Posted by ppetresen

While it's clear some people prefer other stones to the Chosera 1K (e.g., JOB15 liking the Shapton Glass), I'm curious: does anyone dislike the Chosera 1K or regret buying it?

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I have the 600 but not the 1k. Others have commented that the 1k really needs the brown cleaning stone and so does the 600. It glazes pretty quickly and needs a good rubbing several times during long honing sessions to maintain the cutting speed. The Shapton Glass HR aren’t so bad and they’re so fast you can get away with a finer stone than a 1k.

Chosera/Professional are good quality stones that perform well though the finer ones seem to have cracking issues as does the Snow White. There are just better choices these days like those from Shapton and Suehiro. JMO.

I have some venez diamond bonded stones for knives. I will have to try one for.the sake of science. I got them for some edcs I carry that are stupid hard steels (that's what I told.the wife and she believed me too! Lol). I will try one out soon. I find there is very little.similarity between those and diamond plates.

I tried one. The stones are made for hard steels.and load up very quickly with plain carbon steels.

If you want stones for hard steel, that’s what the Shapton Glass High Rockwell (HR) were designed for - the Lie-Nielsen semi-stainless A2 plane steel. They’re about the only thing that can sharpen my Yoshikane SLD slicer, though I don’t like to use my razor hones with knives as a general rule. Some jnats will cut it, others won’t.

“I have some venez diamond bonded stones for knives. I tried one. The stones are made for hard steels.and load up very quickly with plain carbon steels.”

My experience also, they load up and are a pain to clean without removing a lot of material, so where is the benefit?

Barkeepers and a diamond plate get’s them clean without removing too much material, but still not a recommended stone/plate.

If I remember correctly they suggest a sic stone. I have an old stone that I've used for cleanup. Seems to work well. Most of the time a green pad wet cleans the swarf up enough.