Japanese Professional Knife Sharpening Stone Sharpener

So far I've been very happy with this stone. (I use this one and a 6000 grit stone). Good quality at a good price. Have had it for a few months and it is still nice and flat and even. Will update if time proves me wrong.

Edit 6/15/09: I am now more familiar and experienced with stones, so I would like to add a few things. First and foremost, I still believe this is a good stone and at the listed price ($25), it's quite a bargain. I only wish they offered one that was a little wider. I've now tried some King waterstones the standard for cheap but good Japanese waterstones. In comparison, this stone does not cut as fast as the kings at the 1000 grit level. The 240 side is fairly aggressive and cuts pretty fast, perhaps faster than king's offerings. Like most coarse stones (a notable exception being the bester 500 grit stone), the 240 side dishes quickly. The 1000 grit side dishes comparably at a more moderate pace. More importantly, I feel like this stone leaves a nicer finish than does a king stone at 1000 grit. As such, I recommend this stone in general, but I recommend it very highly if you are on a limited budget and don't want to buy any higher grit stones to finish on. The coarse side is probably one of the better stones in the 240 range on the market, but it is slowed down just a bit by it's narrowness. Neither stone individually is the best of its kind (though you'd have to leave amazon to find some of the best), but taken together and considering the price, it's a good combo stone that could easily be either your only stone or the first two in your progression.

In either case don't waste money on stones sold by knife companies shun, global, whatever. They charge a huge markup compared to other companies based on brand recognition and people assuming that a company's stone is best for their knives.

This whetstone is great for typical knife sharpening maintenance.

It can be used in about 5 10 minutes after being soaked in water. However, it takes about a full day to dry completely.

For dull knives:

One side of the stone is 240 grit, which can be used for aggressive sharpening. The other side is 1000 grit, which can be used after the 240 grit sharpening to perform light sharpening. You can then hone the knife on your steel sharpening rod.

For typical knife sharpening maintenance, you can just use the 1000 grit side, followed by some honing on your steel rod.

Note that this stone will not fix damaged knife blades.

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After neglecting our kitchen knives for too long, I bought this sharpening stone to try to reclaim them from their terrible state. So far so good. It has really helped.

However, the absence of instructions in English do make it somewhat challenging since I really don't know what I'm doing.

Also I learned the hard way that rubber gloves are a good idea. As I sharpened my knives small pieces of metal imbedded into my fingers. Not too bad, but a lesson learned.

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Since buying this stone less than a month ago, I've ended up sharpening close to a dozen knives with it. I bought it on vacation, and before I got home to Toronto ended up sharpening a number of knives for my grandparents and relatives, many of which hadn't been sharpened in decades. I definitely appreciate the two different grits-the coarse does a great job of removing any notches from the blade, and the 1000 grit side does a good job of honing the edge.

My only complaints are that the stone seems a bit narrow. It would be a bit easier to use were it a little wider, like a King Whetstone. Additionally, it seemed fairly easy to score, and I've carved some of the edges off accidentally with my sloppy form-though I can't compare it to other stones because I've only actually sharpened with this one.

This stone also comes with a rubber holder for the stone that works well to secure the stone on a countertop. That being said, it only works when directly placed on a bare countertop. The first time I used the foot, I spent a half hour cleaning a mess of slurry off my countertop. I've thrown that bit in the garbage. Save yourself the pain, and use a wet rag to secure the stone instead-it'll collect the slurry and save you the wash-up time.

As a heads-up, the "instructions" are purely in Japanese-but it makes little difference because there are a number of great instructional videos readily available on the internet.

Without a doubt, this is a great stone for such a low price. You can't really go wrong.

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You have to learn how to maintain the 20 degree angle, but it does not take long to learn .... Trust your small muscle memory .... And this little unit will sharpen and hone the best of knives. I now just give my knives a swipe or two on each size grit, and my knives are pristine sharp. Well worth the investment to maintain your quality knives!!!