Ha No Kuromaku Ceramic Whetstone Medium Grit #1000 by Shapton

Product Information

The Shapton Professional Stones are often called the Shapton Pro or the Shapton Traditional Stones. Each of these name refer to the same Shapton series of stones. For those seeking a extremely high quality sharpening surface, the Shapton Ceramic Water Stones meet the needs of even the most discerning sharpener. The Shapton Professional Stones uses very accurately graded ceramic abrasives for fast sharpening. This stone is considered a ceramic waterstone. Unlike older style waterstones that require soaking prior to use, the Shapton Professional stones require only a spray of water prior to use. The binder that holds the abrasives together allows the stone to reveal new abrasive material. Edit: Forgot to add, the stone stayed nice and flat through all 3 knives, no visible dishing or uneven wear of the stone's surface. In addition, loading (metal buildup on the surface of the stone) wasn't a problem as long as it was kept nice and wet.

I sharpen my kitchen set about one a year, but would probably do it more often if I had a splash and go. They are mostly cheap soft steel, but I do have a 6" Shun chef knife that I believe is a pretty hard steel, plus I plan on making my own high carbon steel knives in the near future (nakiri is ready for heat treatment!) A. The Shapton Professional series has a wide range of grits. The stones are available in the following grits: 120, 220, 320, 1000, 1500, 2000, 5000, 8000, 15,000, and 30,000. Q. Do I need a flattening stone or lapping plate for the Shapton Professional Series sharpening stones? A. Yes, all waterstones require flattening. We recommend the Shapton Diamond Lapping Plate for 1,000 grit all the way up to the 30,000 grit. For the coarser stones (120, 220 and 320 grit), we recommend the DMT Dia-Flat Lapping Plate or the Shapton Lapping Powder.Just got this in today, I'll be sharpening more knives with it over the next few weeks, only had some slightly dull kitchen knives to sharpen today, can't quite bring myself to resharpen most of my collection because they were all recently touched up. This stone was bought brand new from HMS Enterprises.