# Stone fun



## mattrud (Sep 29, 2011)

So I wanted to compare the edge of a variety of different finishing stones side by side to see how the different edges feel on food.

soaking right now I have-
Rika 5k
Geshin 8k
immanishi 10k
JCK 10k
Geshin 15k
I also have a leather strop with diamond oxide to see how the edges change with that

should be fun and interesting


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## Citizen Snips (Sep 29, 2011)

well, you are going to have to tell us the knife, steel, and previous stones as well as the food you are going to test it on!!!

i cannot wait for the results!!


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## tk59 (Sep 29, 2011)

Sounds good. What knives are you going to use for the test? Are you actually gonna resharpen every time?


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## mattrud (Sep 29, 2011)

I used a fowler w2 and a dt itk aebl so I would have a carbon and stainless. If I used more knives this would of taken forever. I used the 5k rika as a base line for all the stones and would bring each knife back to the rika before testing another stone. I also tested the strop after each stone. Took a while. I was looking at both the feeling and actions of the stones against each other as well as the results. The final results off of each stone are not leaps and bounds different in a sense that they are all sharp. But the stones all work very differently and they all do have slightly different results.


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## tk59 (Sep 29, 2011)

Are you gonna post results?


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## mattrud (Sep 29, 2011)

So these are just some quick results, long term tests and retention and the feeling on products during service would take quite some time.

The rika was the base stone. I would start both knives at this one and go on to the next stop. I did quite a few back and fourths and up and downs.

The rika many people here have used. It has become more of my base stone that I bring knives up to a small burr on. Some knives I go lower and when I need to do heavier work then I obviously go much lower. Rika has been one of my favorite stones, it cuts fast, builds a nice slurry, barely loads up, and is a pleasure to use. I recently used the geshin 4k and that stone is faster and works in a similar manner (a.k.a when rika dies I might have to get me a geshin 4k) 

Next I went to the geshin 8k. This stones basically works the same as a rika 5k or geshin 4k but at a higher grit. And like those stones this one is a pleasure to use. Builds a slurry fast, cuts very fast, and has no loading at all.

The imanishi and jks 10k are very similar. I had to go back and forth multiple times to really get a feel for the final edge. As far as the feel of the stones goes they both load up and build little to no slurry. The imanishi loads up very fast, the jks builds at a slower rate. The both cut and work much slower then the 8k geshin but get the job done. I felt there was also better tactile feedback from the jks, but it is not a huge difference. Similarly with the final edge I liked the performance of of the jks slightly better. Both are well polished edges but I felt the jks cut crisper and would also bite into products slightly better.

I then went on a progression of 8k to 15k geshin. This was the technical sharpest of the bunch, had good but and would glide through products better then any of the other stones. The stone works slightly faster then the 10k stones, it does not build much of a slurry but slightly more than the 10k, it also barely loads. It does load a bit but not a ton. It has a similar smooth feel to the 10k but a much better tactical feel.

But my preferred edge was the 8k. Not the technical sharpest but i enjoyed the way it felt as it cut the best. It is a bit toothier. I have also stropped after all the stones to feel how those results vary but need to do more testing with that. I used the finished 8k edge at work for a bit now I am taking the 15k on the same knife to work to see how I like that. After I will repeat with the same sequence but finishing on a strop.


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## Dave Martell (Sep 30, 2011)

Nice, thanks for sharing that Matt.


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## tk59 (Sep 30, 2011)

Thanks. These observations agree well with what I remember. I'll be interested to see what your long term favorite edge is going to be. Sounds like I need to find myself a JKS...


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## mattrud (Sep 30, 2011)

I can send you mine if you want


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## Citizen Snips (Sep 30, 2011)

thanks for the info, this is a good post that will answer a lot of questions in the future.

i wish you had a kitayama close by to compare to the others. maybe we could arrange a trade for a few weeks 

also, wasn't it you i bought the arashiyama from?? that would be a good thing to test with these because it is technically an 8k right?


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## mattrud (Oct 1, 2011)

I have a kitayama I just left it out because I knew how the results would be. I can add them to it though. And I believe I was the person you bought the arashyama from but it has been far to long for me to remember how that feels.


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## Citizen Snips (Oct 1, 2011)

i just noticed my 2 finest finishing stones were not on the list. i thought maybe it would be a discussion whether to add them or not


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## mattrud (Oct 1, 2011)

sure why not, I could easily add the kitayama in the discussion I just was not adding it to the sharpening I was doing last night, and I would definitely not mind revisiting the arashyma .


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## Citizen Snips (Oct 1, 2011)

i found that the arashiyama could (and did) take the place of my rika as my finishing stone for months. i think i may be one of the only ones who likes the finish it gives. its one of the stones ive found that give a minimal toothy feeling and can shave hair. i found that it worked really well right after the blue aoto 2k. just recently ive gone down to only 2 stones in my lineup but i think the beston/bester/rika is a great beginner set but the advanced set could easily be beston/aoto/arashiyama. 

ive enjoyed it immensely since i got it from you. still one of my favorite lower grit finishers. it has characteristics of mid range and high range finishing stones and that is what is so unique about it.


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## Seb (Oct 1, 2011)

Since all this talk with the Kitayama came up, I dredged mine out of storage and took it for a spin; to be honest, I stand by my previous remarks - it's an effective stone but takes a lot of getting used to and calls for much patience. I worked two carbons on it today (Misono Sweden and Yoshikane hagane) but, I hate to say it, I could've got a similar or better finish with a SS10K in about half the time.

Ah well, it's all in an education!


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## mattrud (Oct 1, 2011)

i think the thing I love about the rika is the feel while using it, the rika edge also was never my finished edge as I would strop on leather with diamond oxide afterwards. That's a big reason why I really like the geshin 8k, feels great like the rika to use but gives a great finishing edge, still have to play with the strop factor.


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## Jim (Oct 1, 2011)

Nice Job Matt! Looking forward to more posts.


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