# Waterstone Starter Kit Recommendations?



## efaden (Jun 27, 2015)

Hey all,

New to the forum and looking to get into using waterstones to sharpen my kitchen knives. I'm looking for a good setup for a beginner. I was looking at the Norton Kit. Is that good? Other recommendations?


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## Matus (Jun 27, 2015)

Welcome efaden! 

I would say - contrary to knives there are no stones for beginners (you are not going to damage a stone as easily as you could do with a knife), but there are stones in different price categories and one would probably give different recommendation for different knives (japanese or german, for example). So I would ask - what is your budget and what knives are you going to sharpen with them?


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## JBroida (Jun 27, 2015)

also, your location is probably pretty important when it comes to shipping stones


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## Godslayer (Jun 27, 2015)

My first stones were 2 naniwa from maggard razor a 1k and 5k easy stone. Very affordable both were under $100 shipped to canada. I later bought an 8 and 12 k shapton glass stone and a dmt diamond plate. I'd go find a sale for the naniwa and buy those. I've sharpened german american and japanese blades on all of them. Minus the 1k has never seen the american knife but I presume it would work lol. That's what I'd do though go buy a 1 and 5 k stone from a reputable brand. In a little bit you can expand from there into course or finer grit stones. Dmt plates loupes natural stones etc.


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## Matus (Jun 27, 2015)

(big) +1 on the shipping, the stones tend to be heavy


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## efaden (Jun 27, 2015)

Thanks for the feedback.

Currently going to focus mostly on German knives, although I'm getting more in to Japanese knives. All kitchen knives, e.g. not pocket knives etc. At some point I may "try" my hand at straight razors.

I'm located in the US (Upstate NY, near Canada).

-Eric


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## JBroida (Jun 27, 2015)

well then, you have a wide variety of options.... hopefully others will chime in more soon


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## psfred (Jun 28, 2015)

No experience with Norton stones, but the widely recommended Bester 1000 or 1200 and a Suehiro Rika 5K stone set is widely available and will work very nicely with your knives. Very inexpensive and waterstones go and user friendly. I've been using a Bester 1200 for about a decade now.

You will need something to flatten them with, and eventually will need a coarse stone for thinning and repairs, but those two will get you started.

Peter


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## dough (Jun 28, 2015)

the norton stones are some of the first stones I bought way back when. i believe there are better ways to spend your money but what exactly draws you to these stones? also a budget would certainly help. 
some way to flatten the stones is as important as the stones... cheapest option is the mesh sanding screens but they get old fast and certainly the top end options like dmt and atoma might kill your budget but there are other options in the $60 or lower range(like what korin offers for $20-$40)
i got a lot of favorite stones over the years brands for you to consider: king, bester, shapton, naniwa, chosera, suehiro, japanese natural stone synthetic 1k(was the best 1k and evidently is new and improved but i havent used the new version), Japanese knife import (he sells his own branded stones i have used a lot of them and they are also hard to beat)
goodluck narrowing it down


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## WingKKF (Jun 28, 2015)

A set of Shaptons, say 320, 2000, and 8000 will probably work real good for not a whole lot of money on ebay


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## chinacats (Jun 28, 2015)

I find Norton to be decent stones...as dough mentioned, nothing special. If you spend $200 you could get Jon's 1k/6k combo stone and his diamond flattening plate. For another small amount you could add a coarse stone out possibly wait unless you had a current need. I've had nothing but positive experiences with JKI synthetics.

Cheers


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## efaden (Jun 28, 2015)

chinacats said:


> I find Norton to be decent stones...as dough mentioned, nothing special. If you spend $200 you could get Jon's 1k/6k combo stone and his diamond flattening plate. For another small amount you could add a coarse stone out possibly wait unless you had a current need. I've had nothing but positive experiences with JKI synthetics.
> 
> Cheers




Thanks for all the info guys.

I think I need to spend some more time looking around, but it seems there are many options beyond the Norton.


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## Matus (Jun 28, 2015)

For $200 you can get 3 stone (400, 2000, 6000) setup from Jon and be done with it  Those are some of the very best stones out there and Jon also has a very good stone holder and reasonably priced diamond flattening stone. But yes - reading a little more does make sense.


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## efaden (Jun 28, 2015)

Matus said:


> For $200 you can get 3 stone (400, 2000, 6000) setup from Jon and be done with it  Those are some of the very best stones out there and Jon also has a very good stone holder and reasonably priced diamond flattening stone. But yes - reading a little more does make sense.



Jon is JKI right?


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## perneto (Jun 28, 2015)

Yes.


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## harlock0083 (Jun 29, 2015)

chinacats said:


> I find Norton to be decent stones...as dough mentioned, nothing special. If you spend $200 you could get Jon's 1k/6k combo stone and his diamond flattening plate. For another small amount you could add a coarse stone out possibly wait unless you had a current need. I've had nothing but positive experiences with JKI synthetics.
> 
> Cheers



Agreed you can do much better for the amount you spend on the Norton stone.


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