# Finishing stone with some bite



## cheflife15 (Dec 29, 2019)

Was reading in another thread that said an aoto can be a finishing stone that still has some bite. Looking for suggestions on one. My current progression is 400 1000 in naniwa super stones, 2000 green brick, 5000 naniwa. I wouldn't mind a 2/3 k edge with bite though .


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## Garner Harrison (Dec 29, 2019)

I hear the synthetic Red Aoto from JNS does a great job at an edge with some bite. Also the Gesshin 3000 I read is great, so Id recommend having a look at those two and seeing what you think of them. 

Hope you find something you like!


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## cheflife15 (Dec 29, 2019)

Seems they're out of stock. Id also like to add id like to keep it under $100


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## M1k3 (Dec 30, 2019)

JKI Synthetic Natural stone?


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## Garner Harrison (Dec 30, 2019)

M1k3 said:


> JKI Synthetic Natural stone?



The stone is $110, so a bit over the budget of our friend here. A good idea is to perhaps stalk the, "Non knife Buy/Sell/Trade" section of this forum to snag a great second hand stone. For example recently a JNS Synthetic Red Aoto went for $70!


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## zizirex (Dec 30, 2019)

Chosera 3k, Imanishi Tamago 4K, Morihei Hi 4k & 6k, Shapton Pro 2K..

Maybe Rika 5K?


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## M1k3 (Dec 30, 2019)

Garner Harrison said:


> The stone is $110, so a bit over the budget of our friend here. A good idea is to perhaps stalk the, "Non knife Buy/Sell/Trade" section of this forum to snag a great second hand stone. For example recently a JNS Synthetic Red Aoto went for $70!



Doh! I missed that part... But it is just $10 over budget... There's also the Jinzo Aoto.


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## Garner Harrison (Dec 30, 2019)

M1k3 said:


> Doh! I missed that part... But it is just $10 over budget...



I got in trouble for recommending a stone's under 100$ so you better believe I picked up on yours 

A good note is if you live in America, I assume the free domestic shipping/post from JKI applies to you. So you could get something like what M1K1 recommended and get it shipped no cost for only a little over your budget from JKI!


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## KingShapton (Dec 30, 2019)

the way i understand you looking for an aoto ?! Or would you like further suggestions? In that case I would suggest a Shapton Glass 3000.


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## Illyria (Dec 30, 2019)

I had the same issue with my shapton 5k. It just had no bite. 

10 dollars above budget, but Japanese Knife Imports' Synthetic Natural is absolutely amazing. It's by far the best finishing stone that I have tried for a professional kitchen. 


I ended up ordering a full lineup (400, 2000 and 4000) from JKI because I loved the stone so much.


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## labor of love (Dec 30, 2019)

I don’t have any experience with gesh soaker 3k, but I believe it’s the 3k version of the gesh 4K. 4K offers plenty of bite, and it’s under budget.


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## marc4pt0 (Dec 30, 2019)

The JKI 4K is nothing less than spectacular for an edge that _will _bite. 
I have/had the jns synthetic red aota. Not a stone I would readily recommend. I wasn’t really able to ever obtain an edge that I was super pumped about. Perhaps in the hands of a more skilled sharpener it could hit homeruns. 
I will add that I baby my stones to a fault. Like I really treat them well. I say this as one day I opened my little plastic container that held my jns synth red aoto and found it had cracked into like 4 or 5 separate pieces. And no, it was not knocked down or harmed in any way. 

On a positive note with the synth aota, I did do some polishing with it and was starting to enjoy the results until the damn thing fell apart.


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## Robert Lavacca (Dec 30, 2019)

Gesshin 4k leaves me with plenty of bite. Leave it soaked in a cambro tub with my XL 1k. Went with the 4k over the 3k soaker because Jon told me the 4k is one of his faves. I love it. I’m sure the 3k will leave you some nice bite as well. Definitely want to try that JKI synthetic natural one day as well. Have to pick up the 600 first though.

EDIT sorry! Missed the 100 dollar budget. In that case I would go with the gesshin 3k! Or the synth natural and free shipping


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## nakneker (Dec 30, 2019)

There’s a lot of love for the JKI synthetics here, I’ve tried most of the other synthetics so I’m thinking I need to try a couple of Jon’s. I do have his vetrified diamond stone, expensive but probably the most used stone I have. I’m a huge fan of the Chosera 3k.... for what your looking for.


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## labor of love (Dec 30, 2019)

Yeah, I think I’ve used about 6-7 gesh stones. They’re all good. It’s just a question of what you’re looking for out of a stone specifically when deciding which to buy.


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## kayman67 (Dec 30, 2019)

nakneker said:


> There’s a lot of love for the JKI synthetics here, I’ve tried most of the other synthetics so I’m thinking I need to try a couple of Jon’s. I do have his verified diamond stone, expensive but probably the most used stone I have. I’m a huge fan of the Chosera 3k.... for what your looking for.



Every single stone I got from him was very nice.


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## SeattleBen (Dec 30, 2019)

nakneker said:


> There’s a lot of love for the JKI synthetics here, I’ve tried most of the other synthetics so I’m thinking I need to try a couple of Jon’s. I do have his vetrified diamond stone, expensive but probably the most used stone I have. I’m a huge fan of the Chosera 3k.... for what your looking for.



Having had my hands on shapton pros, chosera, ohishi and a few Norton’s I can say that the whole experience of the gesshin stones has been fantastic. I keep lusting after that vitrified stone myself.


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## nakneker (Dec 30, 2019)

I keep lusting after that vitrified stone myself.[/QUOTE]

I watched one of Jon’s videos and had to see if it was everything he was claiming, he spoke very highly of it and I liked that you could go 1500 knives or so before sharpening it. It will produce a burr very easily, on every steel I’ve tried. No regrets.


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## Matus (Dec 30, 2019)

JKI Gesshin 4k has loads of bite. Bordering too much for my taste. I really like the Gesshin Synthetic Natural to get and edge that has a good combination of bite and refinement (I know I keep repeating this, but I really like the stone). Another option would be either a finer Natsuya, Aizu, or Ohira Suita with Aizu nagura


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## nakneker (Dec 30, 2019)

Matus said:


> JKI Gesshin 4k has loads of bite. Bordering too much for my taste. I really like the Gesshin Synthetic Natural to get and edge that has a good combination of bite and refinement (I know I keep repeating this, but I really like the stone). Another option would be either a finer Natsuya, Aizu, or Ohira Suita with Aizu nagura





I’m curious what stone your talking about Matus, I’d like to try one and I wanna make sure I get the right one, I know you’ve played with a lot of stones. I have the Natsuya, numata, Aizu, Aoto and I bunch of other J nats but I still like playing with others too. I’ll add a link, could you take a look and confirm? Delete it if we aren’t suppose to link items from retailers.


https://www.japaneseknifeimports.co...g-supplies/products/gesshin-synthetic-natural


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## ian (Dec 30, 2019)

nakneker said:


> I’m curious what stone your talking about Matus, I’d like to try one and I wanna make sure I get the right one, I know you’ve played with a lot of stones. I have the Natsuya, numata, Aizu, Aoto and I bunch of other J nats but I still like players no with others too. I’ll add a link, could you take a look and confirm? Delete it if we aren’t suppose to link items from retailers.
> 
> 
> https://www.japaneseknifeimports.co...g-supplies/products/gesshin-synthetic-natural



That’s the one. I’ve been thinking about buying that one forever, partly on @Matus’s glowing recs... 

links are fine, especially to retailers that sponsor KKF!


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## Matus (Dec 30, 2019)

That’s the one @nakneker


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## nakneker (Dec 30, 2019)

I’ll get one inbound. I like trying new stones, this sounds fun! Thanks!


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## kayman67 (Dec 30, 2019)

You guys are terrible! Stop adding new stones to my short list...


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## mack (Dec 31, 2019)

I'd choose a Naniwa Professional/Chosera 3K.

Mack.


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## vicv (Dec 31, 2019)

I'll recommend my favorite bitey finisher. The sigma select II 3K. It's a fantastic stone. Speed of a 1K. A bit faster than the Chosera 3K. But the same finish and slightly harder so feels very nice.


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## Kitchen-Samurai (Jan 1, 2020)

I would add to this discussion that it makes a huge difference if and how you strop after your last stone. For me, a Gesshin 6k soaker has enough bite left if I just strop and deburr on the stone. However, if I strop extensively on compound-loaded leather afterwards, the edge can quickly loose its bite.. So, sometimes, less is more.


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## labor of love (Jan 1, 2020)

Chosera 3k is currently $132 on amazon, but I’ve seen it drop down to $100 before.


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## kayman67 (Jan 1, 2020)

vicv said:


> I'll recommend my favorite bitey finisher. The sigma select II 3K. It's a fantastic stone. Speed of a 1K. A bit faster than the Chosera 3K. But the same finish and slightly harder so feels very nice.



I have one of those. Sigmas are nice stones.


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## kayman67 (Jan 1, 2020)

Kitchen-Samurai said:


> I would add to this discussion that it makes a huge difference if and how you strop after your last stone. For me, a Gesshin 6k soaker has enough bite left if I just strop and deburr on the stone. However, if I strop extensively on compound-loaded leather afterwards, the edge can quickly loose its bite.. So, sometimes, less is more.



Stropping is a game of its own. What compound, what surface, what kind of loading, what kind of technique. A lot of stuff matters.


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## vicv (Jan 13, 2020)

I usually strop on leather loaded with Veritas honing compound but very lightly and never more than 2 strokes per side. Any more than that and you're just rounding off the edge. If you need more than that you need to spend more time on your last stone


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