# suehiro cerax stones?



## panda

anyone have experience with these? i'd like to try out the 320 as it's cheap but i could only find one source and they are not accepting payments from the US at the moment.. are there other distributors of this line?


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## labor of love

bump!


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## MikeHL

Tools from japan stocks them
http://www.toolsfromjapan.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=335_404_573


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## labor of love

MikeHL said:


> Tools from japan stocks them
> http://www.toolsfromjapan.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=335_404_573


yeah...for some reason they are unable to ship them to the US at the moment...


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## MikeHL

How about Keniichi aka Mr Blueway ? He usually pretty good at finding anything rare.


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## Paradox

MikeHL said:


> How about Keniichi aka Mr Blueway ? He usually pretty good at finding anything rare.



A big +1.

After a very odd and unsuccessful attempt to buy some Sigma stones from Tools From Japan I contacted Keiichi and he got me what I was looking for. It was better price too.


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## Squilliam

I have the Suehiro 'Cerax' ceramic stone, #320 grit 'double size'. If you love dishing, you will love this stone! It just wears too fast. The particles in the slurry are pushed off the stone very quickly, while they still have a lot of life left. I can't think of a situation where it would be a good stone. It did teach me stone management, but since I got a Bester 500 I never use it.

I don't know about the other stones.


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## pkjames

I was told by a couple of guys that surhiro's cerax line performance isn't that good. Not at the same quality as shapton pro or naniwa chosera


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## labor of love

so whats a better cutting,soft, low grit stone that doesnt dish too badly? atleast better than cerax for thinning?


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## Von blewitt

JNS 300 is really nice.


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## labor of love

thanks VB, anybody tried the gesshin 220 stone yet?


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## Matus

I have a smaller combination 1000/6000 Suehiro Cerax stone (see my review in Reviews section). The 1000 side was rather slow and dished quickly, the 6000 side was OK. I would get something else (better).


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## panda

ok turns out i couldn't order from TFJ because they were closed for holidays. i'm going to pick up both a cerax 320 and a sigma select ii 240. my quest for a thinning stone continues. dmt works the fastest but i really really hate using it and would love nothing more than to find a fast cutting stone that isn't awful feeling. i got to try a jns 300 but it's still not fast enough for me. i'm guessing i just have to suck it up and deal with dishing and go with a soft stone that releases abrasive really fast to get the most cutting action.


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## labor of love

dont do it!


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## panda

too late already pulled the trigger!


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## bahamaroot

Soft low grit stones dish fast, it's a fact of life.


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## labor of love

bahamaroot said:


> Soft low grit stones dish fast, it's a fact of life.



all low grit stones dish fast. soft or hard, in my experience. infact, i think pretty much every low grit stone ive ever used(300 grit and lower) more or less sucks to use, but doesnt suck as bad as diamond stones. lesser of 2 evils, no?


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## bahamaroot

Agreed.


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## masibu

still hunting for the "perfect" thinning stone but I think the diamonds have ended up being the unfortunate winner for me, although I'm fairly terrible with thinning in itself. It can be a big job on some knives and I guess I'm not completely adept at making sure my stones are flat all the time as I guess I get impatient and just want to get the results straight away. The diamonds stay flat and cut well. I hate the feel of them and the deep scratches but it works. I bought a Watanabe 270mm gyuto recently and spend hours thinning it into something it was never truly meant to be. I feel like I haven't done the knife justice (it certainly isn't pretty anymore) and I feel a little embarrassed to show it here. In the future I think I will stick to diamonds though as it seems to be more consistent for me as they stay flat. I'm very impatient and I hate spending time to flatten my stones in the middle of thinning something. In saying that, I've found it to be more efficient to flatten my stones out in my backyard on the cement than to flatten them with my xxc. I have a pink brick, sigma 400 and a bester 500 outside of my xxc and xc dmt--all of which I have tried for thinning. I've even considered getting a finer grit dmt to try as I'm hoping they will still cut fast but the scratches a lot easier to remove (I've found my xc to be far more forgiving than the xxc). Most of my coarse stones I figure will mostly get used for cleaning up the damage done with the diamonds (the pink brick wears away very quickly, but seems to cover up those scratches quite well) until I decide which one I like most and I'll try to sell the others off someday. I wish I could replicate some of the awesome finishes I've seen on some wide double bevel knives. I always end up with an uneven finish and a very wavy "shinogi" which drives me insane. It gets really noticable even at 1k. In a nutshell... The whole sharpening experience has turned out to be rather expensive for me, but I do enjoy it.


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## labor of love

masibu said:


> still hunting for the "perfect" thinning stone but I think the diamonds have ended up being the unfortunate winner for me, although I'm fairly terrible with thinning in itself. It can be a big job on some knives and I guess I'm not completely adept at making sure my stones are flat all the time as I guess I get impatient and just want to get the results straight away. The diamonds stay flat and cut well. I hate the feel of them and the deep scratches but it works. I bought a Watanabe 270mm gyuto recently and spend hours thinning it into something it was never truly meant to be. I feel like I haven't done the knife justice (it certainly isn't pretty anymore) and I feel a little embarrassed to show it here. In the future I think I will stick to diamonds though as it seems to be more consistent for me as they stay flat. I'm very impatient and I hate spending time to flatten my stones in the middle of thinning something. In saying that, I've found it to be more efficient to flatten my stones out in my backyard on the cement than to flatten them with my xxc. I have a pink brick, sigma 400 and a bester 500 outside of my xxc and xc dmt--all of which I have tried for thinning. I've even considered getting a finer grit dmt to try as I'm hoping they will still cut fast but the scratches a lot easier to remove (I've found my xc to be far more forgiving than the xxc). Most of my coarse stones I figure will mostly get used for cleaning up the damage done with the diamonds (the pink brick wears away very quickly, but seems to cover up those scratches quite well) until I decide which one I like most and I'll try to sell the others off someday. I wish I could replicate some of the awesome finishes I've seen on some wide double bevel knives. I always end up with an uneven finish and a very wavy "shinogi" which drives me insane. It gets really noticable even at 1k. In a nutshell... The whole sharpening experience has turned out to be rather expensive for me, but I do enjoy it.


what a coincidence, im busting my tail thinning a watanabe 270 myself. yeah its quite a project and its taking forever. good luck with that.


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## Asteger

labor of love said:


> all low grit stones dish fast. soft or hard, in my experience



Makes complete sense when you think about it, as low grit particles are that much bigger and, so, when they dislodge during sharpening they leave more space - which means more dishing.

Let's face it, sharpening in the low and middle hundreds is never going to be a pleasure.


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## Ruso

labor of love said:


> thanks VB, anybody tried the gesshin 220 stone yet?



I have it. I do no use it that often, since no need for that. Several times I had to use I found it interesting. The feel of it is not too bad, but it dishes very fast, and then its a PITA to spend as much time flattening it. The speed wise, well, it is just Okay in my experience. Also, it's quite a brick, and will last a while. 
I still prefer Norton Coarse India for the punctual work (like thinning the tip), slow dishing and quite fast. For thinning behind the edge I would go to Gesshin 220 though as it's much wider stone and feels much better.

I do not have anything else to compare it too.


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## masibu

Whoops, didn't realise my post looked so huge. Ill see if I can get a half decent photo. I didn't take any before shots unfortunately. I only have my phone to take photos so probs wont get a lot of detail


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## masibu

I spent several hours getting it to this stage. The patina covers the mess nicely though it frustrates me knowing its not perfect. I guess it takes a lot of practice though when it comes to a perfect finish. It does however cut quite well, and feels less clunky than it did when it arrived. I use it along with my 210 ginsanko tanaka which has surprisingly been something I find myself using frequently. 

Ive found the tanaka to be a good service knife which I dont have to worry about. I spent several hours thinning and sanding off the finish and even wore off the kanji (it was my first knife I tried thinning, probably wouldn't have done it if I knew what the hell I was doing). Its slowly becoming a little less ugly to me over time and it certainly cuts well. Ive considered selling it a few times to try something else but I dont know if anyone would particularly want it so I might just see how a rehandle goes on it.

To be honest, I wasn't even planning to thin the watanabe down as I wanted to try a sturdy workhorse of a knife. I was sharpening a knife for a guy at work and when I got home was just in the mood to give it a crack. I probably spent like five hours or so before my hands caved in. I think the next step for this knife is changing the tip.. I find that I really quite dislike the tip on this knife as I guess I prefer something more akin to the ks. 

All in all though, pretty happy with the performance. I swear its lost quite a bit of weight from all the thinning and it seems a bit more comfortable now. All in all, im pretty happy with the knife.. I would have preferred more distal taper on the spine though as it is quite thick the whole way. Im sure I will move on again to try something else that is exactly what I envision as my "ideal" knife. Either that or I pursue knife making so that maybe someday I can just make for myself what I consider ideal

sorry for taking over the thread. I dont think I mentioned anything about cerax stones at all ahaha


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## labor of love

thats impressive. my watanabe isnt that thin but its getting there. im considering selling mine too. its just such a large knife. sorry for the thread jack people. panda let us know how you like your cerax stones.


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## panda

has anyone ordered from tools from japan before? it's been almost a week since i put in the order and not a single confirmation or shipping notification email. i've inquired about a status update through the web site with no response yet as well... does this stu guy just suck at communicating or something?


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## masibu

Ive ordered my sigma stones through him before. Pretty sure I got confirmation within a few days? It took about two weeks for me to get my stuff although I'm in Australia


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## Asteger

panda said:


> has anyone ordered from tools from japan before? it's been almost a week since i put in the order and not a single confirmation or shipping notification email. i've inquired about a status update through the web site with no response yet as well... does this stu guy just suck at communicating or something?



I've ordered through him before. There was a problem caused by the local post office (EMS) he uses, which was 90% not his fault, but he still sorted it out at extra expense even if it took some patience on my part. I wouldn't worry about anything, though my impression of course is that he has a full-time job and his 'tools' sales are a part-time thing which wouldn't demand the response time of full-time sellers. You do, however, get decent prices without the mark ups of other especially non-Japan-based sellers. Just try him again. Good luck with it.


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## panda

got a response with a confirmation of shipment. he was very informative in his email as well even included some tips on the stones that i had ordered, nice touch. even more astonishing is that he refunded the difference in shipping cost because the actual cost was a couple bucks cheaper than what i had paid.
will report on how the stones are when they arrive.

cerax 320 and sigma select ii 240.


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## masibu

Sweet, looking forward to this.. been itching for some more coarse stones myself. Just ordered some atoma plates from the same place to replace my dmt. What tips did he mention in the email?


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## panda

they arrived. sigma is really really coarse, cerax looks pretty smooth. stu says the cerax is thirsty and likes light pressure vs sigma is not so thirsty and likes lots of pressure, both only need a quick soak.


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## EdipisReks

labor of love said:


> all low grit stones dish fast. soft or hard, in my experience. infact, i think pretty much every low grit stone ive ever used(300 grit and lower) more or less sucks to use, but doesnt suck as bad as diamond stones. lesser of 2 evils, no?



The Shapton Pro 320 resists dishing very well. I like it a lot, and it feels a lot better to use than a diamond stone, that's for sure.


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## CoqaVin

can you lap with a Shapton Pro 320?


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## EdipisReks

CoqaVin said:


> can you lap with a Shapton Pro 320?



Sure. I mostly flatten my stones against each other, these days.


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## panda

i have a shap320, while it doesn't dish fast, it also doesn't cut very fast either. i had on loan a jns 300 which had nice feedback and dish resistant, but also not aggressive enough. i'm thinking it really does need to be soft to cut fast and dishing is the price you gotta pay.


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## EdipisReks

panda said:


> i have a shap320, while it doesn't dish fast, it also doesn't cut very fast either. i had on loan a jns 300 which had nice feedback and dish resistant, but also not aggressive enough. i'm thinking it really does need to be soft to cut fast and dishing is the price you gotta pay.



It's certainly not a super fast stone, for sure. It's a lot easier to remove steel than put it back, though, so the stone being a little slow is fine by me, most of the time.


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## berko

i dont remind my shapton pro 320 beeing any slow. its much faster then the chocera 400 i think. but i feel it dishes fast


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## labor of love

Panda whats taking you so long? Hurry up and thin some knives so we can hear about how those new stones are working out for you!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## Mr.Wizard

panda said:


> cerax 320 and sigma select ii 240.



panda, are you using these stones?


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## chinacats

Mr.Wizard said:


> panda, are you using these stones?



For Panda, that was like a dozen stones ago


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## Mr.Wizard

chinacats said:


> For Panda, that was like a dozen stones ago



One of _those_.  What's he using now?


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## chinacats

Last kick was aotos, not sure where he stands now, but he's good about checking in...I'm kind of curious myself.


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## CoqaVin

natural or synthetic?


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## chinacats

CoqaVin said:


> natural or synthetic?



I believe he was using natural aotos, but again that may have changed by now


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## Jpox

Panda; I would love to hear about the sigma 240 as I have been eyeing it as a medium between sandpaper 180 and the stones for thinning and reshaping knives ...
Cheers


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## panda

it cuts really fast but feels horrible, i have since moved on from it.


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## Mr.Wizard

panda said:


> it cuts really fast but feels horrible, i have since moved on from it.



Is it sold already? What are you using now, if you please?


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## panda

i have passed the sigma along, havent heard back on their opinion on it.

my kit consists of the following:

thinning: - suehiro cerax 320 (the only synthetic i use)
coarse - natsuya around 600 grit
medium - ikarashi around 1.5k grit
finisher - vintage aoto around 5k grit

at work, as a 'beater touch-up stone' i use suehiro new cerax 1000/3000 combo stone i found on ebay. good value, this thing is great even comes with a stand. it feels kind of rubbery, but not awful either, decent speed. 

i'm trying to find another finishing stone, closer to 3k grit, most likely a red aoto. i love the blue aoto, but i feel i would be even happier with slightly less refinement. yet i dont want to sacrifice feedback and/or speed.


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## Asteger

panda said:


> thinning: - suehiro cerax 320 (*the only synthetic i use*)



But one. Bravo, my man! :cool2:

Incidentally - and I'm saying this because I think we have some similar tastes - I've ordered a 3000 Chosera, basically as a reference point for naturals because for me this range is also pretty idea.


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## CoqaVin

panda said:


> i have passed the sigma along, havent heard back on their opinion on it.
> 
> my kit consists of the following:
> 
> thinning: - suehiro cerax 320 (the only synthetic i use)
> coarse - natsuya around 600 grit
> medium - ikarashi around 1.5k grit
> finisher - vintage aoto around 5k grit
> 
> at work, as a 'beater touch-up stone' i use suehiro new cerax 1000/3000 combo stone i found on ebay. good value, this thing is great even comes with a stand. it feels kind of rubbery, but not awful either, decent speed.
> 
> i'm trying to find another finishing stone, closer to 3k grit, most likely a red aoto. i love the blue aoto, but i feel i would be even happier with slightly less refinement. yet i dont want to sacrifice feedback and/or speed.



lucky son of a gun got a natsuya, the envy runs DEEP


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## panda

you ordered one just for the hell of it? ran out of nats to try? haha, well let us know how it turns out, i loved the feedback on chosera 400, but i felt it was too slow.


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## Asteger

panda said:


> you ordered one just for the hell of it? ran out of nats to try? haha, well let us know how it turns out, i loved the feedback on chosera 400, but i felt it was too slow.



Yes, but it'll also be a good reference point. 3k I think is where it's usually at.


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## labor of love

Asteger said:


> But one. Bravo, my man! :cool2:
> 
> Incidentally - and I'm saying this because I think we have some similar tastes - I've ordered a 3000 Chosera, basically as a reference point for naturals because for me this range is also pretty idea.



Asteger, I have a Naniwa Hayabusa 4k on order.
http://www.toolsfromjapan.com/store...oduct_info&cPath=335_404_637&products_id=2197
There seems to be some good buzz about this newer stone from Naniwa. Fast cutter and no soaking necessary so Im guessing the only potential downside might be not so great feedback. Even Stu at ToolsFJ talked me out of a Chosera 3k which is more than twice the price in favor of this stone. However, if youre hooked on JNats (Im not) Chosera ofcourse was the best choice for you.


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## Mr.Wizard

panda said:


> thinning: - suehiro cerax 320 (the only synthetic i use)



I take it you like the Cerax 320 as well as any coarse synthetic you've used? I may order one.


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## Asteger

labor of love said:


> Asteger, I have a Naniwa Hayabusa 4k on order. ... There seems to be some good buzz about this newer stone from Naniwa. Fast cutter and no soaking necessary so Im guessing the only potential downside might be not so great feedback. Even Stu at ToolsFJ talked me out of a Chosera 3k which is more than twice the price in favor of this stone. However, if youre hooked on JNats (Im not) Chosera ofcourse was the best choice for you.



Haha, thanks, LoLv. Actually, I don't really know if it's the best choice or not as I don't think I'm that with it when I comes to all the synths out there. I have a Chosera 600, though, and like it, and seems that for 1k Chosera really is the consitent winner, so enough for me to choose their 3k, which I still picked mostly for grit-range. Yeah, the Hayabusa sounds good and I've dealt with Stu before, and he's a good source. Not sure, for example, how much a Chosera 3000 would sell for in the US (and read somewhere that Naniwa has phased Chosera out for foreign sales) but the going price in Japan seems to be about JPY7000 or $60. (Wow, the yen has fallen to the $.) I did think for a moment, though, how I don't recall having heard this stone discussed here before. Anyway, thanks for the tip.


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## labor of love

A pretty big retailer here in the states that alot of people avoid sells the chosera 3k for $118, which seems to be the norm.


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## Asteger

labor of love said:


> A pretty big retailer here in the states that alot of people avoid sells the chosera 3k for $118, which seems to be the norm.



Yeeesh, a bit of a bump up :eyebrow:

It's been said before, though, that while you won't necessarily get better deals in Japan with knives, stones are cheaper. Weight and shipping costs also must of course play a part. though. 

... Just checked Stu's prices. He's raised them a bit. (I remember his Chosera and Atoma) Not quite as cheap as before, but still fair and people would probably save through him.

I haven't done it, but if people could figure it out they might be able to buy through evil Amazon - via Japan. For eg, here's a listing for the Chosera 1k at Amazon.co.jp for less than JPY 4,500 (or US $38, under half of the well-known US site). http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E6%96%B0%E6%BD%9F%E3%83%8A%E3%83%8B%E3%83%AF-SS-1000-%E6%9C%AC%E8%81%B7%E7%94%A8%E8%B6%85%E3%82%BB%E3%83%A9%E3%83%9F%E3%83%83%E3%82%AF%E7%A0%A5%E7%9F%B3-%E4%B8%AD%E3%83%BB%E4%BB%95%E4%B8%8A%E3%81%92%E7%A0%A5%E7%9F%B3/dp/B000CNOXGC/ref=sr_1_1?s=diy&ie=UTF8&qid=1417455474&sr=1-1


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## panda

Mr.Wizard said:


> I take it you like the Cerax 320 as well as any coarse synthetic you've used? I may order one.



Yes very much, great feedback AND cuts super fast, rare combination. Prefer it over jns 300 and gesh 400.


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## CoqaVin

hey panda how is it on staying flat, does it dish fast?


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## panda

It dishes a little, not too bad. I flatten before each session anyway.


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## CoqaVin

nice panda, I am a natural guy myself, looking for a low grit to do heavy repair work, is it only 28$ on fine tools?


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## chinacats

My question is how bad it loads up? With normal clad and then especially if you thin any stainless clad how it responds.


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## labor of love

chinacats said:


> My question is how bad it loads up? With normal clad and then especially if you thin any stainless clad how it responds.



it thins stainless cladding very well. Probably the best characteristic about the cerax 320 IMO is how long the stone can hold water. I can just thin cladding on mine for a great deal of time without adding additional water to the stone. Other stones in this grit range are usually alot more porous and need alot of water as they tend to dry up quickly.


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## panda

I got into naturals specifically to avoid loading, I'm glad to say the cerax is not prone to such annoyances.


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## chinacats

labor of love said:


> it thins stainless cladding very well. Probably the best characteristic about the cerax 320 IMO is how long the stone can hold water. I can just thin cladding on mine for a great deal of time without adding additional water to the stone. Other stones in this grit range are usually alot more porous and need alot of water as they tend to dry up quickly.



I'm up to one stainless clad knife and it tends to clog any of the coarse stones I've used. The ability to stay wet would definitely make this a much less annoying stone than others in that range. 



panda said:


> I got into naturals specifically to avoid loading, I'm glad to say the cerax is not prone to such annoyances.



That is definitely the direction I'm moving my lineup as well. Just need to find a coarse stone that I love and I'm willing to keep trying until I find it.:biggrin:


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## Mr.Wizard

panda said:


> Yes very much, great feedback AND cuts super fast, rare combination. Prefer it over jns 300 and gesh 400.



Thank you!


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## jacko9

I just got a set of the Suehiro cerax stones 320, 1000 and 6000 grit. I have been using the 320 to do some repair work on my Japanese Wood chisels and it does cut really fast, gets muddy fast but, seems to dish easily. I also have the Shapton Pro 320 and feels harder and doesn't seem to dish as easily. I've had to flatten the backs of some wide chisels so I have been using both stones to get a feel for which one I like best. 

I'm still in the middle of the chisel restoration and have moved to the 1000 grit and at first used my ******** *** xx hard stone but while it stays flat I got impatient on some of the 36mm wide chisels and started using the Suehiro cerax 1000 grit which seems to be cutting much faster. I also have the Shapton Glass 1000 grit but it seems to load up too fast when cutting a lot of metal. I have the Bester 1200 grit stone but I get impatient waiting for the stone to soak. I should have a better feel for these stones in another few days.

Jack


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## Jpox

I received the Sigma Power Select ll 240 as a Christmas gift,pretty hard stone for that gritlevel but unfortunately very porous and a bit cloggy so for so for my Japanese tools I'm going to buy the King deluxe 300 as it is supposed to be super hard and dish resistant. I think the sigma will do ok as a thinning stone along side a mix of jnats and the shapton pros 120/320.
I haven't used the Sigma that much yet so a bit indecisive of it's qualitys till...
Good luck to everybody in the coarse gritlevel...the most important and the biggest pain)
Cheers


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## labor of love

Jpox said:


> I received the Sigma Power Select ll 240 as a Christmas gift,pretty hard stone for that gritlevel but unfortunately very porous and a bit cloggy so for so for my Japanese tools I'm going to buy the King deluxe 300 as it is supposed to be super hard and dish resistant. I think the sigma will do ok as a thinning stone along side a mix of jnats and the shapton pros 120/320.
> I haven't used the Sigma that much yet so a bit indecisive of it's qualitys till...
> Good luck to everybody in the coarse gritlevel...the most important and the biggest pain)
> Cheers



The key to using the sigma 240 is to use very light strokes. It is porous but I find that it can remain wet longer if you use shorter lighter strokes. I dont think it clogs that bad. If you want a hard low grit stone that doesnt really clog and isnt porous and dishes slowly I would recommend the gesshin 400.


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## psfred

The King Deluxe 300 is indeed hard and slow do dish. It's pressure sensitive -- light passes if you can wait for it to cut and it doesn't appear to wear at all for all practical purposes, but a pass or two at high pressure renews the surface. It can cut rather slowly if you use only light pressure, I suspect the grit rounds off. A couple firm passes removes some grit so it cuts fast again.

I've had mine a couple years and am quite pleased with it. Got it from Stu, I don't think it's available from anyone in the US, at least it wasn't last time I looked.

Beats a Naniwa SS 220 six ways to Sunday.

Peter


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## Jpox

The stone is so new in my arsenal that I only have had random luck when using it, if the key is to use light strokes I'll definitively try that as the hard strokes definitely chokes it (not clogging it's more like the stone's hitting the brakes) - it does seem to be an aggressive fast cutter though.
Everything from the US climbs almost double in price so the gesshin is not really an realistic option like the king that I can buy from nearby Germany...
Thanks for the advise


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## wphill

Curious to see more commentary about the Cerax 6k stone. Worthy substitute for let's say a Chosera 5k grit range?


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## jacko9

wphill said:


> Curious to see more commentary about the Cerax 6k stone. Worthy substitute for let's say a Chosera 5k grit range?



I can compare the Cerax 6K to my Shapton Pro 5K or my Shapton Glass 8K. I also have an old 6K King and a stone that I got from Japan Woodworker before they closed but I can't find the name in English (it's either a 6 or 8K stone). I need to stop buy Ken Schwartz's place and perhaps he can identify it.

Jack


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## Jpox

I am looking forward to buy and try that king,I've only read good things about it and even the bit slow behaviour can I live with - as long as it stays flat I'll be a happy camper
Fine-tools from Germany carries it so I won't have to wait with shipping... Love reading insider-info as I suck at getting the technical stuff in order when using the different stones, I'll try to remember your info Peter)
Cheers


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## chinacats

jacko9 said:


> I need to stop buy Ken Schwartz's place and perhaps he can identify it.
> 
> Jack



:rofl2:


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## lucabrasi

Haven't used the Chosera 5k, can only compare to the 6k Arashiyama. The Cerax 6k is harder and faster, and leaves a significantly more hazy bevel. It also loads more, but is easy to clean. It doesn't seem to polish aesthetically any more than a 3k superstone, but the edge is far more refined cutting paper and shaving. I like the edge off the stone a lot.


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## wphill

lucabrasi said:


> Haven't used the Chosera 5k, can only compare to the 6k Arashiyama. The Cerax 6k is harder and faster, and leaves a significantly more hazy bevel. It also loads more, but is easy to clean. It doesn't seem to polish aesthetically any more than a 3k superstone, but the edge is far more refined cutting paper and shaving. I like the edge off the stone a lot.



Hazy does not necessarily translate into inferior edge but it does keep me a little obsessed thinking that the two are related. We eat with our eyes, so it's only natural
to sharpen with them, too. Uniform hazy is probably what to look for. Lately, I'm tickled wiht the quick polish that comes off a Beglium Blue Whetstone. Or, a stropping
on leather loaded with 1mu paste should take care of the polish. Good to hear that you are getting satisfying performance with the cerax 6k. I have one on the way.


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## lucabrasi

It's a very different stone than my Arashiyama. Ultimately, aesthetic polish or not, I do believe the edge it leaves is slightly less refined. Either way, I really like the edge. It is uniformly hazy. 

I'll also say that it seems to cut PM steel better than the arashiyama. It feels denser and more aggressive, and I liked it's performance on s35vn and s30v.


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## jacko9

jacko9 said:


> I can compare the Cerax 6K to my Shapton Pro 5K or my Shapton Glass 8K. I also have an old 6K King and a stone that I got from Japan Woodworker before they closed but I can't find the name in English (it's either a 6 or 8K stone). I need to stop buy Ken Schwartz's place and perhaps he can identify it.
> 
> Jack



It turns out that last stone I bought from Japan Woodworker was a Kitayama 8000 grit stone and I like it a lot, it doesn't seem to load up as much as my Shapton Glass 8000 grit stone (I used both today and the Kitayama seems to give a much more polished finish)

Jack


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