# Course stone and/or Atoma



## Cookiemonster (Mar 21, 2016)

Hi!

Today I have a Bester 1200 and a Suehiro Rika 5000. As of yet I never really needed to thin, ground out a deep chip or re-profile etc - and I also regularly maintain my knifes and therefore never really needed any thing more coarse than my 1200. But sometimes when I help my mom or my uncle or some friends with their (super)dull knifes I wish I had a more coarse stone. Thing is, I was planing to buy an Atoma 400 or 600 anyway to flatten my stones - you guys think the Atoma will be enough for initial sharpening or should I get a 400 or 700 stone that has more 'feel' to it? And what 400-700 stones to you recommend? I live in Sweden so I would prefer a European vendor. 

Thx


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## ThEoRy (Mar 21, 2016)

If I were you I would get the atoma 140 for flattening and look at the jns 300 for a low grit since Maxim is a Euro vendor.


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## Cookiemonster (Mar 21, 2016)

I actually made up my mind after watching some youtube vids'. I'm going to get the Atoma 400 and use it as both my coarse stone and stone-flattener, I'll save some money. I just got twins and need a new car and I have a load of other hobbies :laugh: I'm also worried that flattening my 1200 and 5000 with a 140 Atoma will leave a too rough surface and might take of more material than needed. 
And Maxim has some good products and seems like a stand up guy, but his prices on the Atoma plates are almost 100% more than some other European vendors I've looked at.


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## Jovidah (Mar 21, 2016)

I'm not entirely sure whether using an Atoma as a coarse stone actually saves money; I think most people who used diamond plates for thinning commented how they tended to died a lot faster due to the diamonds popping out.
And yeah JNS definitly isn't the cheapest source for Atoma in Europe. I think fine-tools / feine-werkzeuge is the cheapest. Unless you want to play customs lottery of course.


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## Cookiemonster (Mar 21, 2016)

Jovidah said:


> I'm not entirely sure whether using an Atoma as a coarse stone actually saves money; I think most people who used diamond plates for thinning commented how they tended to died a lot faster due to the diamonds popping out.
> And yeah JNS definitly isn't the cheapest source for Atoma in Europe. I think fine-tools / feine-werkzeuge is the cheapest. Unless you want to play customs lottery of course.



You're right, I've read some comments about the plates loosing their bite - but from what I've gathered the Atoma seems to be the best of the bunch. And yes, I was looking at fine-tools  Thing is, I don't have a bunch of super expensive singel-beveled yanagibas or powdered stainless steel knifes - I will flatten my stones once a month and rarely use it as a coarse stone when helping a friend out and than take it to the 1200 bester. I just think I will start with the Atoma because I always wanted to try one out and than maybe add some kind of 300-400 stone later on. The JNS 300 looks good because its a splash-and-go and I've heard good things about it, I actually regret that I didn't just get a 1000 and a 6000 splash-and-go from the beginning - the bester 1200 needs a good 10 min soak and it can be annoying when I forgot that my knife needs a quick sharpening :knife:


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## Jovidah (Mar 21, 2016)

I feel your pain; something like a coarse stone is not something you want to sink money in when you rarely use it. 
I'm not sure if there really is an economical solution; pretty much all decent coarse stones are still around 50 euros (regardless of whether Naniwa, Sigma, Imanishi, JNS, Shapton). Only thing I can think of that is relatively cheap are the coarser King stones (240,300), but I have no idea whether those are any good.


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## Cookiemonster (Mar 21, 2016)

Jovidah said:


> I feel your pain; something like a coarse stone is not something you want to sink money in when you rarely use it.
> I'm not sure if there really is an economical solution; pretty much all decent coarse stones are still around 50 euros (regardless of whether Naniwa, Sigma, Imanishi, JNS, Shapton). Only thing I can think of that is relatively cheap are the coarser King stones (240,300), but I have no idea whether those are any good.



It's not only the economical situation  If I'm going to use a coarse stone 3-4 times a year than the Atoma will do just fine. But yeah, my girlfriend is getting quite bewildered about some of the kitchen gadgets I buy - we have 2 Teflon pans, 2 Ceramic pans, 3 De Buyer carbon pans, 1 cast iron pan and 1 28cm stainless De buyer Affinity. The other day I was like "honey, I think we might need a 24cm stainless pan because 'reasons'" :laugh:


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## Jovidah (Mar 21, 2016)

Haha... I completely understand your 'problem':







I also own a total of 7 fry pans... and could easily think of a few that I'd like to add to that collection.


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## Nife (Mar 22, 2016)

You need more than one cast iron pan, particularly if you like steaks, burgers, and chops.


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## daveb (Mar 22, 2016)

Cookiemonster said:


> ... my girlfriend is getting quite bewildered about some of the kitchen gadgets I buy - we have 2 Teflon pans, 2 Ceramic pans, 3 De Buyer carbon pans, 1 cast iron pan and 1 28cm stainless De buyer Affinity. The other day I was like "honey, I think we might need a 24cm stainless pan because 'reasons'" :laugh:



Make her food. Mind blowing, awesome food. Several times. Then casually drop that this is what you can do with your new stuff.

Or take the tried, true and easy route - buy her a purse.


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## spoiledbroth (Mar 22, 2016)

Jovidah said:


> Haha... I completely understand your 'problem':
> 
> 
> 
> ...



put your soy sauce in the fridge stat!


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## aboynamedsuita (Mar 22, 2016)

:whistling: I have close to 30 pans from SS, non stick, CI and CS. Trying hard not to start collecting vintage Griswold and wags


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## strumke (Mar 22, 2016)

spoiledbroth said:


> put your soy sauce in the fridge stat!



You need to refrigerate soy sauce?


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## psfred (Mar 22, 2016)

Lol, I replaced my mother's junk Farberware with Tramontina, then proceeded to start collecting copper instead. It's funny how cheap you can get good copper when someone has scrubbed all the tin out with green ScotchBrite thinking it should stay shiny.....

Re-tinning is cheap and easy with a turkey fryer burner, saves me a pile of money.

Peter


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## Jovidah (Mar 23, 2016)

Nife said:


> You need more than one cast iron pan, particularly if you like steaks, burgers, and chops.


I honestly don't see what the fuss is all about with cast iron pans. I have a big casserole and like it only because of the enamel.... but if they made cast aluminium enamelled pots I'd far prefer them. Cast iron has bad heat conductivity (so easily develops hot spots) and it reacts really slowly. For all of my meat work the carbon steel pans and stainless ones work great.



spoiledbroth said:


> put your soy sauce in the fridge stat!


Wha? You have to refrigerate that stuff? 
Actually most of that is still closed...but I've never put soy sauce, oyster sauce or fish sauce in a fridge... should I? :scratchhead:


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## Cookiemonster (Mar 23, 2016)

Jovidah said:


> I honestly don't see what the fuss is all about with cast iron pans. I have a big casserole and like it only because of the enamel.... but if they made cast aluminium enamelled pots I'd far prefer them. Cast iron has bad heat conductivity (so easily develops hot spots) and it reacts really slowly. For all of my meat work the carbon steel pans and stainless ones work great.
> 
> 
> Wha? You have to refrigerate that stuff?
> Actually most of that is still closed...but I've never put soy sauce, oyster sauce or fish sauce in a fridge... should I? :scratchhead:



I also have enamel Staub's, but a cast iron pan beats everything when cooking steaks imho. 
And yeah, not sure about keeping soy, fish sauce and oyster sauce in the fridge - but after I open them I keep them in the fridge just to be safe. But than again, I've been eating on the streets in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, China etc like 1000 times and never got sick - so it's most probably safe. It's just when you're back home in the 'west', you think more in terms of western hygiene :doublethumbsup:


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## Cookiemonster (Mar 23, 2016)

tjangula said:


> :whistling: I have close to 30 pans from SS, non stick, CI and CS. Trying hard not to start collecting vintage Griswold and wags



I'm a minimalist, I try to get by with as little as possible :lol2: Than again, only 'foodies' think that having 9 pans and looking at buying yet another one is minimalistic - most probably have 2 teflon pans and call it a day.


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## Mucho Bocho (Mar 23, 2016)

FWIW, I picked up a Blackline pan from SpringUSA and love it. I've only cooked on it a couple of times but it seems to heat up faster than my debuyer's. Its got a really nice Lyionase shape but is taller than the DB. I really like the smooth black finish and rivets design. I like it.

http://www.wasserstrom.com/restaura...&maxResults=20&rankBy=&search_field=blackline


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## daveb (Mar 23, 2016)

Cannot Dennis! Every time you log in it costs me money.... The only dB I want but don't have is the fryer. May have to try this.


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## Mucho Bocho (Mar 23, 2016)

HA that made me laugh. I got the 11" and really like the size


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## Nife (Mar 23, 2016)

I warped the heck out of my Wagner, but it is still usable on gas stove. My large label Griswold is thinner and lighter, and more resistant to warping. I hate the Le Creuset that I bought a couple of years ago and have only used it five times. Corn beef, brisket, stews and a meaty minestrone soup come out much better in my All Clad pot. I could become a Military cook or Prison Chef with the cuisine I produce in my Le Creuset. I wish that I could sell it, and it is a very attractive pot. Unfortunately I don't make popcorn, and on perhaps the most entertaining thread on any knife forum, learned that Dave makes very good popcorn in his Le Creuset.


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## panda (Mar 24, 2016)

Mucho Bocho said:


> HA that made me laugh. I got the 11" and really like the size



insert joke here


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## Jovidah (Mar 24, 2016)

Cookiemonster said:


> I also have enamel Staub's, but a cast iron pan beats everything when cooking steaks imho.
> And yeah, not sure about keeping soy, fish sauce and oyster sauce in the fridge - but after I open them I keep them in the fridge just to be safe. But than again, I've been eating on the streets in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, China etc like 1000 times and never got sick - so it's most probably safe. It's just when you're back home in the 'west', you think more in terms of western hygiene :doublethumbsup:



I can't really see the advantage. Sure it has higher heat capacity, but that's only useful to compensate for a crappy burner. But on my wok burner (not even that powerful; 3,8 kw) I've never had any problems in that regard with my carbon pans. I did have the occasional problem with combusting oil though... :biggrin:


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## Cookiemonster (Mar 24, 2016)

Jovidah said:


> I can't really see the advantage. Sure it has higher heat capacity, but that's only useful to compensate for a crappy burner. But on my wok burner (not even that powerful; 3,8 kw) I've never had any problems in that regard with my carbon pans. I did have the occasional problem with combusting oil though... :biggrin:



Maybe it's a Swedish 'thing' - like almost every household on Sweden owns one of these:

http://www.skeppshult.com/sortiment/professional/stekpannor/0280-2/


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## Jovidah (Mar 24, 2016)

I guess we have more of a cheapskate tradition; almost every house here owns an ultrathin warped aluminium frying pan with a loose handle...


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