# Morihei 3k and 4K synths



## labor of love (Aug 7, 2019)

Anybody have experience with the Morihei synthetic 3k and 4K?
https://carbonknifeco.com/collections/sharpening/products/morihei-hishiboshi-whetstone-3000-green

https://carbonknifeco.com/collections/sharpening/products/morihei-suzu-whetstone-4000

Splash and go 3-4K stone would be great to have for work.


----------



## Marek07 (Aug 7, 2019)

No experience with the 4k but I quite like the green Morihei 3k. It's early days yet and ATM, I like it but still prefer my Chosera 3k for speed & feedback. Edges are very similar. More time needed with it. 

I think the price difference in North America would probably push me to the Morihei.


----------



## zizirex (Aug 8, 2019)

I heard the 3k is a little bit slow compared to Chosera. I would go for 4k or even 6k.
6k is my fav stone at the moment. The edge polish like an 8k, but there is still some bite, unlike Arashiyama.
the advantage of the Suzu is the contrast that they give for a Syn that closely similar to Jnat.

I have the 500, it is my fave coarse stone right now. the next one i want to buy is probably the 4k


----------



## labor of love (Aug 8, 2019)

How does the 500 compare to the chosera 400?


----------



## zizirex (Aug 8, 2019)

labor of love said:


> How does the 500 compare to the chosera 400?


I haven't tried the Cho 400, but the Morihei is a little bit faster than SG500 with similar feedback and feel.


----------



## inferno (Aug 9, 2019)

what about this one??
it looks totally awesome.
has anyone tested this one?


----------



## inferno (Aug 9, 2019)

zizirex said:


> I haven't tried the Cho 400, but the Morihei is a little bit faster than SG500 with similar feedback and feel.



and the 500 glass is very fast i might add.


----------



## zizirex (Aug 9, 2019)

inferno said:


> what about this one??
> it looks totally awesome.
> has anyone tested this one?



It really polishes your edge, it is close to 10000 grit or even more. I semi-hard stone, build a slurry might help with cutting and then polish of later. Slightly overkill for most kitchen knife but good enough for a razor. maybe works better with different Nagura but, I don't have an exotic nagura so I cant tell.


----------



## Marek07 (Aug 9, 2019)

inferno said:


> what about this one??
> it looks totally awesome.
> has anyone tested this one?


If that's the Morihei Hishiboshi Karasu 9k, yes I have. I've only used it a few times and I take a long time to _learn _a new stone. That said, I'm looking forward to more time with it - very promising. If I could just put aside my Kitayama...


----------



## inferno (Aug 9, 2019)

zizirex

cool. have you tested it against some other high grit stones?

I own or have tested the superstone 12k, spyderco UF (this is about a 15-16k or so in result but spyderco says its 3k lol), shapton pro 8 and 12k, shapton glass hc 8k. minosharp 8k.

the minosharp 8k polishes like a 12 or so. almost mirror. very slow and clogs up fast.

glass hc 8k is medium fast/fast and polishes like a 12k, very very good stone.

shapton pro 8k is ultra fast and polishes nothing at all. very good feeling stone this. best feeling of all these. hard but good.

pro 12k slower than 8k but not much. gives a so so polish. not true mirror. very fast for a 12k.

spyderco uf. ultra slow. i mean ultra. it burnishes instead of abrading, i used this for my razors. and i think the grain is about 15-20k or so. its a true mirror finish like green cr-ox. clogs up very fast. you must use it dry. this stone is ultra hard. its a solid fuzed piece of al-ox. it does not wear at all pretty much. and its not close to flat, and if you attempt to flatten it it will take about 3 dmt 325s or so. but its my ultimate for razors. and it only does that.

SS 12k. i would have hoped this was more mirror than the pro12k but in reality they only feel and behave different. its not a true mirror but its more mirror than the pro. but not by much. its also a lot slower than the pro, maybe 100%, its softer and therefore easier to use, but it needs soaking for a minute or 2. its quite a good package allinall actually. its easy to shave of slivers of stone by accident.


----------



## inferno (Aug 9, 2019)

Marek07 said:


> If that's the Morihei Hishiboshi Karasu 9k, yes I have. I've only used it a few times and I take a long time to _learn _a new stone. That said, I'm looking forward to more time with it - very promising. If I could just put aside my Kitayama...



hey man  hows it going?

i really really love my kit4k so can only imagine how nice the 8k is. but i use my high grits so very seldom. but i still like having them.

you have to do a shootout!


----------



## zizirex (Aug 9, 2019)

inferno said:


> zizirex
> 
> cool. have you tested it against some other high grit stones?
> 
> ...



I haven't try to compare it with other stone.. I am going to buy a finer stone, but still comparing between Shapton pro 12k and Sigma 13k or if I have the money I'll buy the Morihei Hi 12k. I will only use this for Razor and Kanna because it will be overkill for my daily kitchen use.

But it's harder than Kitayama for sure.


----------



## zizirex (Aug 10, 2019)

this is the contrast from morihei 6k on my petty Hinoura









the edge is a bit toothy for 6k


----------



## kevin (Aug 23, 2019)

Heres some photos of the Morihei Hishiboshi finish on a Takeda AS Suji

Morihei 500








Morihei 1000










Morihei 4000




Morihei 8000








Morihei 12000


----------



## labor of love (Nov 19, 2019)

Morihei 3k arrived yesterday from Carbon. Craig suggested it over the 4K as the 4K is more of a prepolisher + edge sharpening stone, and if I was just looking for a stone for the edge the 3k is the way to go.

Initial Impressions: I tested only 3 knives with the 3k today. After a quick 2 minute soak and a few passes with the diamond stone the 3k was good to go. Decent amount mud was worked up, apparently if you don’t soak it before use it runs the risk of being on the thirsty side.
Really enjoying the feedback so far. Kinda hard to say how fasts it cuts but it isn’t slow. Very minimal clogging. Stone is definitely worth it for $52.
I’ll understand the speed better with more testing.
I’m going to test the edges produced on the board later in the evening.


----------



## Froztitanz (Dec 2, 2019)

labor of love said:


> Morihei 3k arrived yesterday from Carbon. Craig suggested it over the 4K as the 4K is more of a prepolisher + edge sharpening stone, and if I was just looking for a stone for the edge the 3k is the way to go.
> 
> Initial Impressions: I tested only 3 knives with the 3k today. After a quick 2 minute soak and a few passes with the diamond stone the 3k was good to go. Decent amount mud was worked up, apparently if you don’t soak it before use it runs the risk of being on the thirsty side.
> Really enjoying the feedback so far. Kinda hard to say how fasts it cuts but it isn’t slow. Very minimal clogging. Stone is definitely worth it for $52.
> ...


Just curious, how'd the edge sharpening go?


----------



## labor of love (Dec 2, 2019)

Froztitanz said:


> Just curious, how'd the edge sharpening go?


I have a chosera 3k about to arrive I think tomorrow. I plan on testing them side by side.
So far what really stands out to me is how well Morihei holds a wet surface for an extended period of time.


----------



## Froztitanz (Dec 5, 2019)

Thinking about getting one next year during my trip to Japan. How did your testing go?


----------



## Kitchen-Samurai (Dec 10, 2019)

kevin said:


> Heres some photos of the Morihei Hishiboshi finish on a Takeda AS Suji



This looks very nice! 
I am looking for a stone set which can give me a kasumi finish on my Takeda NAS.
What is your experience with these stones apart from the finish? How do they feel, how hard are they? Do I have to start with the 500 or would it be sufficient to use another coarse stone and start with the 1k, and then 4k?


----------



## kevin (Dec 11, 2019)

Kitchen-Samurai said:


> This looks very nice!
> I am looking for a stone set which can give me a kasumi finish on my Takeda NAS.
> What is your experience with these stones apart from the finish? How do they feel, how hard are they? Do I have to start with the 500 or would it be sufficient to use another coarse stone and start with the 1k, and then 4k?



I haven’t used them in awhile but i’ll make some time for a test later.


----------



## Badgertooth (Dec 12, 2019)

labor of love said:


> I have a chosera 3k about to arrive I think tomorrow. I plan on testing them side by side.
> So far what really stands out to me is how well Morihei holds a wet surface for an extended period of time.



Chosera 3k, once you learn it’s quirks and water is pretty hard to top


----------



## Badgertooth (Dec 12, 2019)

labor of love said:


> I have a chosera 3k about to arrive I think tomorrow. I plan on testing them side by side.
> So far what really stands out to me is how well Morihei holds a wet surface for an extended period of time.



Chosera 3k, once you learn it’s quirks and water is pretty hard to top


----------



## Kitchen-Samurai (Dec 12, 2019)

kevin said:


> I haven’t used them in awhile but i’ll make some time for a test later.


This would be great, thanks a lot!


----------



## labor of love (Dec 12, 2019)

Sorry for delays. The busy holiday season has backed me up a bit on sharpening, should be able to share my thoughts tomorrow some more about morihei 3k and chosera 3k.
Chosera feedback is on another level. Feels like room temperature butter.


----------



## inferno (Dec 12, 2019)

room temp butter


----------



## labor of love (Dec 12, 2019)

Chosera literally costs twice as much as the morihei, so it wouldn’t shock me if overall the chosera is “better”.
But the Morihei might do some stuff better than chosera. Gotta play around tomorrow with them.


----------



## kayman67 (Dec 12, 2019)

I can't find any 3000 within my reach. Only the 4k. Hm...


----------



## Kitchen-Samurai (Dec 15, 2019)

Guys and girls, I pulled the trigger and ordered a set of the Morihei stones. The pictures I saw in this thread certainly fostered my interest in them. I have chosen the 500, 1k, and 4k. My primary intention is to create a nice kasumi finish on my Takeda Gyuto. Let's see how that goes. But this will be my Christmas present, so I can only report back in a couple of weeks, if someone is interested...


----------



## labor of love (Dec 15, 2019)

Awesome. I’d love to hear more about that morihei 1k. I’m deciding between that one and chosera 1k.


----------



## zizirex (Dec 26, 2019)

inferno said:


> what about this one??
> it looks totally awesome.
> has anyone tested this one?



This is the new test of The Karasu after Chosera 3K,


----------



## Kitchen-Samurai (Dec 26, 2019)

Tell us more, what are your thoughts? I am currently testing the 500, 1K, and 4K. Will be reporting soon. I don’t really understand yet how this stone differs from the Hishiboshi stones.


----------



## zizirex (Dec 27, 2019)

The Green 3k and Karasu 9K are the older stones. it is harder and cut slightly slower than the Hi series, it's harder to create contrast, but performance is underrated. the 9k is not as hard as the Chosera 3k, so making contrast does need a little trick.


----------



## panda (Feb 27, 2020)

Can anyone elaborate on the 4k? Feedback, speed, clogging, toothiness? Is it splash n go?


----------



## Kitchen-Samurai (Feb 27, 2020)

panda said:


> Can anyone elaborate on the 4k? Feedback, speed, clogging, toothiness? Is it splash n go?



Hey Panda, just in case you may have missed it, I‘ve created a thread about the Morihei stones a couple of weeks ago. In there, you can find lots of Information on the Morihei 4k From me and other people.

Let me know if you have additional questions!


----------



## cotedupy (May 20, 2022)

Marek07 said:


> No experience with the 4k but I quite like the green Morihei 3k. It's early days yet and ATM, I like it but still prefer my Chosera 3k for speed & feedback. Edges are very similar. More time needed with it.
> 
> I think the price difference in North America would probably push me to the Morihei.




Oi oi hombre! Hope you're keeping well?

Do you, or anyone else, have any further thoughts on the virtues (or lack thereof) of the Hishiboshi 3k...


----------

