# Experience with Watanabe stones



## guyskr (Nov 23, 2015)

Hi everybody,
I', thinking about buying two new stones, one coarse and the other medium.
I now have a king 1000/6000 combo, and I would like to step up a bit.
My budget is about 80$ for the two, and Watanabe have stones in my price range that looks pretty cool http://www.kitchen-knife.jp/special/syntheticstone.htm
does anyone have any experience with them?


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## krx927 (Nov 24, 2015)

I do not know anything about them but they sure are reasonably priced.


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## Noodle Soup (Nov 24, 2015)

His website does a good job of making them sound better than the more common King stones. I'm going to try them.


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## Asteger (Nov 24, 2015)

I hadn't noticed these before. I've done a few orders with W, and think I might try the coarse stone now. Credit due to the familar sellers here, but I think it's probably a pretty good endorsement if it's from a J-maker who's constantly making knives, shaping blades daily, in close connection with what the stone makers there can provide.

Otherwise, W sells some J naturals (indirectly, sort of) in Japan and is a reasonable seller.


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## guyskr (Nov 24, 2015)

Noodle Soup - if you could review them when they'll arive to you it will be great!


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## Noodle Soup (Nov 29, 2015)

Wow, ordered stones on Tue., received them from Japan on Saturday. How come the mail inside the U.S doesn't work like that?


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## daveb (Nov 29, 2015)

Because USPS is not a for profit (for service) entity?


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## bkultra (Nov 29, 2015)




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## Noodle Soup (Nov 29, 2015)

daveb said:


> Because USPS is not a for profit (for service) entity?



Yes but they came USPS on this end. I don't know how that starts out in Japan.


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## buttermilk (Nov 29, 2015)

It typically starts with Japan Post EMS in Japan. JP has an arrangement with the USPS. Same as how you can ship to another country through USPS and it's ultimately delivered by the recipient country's post. Still, EMS through Japan Post is the best service I've ever seen and it so frequently feels like magic. Japan and their systems.


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## aboynamedsuita (Nov 29, 2015)

buttermilk said:


> It typically starts with Japan Post EMS in Japan. JP has an arrangement with the USPS. Same as how you can ship to another country through USPS and it's ultimately delivered by the recipient country's post. Still, EMS through Japan Post is the best service I've ever seen and it so frequently feels like magic. Japan and their systems.



^this

Works the same way with EMS and Canada post. CP treats it as a courier shipment as per the service level agreement, I've had things ship Monday (local time) and arrive on Thursday. It'd cost 3-4x to go from Canada to Japan so there's some price gouging going on somewhere


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## Pensacola Tiger (Nov 29, 2015)

tjangula said:


> ^this
> 
> Works the same way with EMS and Canada post. CP treats it as a courier shipment as per the service level agreement, I've had things ship Monday (local time) and arrive on Thursday. It'd cost 3-4x to go from Canada to Japan so there's some price gouging going on somewhere



I think it's more like partial subsidization by the vendor of the EMS charges rather than any "gouging".


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## Bikeman (Nov 29, 2015)

I was totally impressed with the Japanese Postal System . I received my Watanabe Pro 180 Nakiri shipped from Japan to Connecticut in 3 days, Watanabe sharpened the Nakiri on his stones prior to shipping and the blade had one of the best factory edges out of the box . Interested in giving his finishing stone a try. BB


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## aboynamedsuita (Nov 29, 2015)

Pensacola Tiger said:


> I think it's more like partial subsidization by the vendor of the EMS charges rather than any "gouging".



Perhaps gouging isn't the best term to use as both Canada Post and USPS are less than couriers like UPS or DHL. I can't speak to USPS, but CP operates as a corporation and generates its own revenues; a huge point of contention was when they decided to phase out home mail delivery and introduce community mail boxes, home delivery wasn't working from a business sense and the market share of parcels was growing - was a huge election issue. New govt came in and it's now "under review". 

As far as EMS subsidies go, I know JCK used to subsidize shipping to $7USD, now I believe it's free (if over $200?). Looking at the EMS label the postage is usually more like ¥1600JPY or so which is ~$13USD or ~$17CAD (I generally use a 100:1 CAD conversion as a rule of thumb). Usually the printed postage doesn't include the insurance (at least with CP, postage is listed separately).

If I use a recent Watanabe purchase as an example, the box was 53x11x8 (in cm) and weighed 596g. The EMS label has ¥1680JPY (~$18.30CAD) for postage paid. To send an identical shipment to Japan would cost quite a bit more (with tracking anyways, trying to compare apples to apples); I used the CP postage app and am getting around 4x the cost:





All this aside I think it's still more to send with a courier.


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## Matus (Nov 30, 2015)

Indeed - my last order from JCK arrived within 7 days and the cost was whooping $7. To ship that knife back would cost me the cost of the knife (approx $70) with comparable service. I am located in Germany.


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## krx927 (Dec 14, 2015)

Noodle Soup said:


> Wow, ordered stones on Tue., received them from Japan on Saturday. How come the mail inside the U.S doesn't work like that?



NoodleSoup; did you managed to try the stones? How are they?


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