# Strange behavior of the Naniwa Aotoshi



## Eamon Burke (Jun 24, 2012)

I spent literally a year looking for the best solution to sharpening cheapos. Mercer, Wusthof, NSF, Forschner, etc. I could not find anything better than the edge off a belt, my favorite being 120grit belt followed by a 1200 grit SiC belt, then 1200 grit rod.

But it had a long list of cons:
1. Messy
2. Easy to make a big mistake(overheat the tip, overgrind the edge on the corner of the platen)
3. People are scared of it because they don't know I'm not a steel-hogging nutjob
4. Belts wore out like every 10 knives, and were not free.
5. Power was a BIG hassle--it would require either an entire VAN or a generator or a complex battery system.

So I was set to figure out how to remove chips and found a solution in the Atoma 140x. The edge off that is too rough, and a 3 stone solution for cheap knives is a waste of time. I need one stone.

I tried about a dozen different 1k-2k stones trying to find one that performed best, picking qualities I needed. I usually used a 1k followed by some edge-trailing on a Shapton Pro 2k, which was not as good as the belt.

Then I got an Aotoshi. It had terrible feedback, was super chalky feeling, and left a comically shiny edge. First knives I tried it on were my Shigefusa and Tojiro DP, the knives I know the best--and the edge just plain SUCKED! Wouldn't be happy with that edge at all, not even for a 2k edge. I was bummed.

But then I tried it on a Dexter stainless, and it was magic! I couldn't believe it. Straight off the stone, this is the best performing, all-around edge I've ever gotten, but only for cheap knives. And it's fast enough to remove 140x finish, and leaves a noobie-friendly shiny edge. The stone is soft enough to gouge easily, which is great, because it means I can work fast on it and not worry so much about rounding edges or the corner of the stone riding high and damaging a knife by accident.

Here's a quick video for you guys to see what I'm talking about. Lots of sniffling and whatnot, it's allergy season.

[video=youtube;olc63DcXjXc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olc63DcXjXc&feature=plcp[/video]


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## Crothcipt (Jun 24, 2012)

interesting. Have to remember that.


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## Namaxy (Jun 24, 2012)

Thanks - good to know.


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## Eamon Burke (Jun 24, 2012)

Yeah, its weird. Anyone else got this stone?


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## labor of love (Jun 25, 2012)

yeah i sharpened my buddys chroma porsche series or whatever its called and i was impressed i must say. its the worst stone i own. i may infact donate it to work so the guys can have something to touch up knives with. mine laps unusually fast and the stone catches the edge all the time taking chunks out of the stone. its my "beater" stone i guess you could say. so i usually use it on my friends shuns, chromas and wusties...


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## chinacats (Jun 25, 2012)

I too have this stone and it puts a nice edge on my Sabatiers and CCK cleaver, but now that you mention it, it is not the best with my blue steel knives. Plan on upgrading to one of the GG stones.


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## Benuser (Jun 25, 2012)

Is it that the large VG-10 carbides and Aogami's tungsten carbides can't be abraded by this stone?


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## obtuse (Jun 25, 2012)

I have this stone. I have come to the same conclusion. I also use it to polish up large multi bevels, for lack of a better stone.


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## Taz575 (Jun 26, 2012)

I may have to get one for sharpening Dexter Fillet knives all of my friends want me to sharpen for them!


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## Benuser (Jun 26, 2012)

Poor knives do not deserve any stone: get a few sheets of sandpaper (P120, 320, 600 and 1200) and you may sharpen some 50 crappy soft knives for some $5 costs. Much faster than stones, no flattening and an acceptable result. The advantage of Eamon's approach though is the shiny appearance (faux polish if one may say so).


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## Taz575 (Jun 26, 2012)

I hate sharpening knives on sandpaper. I would rather use a stone or belt sander and then stone, much quicker for me!


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## Eamon Burke (Jun 26, 2012)

Yeah, plus sandpaper costs more, over time. This is not an expensive stone.

Taking a knife through a 4 stage sandpaper progression would drive me nuts.

As far as why this happens, I do not know. It might be something to do with wear resistance, but you can work a knife all day on this thing and it still leaves a terrible edge. I wish I had a microscope at times like these.


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