Whats your current progression? What would you like to change?

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branwell
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Whats your current progression? What would you like to change?

Post by branwell »

Hay Ladz,

Whats your current go to full progression for Japanese knives? and what are you wanting to change about it in the future?

Atoma 140
Nubatama 150
Chosera 400
Nubatama 1K Platinum
Chosera 3k
Meara

Based on the performance and feel of the NB Platinum series stones I have ( 1k & 1.5K ), am wanting to try more in the not to distant future. Am also interested in the Suhero Cerax / Debado stones. Never tried them. Also haven't tried Venev stuff. Might be something fun there.
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Re: Whats your current progression? What would you like to change?

Post by michael1778 »

Shapton Glass for all:
220
500
1000
2000 (once I am allowed to open my Christmas gift)
4000
(planned) 8000

For now, instead of ending on the 8000, I use 3 micron diamond paste on balsa and then 1 micron paste on balsa.

Wanting to do CBN on nanocloth instead if my cats and my car would stop needing my money!
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ken123
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Re: Whats your current progression? What would you like to change?

Post by ken123 »

Time for a long overdue call :) PMs aren't working out well at the moment.

---
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Re: Whats your current progression? What would you like to change?

Post by jacko9 »

Unless I have a bad repair;

Shapton Glass 500
Nubatama 1000
Nubatama Platinum 3000
Nubatama Platinum 6000
Meara
Strop
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Re: Whats your current progression? What would you like to change?

Post by dothedr3w »

Sigma Power Select II 240
SG320
SG1000/SP1000
SG3000
SG6000
SG16000

Happy with the current lineup. Might get a JNat to go between the 6k and 16k. The Venev stuff seems pretty cool as well.
cliff
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Re: Whats your current progression? What would you like to change?

Post by cliff »

Synthetic

SP 120 -- for big thinning jobs and repairs
Nubatama 220 Platinum -- for thinning and starting a progression for abused knives from friends and relatives

SG 320 -- This is where I start a full progression on my knives, also minor maintenance behind the edge.
SG 2K -- Where I start most touch-ups
SG 6K

SS 10K -- Don't use this all that much, but I keep a 210 petty polished here and then with naturals.

Naturals -- for main knives a combination of Aoto, Aizu, Okudo Suita; for fine polish I've been using Ohira Tomae, Aiiwatani, and a Nakayama
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Re: Whats your current progression? What would you like to change?

Post by Emieloss »

SG 220 for setting up a bevel on a fully dulled blade
Eden 240/800 (cheap combo stone) for big repair work and flattening other stones and thinning work.
Naniwa pro 400 for setting up an edge on dull blades. Some additional thinning if needed to reduce the scratch patterns of the 240
Naniwa pro 1k where I usually start a progression resharpening knives that aren’t fully dull. Also where I finish thinning work.
Eden 2k/5k (cheap combo stone) for flattening higher grit stones and sometimes for creating a mixgrit mud for sharpening
Naniwa pro 3k lovely stone. I finish the knives that I’d like to have a toothier edge here.
suehiro Rika 5k. Pretty new but it seems to be a nice finisher for allround knives. Will probably use for touch ups as well.
Mcusta Zanmai 8k. I finish knives that I use for fish or other soft products here.
SG 16k. Doesn’t see much use anymore. Cuts too fast for a high grit stone, hard to keep the edge toothy enough for kitchen use. I’m thinking of selling it
Bare leather strop. Just some thick cow leather on a piece of wood. I finish all my knives here to clean up the edge. I tried diamond paste but I prefer bare leather

What I’d like to change:
Sell the SG16k
Buy one or two great natural stones to finish on.
Buy some finger stones for a kasumi finish
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Re: Whats your current progression? What would you like to change?

Post by orezeno »

I don't have a single progression nor single set of stones. I like a lot of choice. My waterstones consist of Shapton Glass, Nubatamas, Kohetsus, Naniwas, Suehiros, Matukusuyamas, DMTs, and some naturals. I use the SGs the most because their engineered abrasives provided at many grit levels suit my approach to freehand sharpening and I like splash-n-go and portability. I change it up depending on mood and type of knife. I rarely use the naturals or the DMTs.

Repair work is generally done on a belt sander. For mirror polished work (mostly for collectors) the progression is, SG 320, 1K, 2K, 4K, 8K, 16K. For the average kitchen knife SG 320, and 2K, For Jknives I go to the other stones. Lately, I'm using the Matukusuyamas (320, 800, Red Aoto) followed sometimes by the Naniwa Snow White or Imanishi 10K. The Kohetsu 2K and Naniwa Green Brick of Joy get rotated in there regularly and the Cerax 6000 is often used as a finishing stone too.

I'm pretty happy with my selection. I don't think I'd change anything.
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Re: Whats your current progression? What would you like to change?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

Was just thinking about this tonight as I was sharpening my friend's brand new AUS8 Dessert Warrior, which arrived to him with virtually no edge :x. This required a different path than for any other blade I'd ever sharpened. There are just too many steels, too many heat treats too many different edge conditions and too many other variables for me to have a standard progression. I wish I were experienced enough to have one but I'm still so new to sharpening that unless I'm repeat-sharpening a knife, it's almost always straight up trial and error.
=R=
Half of cooking is thinking about cooking.
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Re: Whats your current progression? What would you like to change?

Post by orezeno »

ronnie_suburban wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 11:54 pm Was just thinking about this tonight as I was sharpening my friend's brand new AUS8 Dessert Warrior, which arrived to him with virtually no edge :x.
I've never seen that knife before. Hilarious!
There are just too many steels, too many heat treats too many different edge conditions and too many other variables for me to have a standard progression. I wish I were experienced enough to have one but I'm still so new to sharpening that unless I'm repeat-sharpening a knife, it's almost always straight up trial and error.
My comment is off-topic, however, let me suggest that as you gain sharpening experience you will think less about a standard progression and more about what each knife needs. The requirements of each sharpening situation will dictate your approach (as they did with the Dessert Warrior). And you are completely correct that type of steel, heat treat, knife shape, blade profile, and so on, come into play and influence what you do as a sharpener.
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Re: Whats your current progression? What would you like to change?

Post by ken123 »

This is a tough one:)
I probably have the largest collection of abrasives - well over 50 Nubatamas, Shapton glass and pro, choceras, Japanese naturals, other Naniwas, diamond plates from 46 to 6000 grit, sandling belts from 17 to 4000 grit, pastes sprays and emulsions from 300 microns to 5.2 million grit (0.003 micron) and others I haven't even mentioned.

My progression? My fallback is the Nubatama platinums 150 220 320 600 1000 regular and hard, 1500 2k 3k 6k. Why? Simply it works.

Of course as already mentioned this depends on what im sharpening and task specific needs of my customers. Much like having the right mise en place together, the answer is a part of the evolving art of sharpening.

Ken
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Re: Whats your current progression? What would you like to change?

Post by Nochop! »

IMG_20210103_204843_703.jpg
My splash and go work set.
I also have a soaker set at home.

Diamond xxc
Diamond XC
Shapton Pro 220
SG 500
Naniwa 1000
Sigma 3000
Naniwa 5000
SG 8000

I usually go just the 3k for a quick job, or 500 to 3k, or 1k to 5k, dependant on the blade and it's intended use.
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Re: Whats your current progression? What would you like to change?

Post by Tostadas »

I like stopping around 3k for kitchen use, especially since I cut a lot of proteins. Full progression for me is Shapton 1k - 2k - aoto. Leaves a nice toothy edge with perfect amount of refinement
michael1778
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Re: Whats your current progression? What would you like to change?

Post by michael1778 »

michael1778 wrote: Fri Dec 04, 2020 4:33 pm Shapton Glass for all:
220
500
1000
2000 (once I am allowed to open my Christmas gift)
4000
(planned) 8000

For now, instead of ending on the 8000, I use 3 micron diamond paste on balsa and then 1 micron paste on balsa.

Wanting to do CBN on nanocloth instead if my cats and my car would stop needing my money!
I finally made all those stones happen, even up to the 8000. Got a 600 grit Atoma plate to stick on my Atoma 140.
I recently posted my thoughts in this sub-forum on the Nanocloth with CBN. They rock!

I don't want to change a thing for a good long while. My skills need to change, not my gear.
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