ShaptonKuromaku Professional Series Ceramic Melon Whetstone 8000 Grit

Finally I took the leap and purchased these stones. I've know about them for a while, but I never bought any because I just didn't want to spend that kind of money on water stones. So I've always opted to try different methods, from surface plates and sandpaper, to grinding wheels. Also cheaper Japanese water stones. I didn't like any of them. The sandpaper ends up costing you a lot more than you think. The grinding wheels take off to much material, and the cheaper stones do not ever come flat and cut very slowly. So I finally opted to purchase these Shapton stonesNow I know you have all had that stomach churning feeling when you are about to shell out a good amount of money for something that you really are not going to get any joy out of. Yeah that was me when I was purchasing these stones. Now I am not struggling financially but 300 bucks for 4 of these stones was hard to bare lol and to make matters worse I had just purchased the veritas MKII honing guide that I just keep hearing so much about.Anyway 2 of the stones arrived the next day which was great and 2 of them arrived a day after than. Awesome shipping times with prime. Anyway so I decided to try them out right away. I had purchased a #1 woodriver plane to add to my collection of woodriver planes about 2 or 3 weeks before but hadnt gotten around to sharpening. So I took to sharpening the blade on that. Started with flattening the back of the blade at 1000 grit and took it to 5000 grit. At this point I am starting to smile because it took a lot less effort and time for these things to cut than the cheap water stones I already have. Got the blade setup in the veritas honing guide to 30 degrees so I could get a micro bevel. Started it at 1000 then took it to 5000 and gave the blade a nice polish with 8000. Ok at this point I am amazed and when I got the plane blade back in the plane and took it for a test run on a piece of maple. My God. I was in love. Cuts quick, it repeatable, and doesnt take much effort. I was kicking myself buying these stones sooner.So if anyone is like me and considering purchasing these stones, but get that stomach churning feeling from the cost. I hope this review relieves that discomfort, because these stones are well worth it. Now I just need to find a good diamond plate to flatten the stones from time to time. If anyone knows of a good one for flattening stones. Please comment and let me know.

Works well for its intended use, a little pricey though.

Outstanding merchant service. Highest recommendation.Ordered and delivered extremely promptly to my home in New Zealand. This 8000 grit ultra fine stone is a perfect "finishing" stone for putting the final highly polished razor edge on kitchen knives of all brands, after first honing the edge with other stones. This Shapton stone will give superb results as long as you maintain the sharpening angle exactly.This part is very very important - maintain the exact same angle throughout the sharpening process, especially when finishing off with superb stones like this.Very easy to use, no soaking in water, just keep the surface wet and ease the blade along it. I've even sharpened old family cut throat razors on this stone and it really gives a razor sharp edge.I can't wait to get the 12,000 (15,000) grit Shapton stone that I have ordered - to achieve that elusive Samuri edge !!I own and use Global and other Japanese Knives, because I prefer their thin, light blades, superbly designed for cutting, but you will get great results with any good quality kitchen knife.Worth six stars.

I tried this waterstone today for the first time and I like the edge that it gives to a chisel. I started with two Norton waterstones, 1000 and 4000, then progressed to this 8000. When my two Nortons wear out I'll replace them with Shaptons. This stone has a very nice feel to it and seems to not wear as quickly as the Norton 8000 that it is replacing. It is a little thinner than what the Nortons start out as but if it doesn't wear as quickly then that is not an issue.

I have the 5,000, 8,000 and 12,000 grit shapton stones, all purchased from Amazon. If you are going to get one stone, this one (8,000 grit) is probably the best one as you take a relatively rough knife and make it sharp pretty easily.I purchased all three stones, one so I could work from very dull to very sharp and two so I could rub the flat surface of the stones against each other to maintain them as level and smooth. I had read in a book that a minimum of three stones are required in order to do that properly, just having two will introduce errors. Otherwise, it's recommended to maintain the stone's surface as level by rubbing on sandpaper that has been glued to a smooth surface, i.e., plate glass.It's really more enjoyable to cut vegetables and meats with a sharp knife than it is with a dull one.

The Shapton Professional series is about as good as it gets for this style of waterstone. The 1K and 5K make for an excellent combination, while the 8K is a great polishing stone for the real sharpening nuts. This -- the "melon" stone -- is 8,000 grit. Please make sure you know what you are buying. The 1,000 is orange, the 2,000 is green, the 5,000 is "wine" (a pinkish burgundy) and the 8,000 is light green (melon).

These stones are expensive but that's about the only negative I can see. Excellent- comes with a usable storage and they sharpen better than any water stone I've used. The ability to get them up and running, as it were, with just a spritz of water is truly worth the extra and they LAST! This is so much to be preferred for true sharpness to the water grinders- and you can get a working set of these for half that price!

Simply amazing product. Your truly do get what you pay for and the polish off of this stone has raised the level of my woodworking because of my sharp tools.