What's your favorite stone?

Not trying to start a fight here. No, really.

I know that "favorite" is often a moving target and, if you're anything like me, you probably have several stones you'd never consider parting with. But what's the stone that currently grabs your attention?

For me, it's the Mizuyama 1200. First off, as I have mentioned before, I strongly suspect that it's the exact same stone as the Bester 1200, though I have no conclusive proof or independent corroboration. I was reluctant to buy it, as I already had a few pretty good medium stones, but you know how it goes.

It requires a good soaking, which is a consideration for those who prefer the splash and go route. It also takes forever to dry. But it cuts really quickly, better than my Shaptons, and has a terrific feel to it. It brings up a burr in a jiffy on a variety of steel. When I sharpen a knife that needs anything more than a touchup, I usually start with a Beston 500, a very good coarse stone. Surprisingly, when I proceed to the Mizuyama it seems to remove metal even more quickly. This is in no part due to the fact that it's a white stone, but the amount of swarf that builds up in virtually no time at all cannot be denied. The resulting edge would be sufficient for almost anyone except for the guys who come to sites like this.

In terms of pure effectiveness, I couldn't be happier with this stone. It's as good and as fast as the chocera 1K, and pretty reasonably priced. I would like to think that its 1200 grit would be gentler on knives for the long run versus an 800-1K grit medium, but there's probably not much of a difference.

I'm sure I'll update this when I rediscover the joys of another of my stones, but for now this one gets my highest marks.

What's your favorite?

 

All 9 of them.

 

JNS 1K
glass stone 3K
tsushima "the big one"
takashima "my sweet love"
best combo for evry day .

beston 500 or glass stone 500 for hard works

 

Have several different stones and can't say that any of them is my favorite. They do work well for me and I have no plans for replacing any of them in the nearest future. However I'll probably buy another brand/grit stones when my current setup dish away. Just for the sake of trying something else.

JNS 300, Chosera 1k, Gesshin 2k, synth. JNS red aoto, JCK 6k, Takashima Awasedo — they all a good stones.

 

So far, my request for a single favorite stone has received responses averaging seven suggestions.


Why am I not surprised? :k

 

Red aoto for me

 

Most of us have more than 1 knife Jay.

JNS 300 Best of: Course
G400 1st Runner Up Course

JNS 800 Comes out at almost every session, not sure what it's good for except everything

G2K Best of: Mid Level
B1200 1st Runner Up - Soft Stainless (German) Knives
G1K 1st Runner Up - S&G
G Aoto 1st Runner Up - Best Kasumi finish

Green Aoto Oh baby!!!

G4K Best quick touch up - fine

Takashima Awasedo Best of: Finisher
Syntheic Suita 1st Runner Up - Stainless Finisher
Atagoyama 1st Runner Up - XFine Finsher

 

(Natural) Red Aoto.

 

I'm with chuckles. I love mine.

 

Had the green aoto. Never tried the red.

 

I'm liking my Naniwa superstones a lot. You guys will laugh, but when I can't hold my tongue right and get an edge using my other stones, I pull out the King combo. I don't know if it's because it was my first waterstone, but I've been able to sharpen everything on it.

 

gesh 4k. its about as toothy as I would ever want a gyuto to be.

 

Chosera 5000. Makes my knives hair splitting sharp.

 

I like the synthetic blue aoto a lot if it stays in one piece

 

definitely not kidney

 

Keith Richards?

 

Watts.

 

Claudia Lennear. Back up singer and inspiration of the song 'Brown Sugar'.

http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/life/467453/Mick-Jagger-ex-Claudia-Lennear-interview

I win...

 

We all do.

 

Is that a natural or synthetic?