Ha No Kuromaku Ceramic Whetstone (A-set) Medium Grit (#1000) + Fine Grit (#5000)

Some of the best synthetic water stones you can buy and priced more than fairly for how good these stones are! These stones have superb performance, they last a very long time, don't dish quickly, cut very quickly, leave a beautiful finish and leave incredible edge quality. I personally prefer kuromakus over Chosera I prefer the feel and cutting performance of the kuromakus over them. Due to how quickly these stones cut you can do a 3 stone progression and cover 95% of your kitchen knife needs with those three stones and that's a 320, 1500, 5k. With that progression most of your needs will be covered by those three stones. That's damage correction and light reprofiling as well as a toothy finish stone for knives that mainly are for cutting proteins with the 320, a fantastic mid grit stone with the 1500 that leaves a sticky sharp edge but with some bite remaining and makes a perfect edge for vegis as well as for cutting proteins (I prefer it over the 1k or 2k) to a mirror polished very fine edge at 5k that's excellent for cutting delicate fish proteins and other delicate items where you want very high keenness for slicing performance and push cutting performance. That doubles as a great 3 stone setup for pocket and outdoors knives, the 5k isn't needed for pocket folding knives and outdoors knives unless you want the mirror edges as the 320 is perfect for toothy edges and the 1500 is perfect for edges where you want more keenness but with still good bite. These stones are truly excellent performers and extremely good values! Lots of kuromaku videos on YouTube@diamondcutsteel really showing the excellent performance of these stones from simple carbon kitchen knife steels like all the way up to high performance modern powder steels being sharpened on these incredible stones.

If you are new to knife sharpening or even a pro with plenty of experience, you cannot go wrong with these stones in your arsenal. Whether you are looking for a whetstone, ceramic, or glass. The various grits, and SHAPTON offers plenty of them, are considered to be accurate. They range from grit capable of reshaping the blade all the way through putting a mirror finish. I will caution you here? Since SHAPTON makes a variety of stones, do not skip out and follow the instructions on preparing the stones, breaking in the stones, cleaning the stones, 'fixing'; the stones, storing the stones, (you get the idea). The directions for all this? As these are stones from Japan where knife sharpening is an art form, they are written in Japanese. You can find the English translated version on the internet or contact SHAPTON directly to have them available. If you are wanting quality stones and paying the price for them, you need to keep them ready. These are not the most expensive stones out there, but if you're in the market for stones that will work and get quality knife edges right off the stone itself, then you need to start here. The stones are ideal but take a lot of care to ensure they work as advertised and will last. Your only issue here is finding the correct stones to start with. As I mentioned, SHAPTON has a number of stones available and although having the full range available, to start, you only require two or three. And then progress from there. Good stones, good quality, good reputation, and functional as well. Not a bad investment for above high-quality standards

I have not used them yet but the quality and grade are obvious when compared to the cheap Chinese stones. These will give my knives the edge I was looking for. Didn’t know how bad my cheap stones where till these arrived.

I’m completely new both to owning quality knifes and to sharpening them myself, so you can take my review with a grain of salt. Having said that, these whetstones (I bought 3 of them - 1000 / 2000 / 5000) deliver and I am extremely pleased with my purchase. Even though I’m still learning the proper technique and I do get tired of sharpening by making the same precisely angled movement (as precise as I can make it), I found these whetstones very easy to use and of high quality in terms of what I was expecting after watching around 15 YouTube videos in this topic and what I obtained in my experiments. Some YouTubers say these stones may last a lifetime, it does look like so. If I ever feel the need to buy a higher grade (like a 10000, who knows), I’ll definitely look first at this maker.

I bought this set based on some good memories of my dad sharpening on his old stones. Also bought a glass lapping plate and sandpaper. But when they actually came I realized that stones were beautifully made but not a sensible choice. Especially for an average woodworker who just sharpens a few knives, chisels and planes now and then. The trouble/time/mess of storing, lapping, wetting, drying these is just not worth it. So I sadly let go of good memories, returned them and bought a Trend 300/1000, 3" x 8" diamond plate, and stropping board.

The best!

Good product

Machine precision whetstones. Not much left to say. Sharpening your knives will become much faster, more precise, and more enjoyable. Worth every penny for a purchase that you can pass on for generations.

Perfect. You might need a coarser stone to start if your knives are really dull.

I love these Shapton ceramic stones, I now own the 1000 grit, 2000 grit and the 5000 grit. I find that generally my kitchen knives can be kept razor sharp using 2000 grit and a strop using 6 micron diamond compound, followed by 1 micron diamond compound. If I have a particularly dull blade I use the 1000 grit followed by the 2000 grit then strop. The 5000 grit I don't use as often, but I do use it and the strops to keep my straight razor really sharp and polished. These are great stones, worth the investment, just get the stones that best suit your needs :)

Arrived in perfect condition. It's a very versatile pair of whetstones that is a great starter set for anyone looking to sharpen their knives and tools quickly, and efficiently. They're splash-and-go stones that only need to be soaked on the first use (Shapton's recommendation) so they're quick to set up and easy to maintain. They will also rarely need truing, so they will last a long time with casual (and correct) use, and will not cause a mess as they do not slurry. I've used them to sharpen carbon steel kitchen knives as well as leatherworking skiving knives made of D2 steel. I had no problems getting that skiving knife to a mirror polish, and some fine stropping in the end brought it to a hair-splitting edge. Literally.