I just got my Chosera stones from 800 to 10k grit with custom fitting 800/2k, 1k/3k and 5k/10k from Bob at Oldawan.
And I just wanted to say that if your considering buying Chosera stones - go for it!!!
I’ve always had problems with the sharpening progression after 1k diamonds (the diamond progression has been great though), I’ve got the super fine and micro fine ceramics and a bunch of strops but erasing diamond scratches has meant a lot of work for me with the ceramics (they have seemed to be too far between in grit sizes).
But now with the Choseras the progression is great all the way! It is just as if continuing with diamonds, it requires very little effort to go between the grits all the way up to 10k.
And custom fitting the handles was a really good idea someone had since then the next grit size is soaking while I’m working on the current grit (this is not possible on the standard fit where for example the 800 is set together with the 1k stone).
So TL;DR - buy Chosera stones! They are great!
I know it is quite easy to take photos that does not show any scratches (but I really tried to show scratches on this one). First Chosera edge:
Thanks, and especially thanks to you Bob for helping out and having the patience to answer all my questions.
Tonight I got my first HHT-4 / HHT-5 edge on a Richmond Artifex Gyuto in m390 steel at 13 degrees (much thanks to the Chosera stones)! It did not come out a perfect mirror (the steel is this one is a bit of a pain to sharpen) and it ate my roo strops as a night snack, I don’t know how many times I knicked them, but in the end it became plenty sharp.
Yes they are! And when it comes to the Choseras (after using them some more) it’s not only the result that is great it’s also the feedback while using them. At least up to the 3k stone it was possible to hear and feel the difference when the grit was done, the 5 and 10k is more difficult (at least for me) and I suppose that is due to the fact that they are so fine grit so it’s hard to feel the difference of the metal beneath.
Now I just need to find new knives to sharpen cause now my diamonds get virtually no use since all my own knives just needs touch-ups.
Yes they are! And when it comes to the Choseras (after using them some more) it’s not only the result that is great it’s also the feedback while using them. At least up to the 3k stone it was possible to hear and feel the difference when the grit was done, the 5 and 10k is more difficult (at least for me) and I suppose that is due to the fact that they are so fine grit so it’s hard to feel the difference of the metal beneath.
[color color=#0000ff]Now I just need to find new knives to sharpen cause now my diamonds get virtually no use since all my own knives just needs touch-ups.[/color][/quote]
And down the rabbit hole he goes…This is the way it starts next you start asking friends, nieghbors and family for knives… the next thing you know your on a street corner with a sign “will sharpen knives for…” Just try to remember to eat and sleep too :S :woohoo:
@Eamon: yes I’m already bothering family to ‘lend’ me their knives.
@knives2survive: I know what you mean, I got the pp2 first and now in the end I gave in a got the Chosera stones as well, they cost too much but what I wanted to say with this thread is that if you’re considering them - get them, they live up to the expectations!
[quote quote=“johpe” post=14002]Thanks, and especially thanks to you Bob for helping out and having the patience to answer all my questions.
Tonight I got my first HHT-4 / HHT-5 edge on a Richmond Artifex Gyuto in m390 steel at 13 degrees (much thanks to the Chosera stones)! It did not come out a perfect mirror (the steel is this one is a bit of a pain to sharpen) and it ate my roo strops as a night snack, I don’t know how many times I knicked them, but in the end it became plenty sharp.[/quote]
I have one of those knives.. and have been a great proponent of the Chosera stones for quite awhile. My question is, did you take the M390 through the 10K stones. If so, how does it cut …for the things we typically use a knife like that for. As in food prep, especially slicing vegetables and meat.
I left mine at the 15 degrees that it came with and stopped after the Aotoshi 2K (which was visibly a finer finish than it came with). Stropped a little bit with 1 micron and .5 micron CBN. It is quite sharp and a great slicer in that configuration. I will be interested to hear about how far you went with it and how you like the performance… and longevity of the edge.
I am curious to know whether it could be worth it to re-profile to 13 degrees and use the finer stones.
Typically I have found that the old adage about leaving a little tooth (if 2K can be considered “toothy”) on an edge for food slicing is a pretty good one. So, I am curious.
BTW.. back on topic, good decision in getting the Chosera set! In retrospect, the alternating of the grits sounds like a good thing. Efficiency is always good. I suppose I can live with the ten minute soak time breaks in the action though… not quite worth yanking them off of the paddles to rearrange them…
One last digression. What camera and settings did you use to take the picture. Quite impressive!
I like the m390 steel a lot for its edge retention and sharpness and I got the Artifex in m390 since I have the Benchmade Barrage in m390 and liked it a lot.
Reprofiling the Artifex to 13 degrees was a serious amount of work, I had previously reprofiled the Barrage without much issues, but the Artifex seemed much harder (even though they should be more or less the same Rockwell hardness).
Now with the Choseras I took it all the way up to 10k and then 0.25 um CBN on roo strop. It got sharp enough to fall through a tomato if I just hold it flat in my open hand and move it forwards or backwards just a little, so whatever little teeth there might be (or not be) works very well with the 13 degree edge. Maybe if I left it more toothy it would pierce the skin of a tomato without any slicing motion at all, I haven’t tried that. As for longevity I previously (b.c. (before chosera)) had it at 13 degrees with a micro fine ceramic finish and that held up really well.
I also got the Artifex petty knife in AEB-L which is a smaller knife which I use for more delicate tasks but even so that one has rolled on me a few times while the m390 has held up fine through more use and a steeper angle. If it’s worth reprofiling, it I don’t know, it was a lot of work for me (the coarsest stone I have is the 100 diamond).
The camera is actually just from my mobile phone a Nexus 4 (I should have gotten my real camera but it was 1.30 in the morning so I just took what was around me).
I just sharpened a spyderco manix xl (s30’
V) up to the 10k choseras. I alternated direction as I went to ensure all of the the previous scratches were gone. What I found was that the 10k seemed to really have trouble at erasing the 5k scratches (was viewing under my dino lite usb microscope). I don’t know why this happened… You guys have any idea? I’m thinking maybe the entire blade needs to be thinned down? I did notice that I kept having to change where I put the pressure on the paddles to make sure I hit different parts of the bevel because it was so wide.
I think you’ve hit it on the head - the blade is speaking to you - two alternatives thin as a flat bevel or thin as a convex often the thinning bevels are not as polished and think of the benefits it will cut so much better.
It looks good though (when the bevel is to wide think of them like a wedge or shoulders they get stuck on everything also if you convex instead of flat bevels there will be only one point on the ark to catch rather than the whole bevel surface)
