Shapton K0702 Blade, #1000, Medium, Orange

This whetstone feels very well made. It's a medium coarse stone and was recommended to me as an excellent mid-grade quality stone; an upgrade over the very popular budget King 1000/6000 stone. If you only want to buy one affordable splash and go whetstone, the Ha no Kuromaku (Shapton) 1000 is a great buy. 1000 grit is a good all purpose grit level for general sharpening, 100-200 is good for major repairs, 200-500 is good for small repairs, and 5000+ is good for polishing very hard steel knives or razors.This is a fairly dense stone and does not seem to shed much. The stone is very easy to use, no soaking required. Just splash with water and start working. Very convenient to not have to soak and wait.The case is a nice touch. The case can also act as a holder while your sharpen and has rubber feet to prevent movement. I would still put this on a towel or anti-slip mat because there will still be water involved.Tip: If you only sharpen on the blank side you can keep the wording intact and always read what stone this is, but Shapton does color code there stones and orange is the color for medium 1000 grit stone. I would also get a lapping or flattening stone for future use. All whetstones will eventually wear unevenly and dish (become sunk in the middle) after many uses, when this happens it's very hard to sharpen properly. Luckily this stone is very hard and will not dish easily. The Atoma 400 diamond plate is a good flattening plate for 500+ grit stones and can also serve as a coarse sharpening plate for knife repair.

I now own 4 of the Shapton Ceramic Whetstones: 120 grit, 320 grit, 1000 grit, and 2000 grit. Every single one of them have been as good as advertised and worth every penny spent.This specific review is for the 1000 grit:The feedback is amazing. The cutting action is 4.6/5. The wear of the stone on a knife (up to 60 Rockwell) is 4.7/5. However, it is very easy to flatten when it needs to be flattened and easy to maintain and clean. I have sharpened 6 knives on it so far: KA-BAR 5.5" fixed blade, SOG Seal PUP, Kershaw Oblivion (CPM-154), Kershaw Blur (S30-V), Kershaw Cryo Tanto (8cr13MoV), and an old cheap EDC. I have lost MAYBE 0.5 mmr of stone.I have attached photos of the stone on top of the case (which doubles as a base for the stone) with a ruler over it so you can see the dimensions. Also, I included a photo of the edge of my SOG Seal PUP after using this (1000 grit) stone under a 45X magnification. In my experience, this stone is EXTREMELY close to 1000 grit.Unless something completely unexpected presents itself concerning a flaw with this stone, I will be purchasing another one soon so I have another for years to come in case they discontinue this line. This is, by FAR, the best 1000 grit stone I have used (I have used KING (3 different versions of their 1000), SHAPTON GLASS, Suehrio CERAX, NANIWA, GOKUMYO DEDABO, and a few others).In case it matters to anyone, I used the Suehrio CERAX 700 prior to using this one.

Works great, my knives are nice and sharp now.

Excellent, marvelous, great, great stone.

Like a lot of people, I've used gimmicky sharpening products with the hopes I'd get nice edges without much effort or need for developing a new skill. I had used both pull-through sharpeners and a very nice Edge Pro Apex system and struggled getting a good, reliable edge with either one. It was 'good enough' for most kitchen tasks, but never as sharp as I wanted for cuts to be really effortless, particularly for thin-skinned vegetables and such. I was always having to saw through the thin part of a tomato or onion. So, I finally decided to just get quality whetstones and figure out how to use them since that seemed to be what all the cool kids do.Having said that, these Shapton stones seem of very high quality to a novice. They come with a plastic case that doubles as a stone holder. It's probably not the absolute best thing you could use to hold the stone but I've been getting great results with some practice, so I don't see the need to get something else. The stone also comes with a small piece of foam padding inside the case so it doesn't get banged up. The stone is a 'splash-and-go' type of stone which doesn't need soaking, just a nice layer of water on top to keep things smooth. I purchased both the #1000 and #5000 stones. I plan on getting more later; both a coarser and finer stone so I have more options, particularly for harder steels that I have.It absolutely takes a ton of practice and trial and error to get a nice edge on a knife. This is not something that you'll get perfect on the first try. I've used the stones probably 5 times before developing a method that will effortlessly cut paper. What I'm realizing is that you need to spend a lot more time and use more passes than you think you need to in order to properly develop a burr and get a good edge. Watch some YouTube tutorials or read the billion forum posts from all the knife nerds out there. Again, this will take skill and practice to make it work but I'm getting better results with these stones than I have with other systems. They're not easy to use, but they are very effective and I feel good about developing a new skill.

This is the best "Japanese water stone" I've ever used.I have some cheap "Japanese-style water stones" but the Shaptons are much better.The price is great too, for 'real' "Japanese water stones".The "1000" is closer to a medium grit in my opinion.But it was good enough I bought a 1,500 & a 220 grit stones.The 1,500 is about as fine as my 1,000 grit diamond plate & works great for sharpening a plane iron.They are very good sharpening stones & amazon's prices (1,000 & 1,500) are good, too.(I got the 220 from sharpening supplies d0t c0m, $43.)I recommend the Shaptons & would buy again.