SHAPTON K0709 Blade Blade, #320 Rough Blue Black

I bought this whetstone to have a different grain size and I’m so glad I did. I used it a few times back in December and was really surprised by how quick it help sharpen knives. I’m sure it’ll only get quicker once I get the hang of it.

For anyone just beginning with sharpening or even the professionals, these stones are ones to certainly have in your inventory. They are pretty spot-on with their grit classifications. Which is important when choosing the correct stone for your work. If you get the ceramic, which this is, you have to prevent the stone from hitting a hard surface (dropping it) as they will shatter. They do take a little care, but when you buy quality, you have to come to expect some work involved, otherwise everyone would be an expert. The shape will fit most holders with no modifications, but they do come in a convenient storage box, that can double as a stone-holder, if needed. In short, they will do what you expect them to do. It will take a little practice, and ceramic stones are what they call "forgiving stones" and if you spend that time learning the technique, these are certainly the stones to start (or end) with. High quality, well made, and do the job.

I purchased an entire line of the Shapton Kuromaku Whetstones with grit ratings of 100 to 4000.This #320 is a must have for extremely dull or reprofiling work. The hype is real from what you may have heard about the Shapton Kuromaku. I can verify all the hype- that they work incredibly fast, have great feedback and are VERY uniform. These are long lasting ceramic based stones that are known for their uniformity, speed, longevity. I have used this stone to profile(sharpen) 20 knives so far and have also purchased this as a gift for my Step Dad who is equally impressed. This is a critical stone to have as it is used for setting the knife's profile and does the raw sharpening (first stage). if you dont' get this right, the finer grit stones won't help.. so this is a critical stone to have in your collection. With care, I expect this to last a life time.

Great, great stone. My best sharpening experience with this stone.

Shapton are my preferred Waterstones. However, one probably doesn’t need the #320. Would be better served with sand paper or diamonds for flattening. Haven’t said that though, the shaft 320 works as advertise and it does a great job. Because it is a low grit it wears very fast and takes away metal very fast meaning it dishes extremely fast also. I say again, it removes metal very quickly, but requires flattening every second glance.If I’m flattening plane blade or chisel, I’ll use the 320 after the bulk of flattening has been done on other media. It seems to replace the scratches with Shapton scratches that makes going through the shaft and grits better. That could all be in my head though.

All of these stones iv used so far have been great. All kinds of bite but make sure you take care keeping them clean. I believe these stones for and average guy will last more than one lifetime easily

Love this stone as my initial bevel shaper.Cuts away any blade with ease by creating a nice blue gritty paste. Stone wears extremely well.

La utilizo para rectificar forma y bisel primario en formones y cepillos de ebanista. Hace un trabajo rápido y eficiente, mantiene su velocidad de desbaste sin tupirse con el tiempo. Suplantó una piedra diamantada en mi taller, la cual cortaba muy bien al principio, pero fue perdiendo efectividad con el tiempo. La volvería a comprar, muy recomendada.