More Coarse Stone Magic

Naniwa Chosera 400

 Hi everyone,
As you likely know, I am a strong believer in the coarse stones, if you are going to spend money on a premium stone, do it on your coarse stone first, then the medium (1k-2k) and the fine stones last.

I've had the opportunity to sharpen a lot of knives in the last month, approx 600 and in that time I stumbled up something that I can pass along. I am also a firm believer that sharpening is a learning journey, you never stop learning and I pray that I never get to the point where I think I know it all.

This is what I tried and found an interesting edge, the Power Edge and I'm going to give it to a chef to try for me.

For my scenario, I started almost every session with a 220 grit stone and I just got this awesome Naniwa Lobster 220 from Knifewear in Edmonton. Knifewear is a pretty cool spot and they know their stuff.

Naniwa 220 Lobster

I love large stones and as you can see this is a beast but a gentle beast, it works quickly  but doesn't feel gritty and mean if that is a good word to use.


I also have a container of water handy that I dip the blades in very regularly.

I chose this one because it is long


I grab a dull knife and if it is very dull I start by dipping the edge in the water and then onto the 220 water lubricated stone, lots of water on top.  This dipping of the edge is just something I started recently and I like it, I like to work with a clean edge, it's a habit I am in the process of forming and I don't intend to stop.

This 220 is going to produce a burr quite quickly so it doesn't take long. The knives I get are often brutally dull and in the worst case they have been through a grinder of some type which extends the work period on the knife. However I always strive to work out the damage created by machines and the coarse stones are perfect for that.  I realize that many people just sharpen their own knives of course and can usually go right to a 1,000 grit stone. That's cool and good on you for keeping your knives sharp. I'm just sharing my day to day sharpening experiences.

I do the same thing now with every coarse stone, start with medium to heavy pressure depending on the edge, depending on how much work I need to do to get the bevels into a condition where I can actually sharpen the knife.

Step one is medium pressure or heavy pressure then I clean off the blade and stone and then repeat the process, so Step 2 is  with less pressure now, the burr has  been created so I don't need to create another one, although it usually appears anyway.
Step 3 is again with a clean blade and stone, the same stone and this time with negative pressure, I mean just the weight of the blade and with extremely focused strokes.

Now I have finished  with that stone, I clean the blade again by dipping it in the water and you can see the grit fall off the blade. Then I strop the knife on my 13k Stone, you could use your highest grit stone for this if you want to try it.

Now I move to my 400 Naniwa  Chosera and repeat the process exactly paying very close attention to my pressure. I don't need to use heavy pressure at all but I do use medium pressure and as a result a small burr forms usually but the next step, which is the same process but with less pressure ensures the burr is removed. Again, I dip the blade before commencing and in between pressure stages.

This is followed up by another stropping on a finishing stone and I usually do very light trailing strokes, 10 total.

Now the knife at this stage is extremely sharp and this is where I am going to stop and give it to a chef one day to try,  The edge feels awesome, shaves arm hair and is polished by the finishing stone but it is still a toothy edge. So I am curious to see how long it will last on the job.

However, a move from this stage to a 1k or 2k stone is easy and quick.
The point of this particular post is to explain the new edge this 400 edge that is impressing me but you do need to go through the pressure stages to achieve it.


I think you could do the same thing with the EP  but I'm not suggesting this is the NEW EDGE that will work miracles, I am just saying that one can do wonders even with a coarse stone. Patience is always rewarded.

Grohmann Santoku

When things have settled down I'm going to do a video of the 400 edge process and I'll let you know if the edge is actually beneficial in a kitchen. It is in mine but I want to run it through a pro kitchen.


Merry Christmas

Peter Nowlan