Houcho.com Whetstone, Super-Finishing Whetstone, Kitayama

It's a very good stone. While it's not a true splash and go stone, it soaks up very little water and becomes saturated very quickly. It cuts well and polishes well. However, my 8000 grit King "Gold stone" that I bought in the late 1980s polishes to a more mirror shine. The shine produced by the 8000 grit Kitayama, although very good, leaves some still barely visible scratch marks. Some people look at cutting speed as a deciding factor when choosing whetstones, but for polishing stones at 6000 grit or higher, I personally don't find the cutting speed of high-grit polishing stones to be a relevant deciding factor because these polishing stones are only meant to be used to remove a tiny amount of metal. Comparing the 8000 grit Kitayama to the King 8000 grit "Gold Stone", the King stone at $49 is a great bargain. The King stone polishes to a better mirror shine. Where the Kitayama beats the King is soaking time. The King takes about 10 to 15 minutes to stop soaking. I can soak the Kitayama for 5 minutes and it'll be ready to go.

I am impressed with this stone. It does an impressive refinement of the edge of a straight razor. The mounting on a wooden base is something new for me, but I find it works well for safe handling of the stone, and likely helps stone's durability. I was not sure if I would need another finer grade stone for the razor, but this stone gives a very good, durable edge. A few quick strokes on the stone and on a good leather strop, and I get a clean edge that does not pull hair during the shave.

This is a very good finishing stone. It's not meant to take off a lot of metal, but to refine an edge (or a wide bevel) to a near mirror finish (with contrast on wide bevels if you know what you are doing). It comes on a wooden stand, and is actually much larger than I expected (which is definitely a plus). The stand it comes on feels like it could use some sanding, besides that I like it. This is a slow wearing stone, that is actually fairly fast at removing metal for an 8000 grit stone. Its actually faster than some 6000 stones. Overall great stone, the only drawback is price. Though when compared to some other stones, it is actually not a bad deal.

I always use my products prior to writing my reviews. I've been searching for a decent and yet inexpensive 8K polishing stone for my Sujihiki. I normally use the Suehiro MD series of stones for my knives as I have plenty of room for my bigger knives. Unfortunately, the MD series max out at the 4K range and for most household's, that's good enough. As you increase your collection of knives, (yanagiba, sujihiki) you'll be searching for an 8K stone. First off, it's an extremely affordable 8K stone to add to your arsenal. The fit & finish is mirror like and the results are simply amazing for the price. The cons; it comes with a wooden base. Most people like myself do not care for those wooden bases and normally, would take them off. It's extremely sticky stone at first, It is a splash and go and I tried to dunk in water for a bit to help with that stickiness, but it was still sticky. My recommendation is use the nagura it comes with, create the slurry and don't wash it off, use that slurry to polish the knife and it'll cut so much faster, as in a quarter of the time. You'll be more than impressed with the results it leaves you with. I gave it 4 stars only because of the wooden base and the stickiness. But over all, a great stone for your knives.

I bought it under the recommendation of 3 sushi chefs at my work who all swear by this stone. It polishes my knives more so than my 6000 grit (though that set of stones were half the price of just one of this) and gets a nice edge that cuts through fish and veggies like a hot knife through butter. I initially sharpened my knives normally then used this stone to finish it off, and use just this stone for maintenance and regular sharpening now and it's... well not going back. the type of knives vary from single bevel, double bevel knives, with variety of different metals from AUS VG10, VG5, VG10, blue steel, high carbon, high carbon stainless steel, white steel, heat treated blue steel, stainless.... and the list goes on. Update, it's been over a year now, got it sometime in the beginning of last year (2018). Regular maintenance of the stone keeps it nice and flat, I did have to correct it once as I was being lazy for a couple of months between sharpening. Right now I start with 1000 grit whetstone and finish with this. I sharpening about twice to three times a week and yeah, can't praise this stone enough.

It’s a great 8k stone.It came in a wooden base which I really like. I use it for straight razors.This stone followed by a Coticule or a slate or hard ark makes a great two stone system for keeping razors with a good set bevel going.

The stone arrive safe, i say this because it has no bubble wrap, just 4 air bubbles in the Amazon box, thank God arrive safe, it has to be more protected, like Suehiro, now, the finish of this stone is really amazing, very high gloss finish, it’s high quality stone a d for the price nobody and me can say anything wrong about it

Works great. Been getting a really nice polish on my knives with this. The feedback is also quite nice. All my coarser stones are Chosera, and by comparison this is a quite softer… it’s not difficult to accidentally cut it with a sharp knife. Not a negative just worth noting.