{"id":3688,"date":"2015-09-28T23:22:08","date_gmt":"2015-09-29T03:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/?p=3688"},"modified":"2016-06-12T01:37:43","modified_gmt":"2016-06-12T05:37:43","slug":"suehiro-gokumyo-20000-finishing-stone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/2015\/09\/28\/suehiro-gokumyo-20000-finishing-stone\/","title":{"rendered":"Suehiro Gokumyo 20,000 finishing stone"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Suehiro<\/em><\/p>\n

My new, new (ugh) favorite fine finishing stone, the Suehiro Gokumyo, is a real thoroughbred<\/strong>. Nominally 20,000 grit\/0.5 \u00b5<\/strong> with a tight distribution of particle size, it can produce magnificently sharp, clean edges.<\/p>\n

This is a very hard<\/strong> stone in all respects. A hard, tough binder makes it extremely wear resistant, so it retains a flat surface very well and requires little maintenance. It is virtually non-porous, so no soaking is required \u2013 just splash and go.<\/p>\n

When first using the Gokumyo, do not expect the genial feel of a Chosera 10K or a soft waterstone. The hard feel<\/strong> of this stone under the steel is initially formidable. However, once you tune in to just how awesomely fast and smooth<\/strong> it is removing steel and adjust your sense of feedback, it becomes an efficient joy to use. Nonetheless, to get the most out of it, you do need good sharpening skills.<\/p>\n

The Gukomyo comes with a 1K\/3K nagura but I prefer my shop-made 1200-grit diamond nagura<\/a> to quickly enhance feel and performance. I have not encountered the grabbing or stiction that many of the Shapton stones tend to produce, and one does not need to baby this stone like the Chosera 10K<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Having worked with this stone for several months now, it produces\u00a0great edges<\/strong> in all the main steels in my shop \u2013 \u00adA-2, O-1, and Japanese blue and white. I transition from the 8000\/3\u00b5<\/strong> DMT Dia-Sharp diamond stone<\/a>, used with a light touch, to the 20K Gokumyo. True, that is a sizable leap but it works, and it minimizes the number of stones and speeds the process.<\/p>\n

The Gukomyo 20K is discussed fairly widely on the internet among straight razor aficionados but has not received much attention from woodworkers. The best and least expensive source for Suehiro Gukomyo finishing stones<\/a> is Tools From Japan<\/a>, which is actually based in Japan. Proprietor Stu Tierney is tremendously knowledgeable<\/a> and generously helpful. [This review is unsolicited and uncompensated.] Yes, this is an expensive connoisseur’s stone but at 20mm thick and so wear resistant, it should last an extremely long time.<\/p>\n

With this and the transition to diamond stones, the revolving door of sharpening stones in my shop seems to have thankfully reached an end.<\/p>\n

By the way, anyone want to buy some used Shapton glass stones or other sharpening gear at a nice price? (Please send me an mail.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My new, new (ugh) favorite fine finishing stone, the Suehiro Gokumyo, is a real thoroughbred. Nominally 20,000 grit\/0.5 \u00b5 with a tight distribution of particle size, it can produce magnificently sharp, clean edges. This is a very hard stone in all respects. A hard, tough binder makes it extremely wear resistant, so it retains a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-product-reviews","category-tools-and-shop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3688"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3705,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3688\/revisions\/3705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}