KING Grain Sharpening Stone, #1000, Medium

Just added this KING #1000 grit sharpening stone to my collection. It's a medium grit synthetic stone, 8.2" x 2.6" x 1.3"h. A KING deluxe product, retail packaged from Japan. Looks like a solid, general-purpose medium stone.This review represents my personal opinion and experience with this product. I am not affiliated with the manufacturer or seller, and this review should not be interpreted as an endorsement or professional advice. Any reliance on the information provided is at your own risk.

Great stone, very well priced

I purchased this after realizing I needed a medium grit stone in between my coarse dry stone and my King Ice Bear 4000 Grit Waterstone. This stone functions flawlessly.Out of the box (packaged nicely by KORIN) you will get the stone and some instructions in Japanese. Most of it (from reading the Chinese characters in the text that mean the same in Japanese) regards proper use and safety while using, so I think you'd be fine there.The stone is hefty, more so than you would think. The surface is a lot coarser than my 4000 grit waterstone. One thing to note is that this is a synthetic waterstone, instead of a natural waterstone. This means that this will not produce a slurry like a natural waterstone, will last longer, but cut slower, and is prone to clogging by steel. As I have some time on my hands, I chose this stone.After getting the basic edge shape done with a coarse dry stone, it was time to refine the edge with this.To use this stone, one would flood it with water. I run the tap over it until I can see the water stay on top of the stone instead of disappearing within the depths of the stone. First time sharpening this it worked like a charm. During sharpening some red particulates emerge from the surface and float to the top of the water. This is simply the cutting particles coming loose from the sharpening action and floating away after cutting into the metal. I was able to get the previously crap grind on my Cold Steel Frontier Hawk Hickory Handle into a very nice proper axe grind and a very serviceable convex edge in about half an hour. This stone, while not as fast as a natural stone, worked perfectly for my purposes. Flawless sharpening, flawless cleanup.I further refined the edge with the 4000 grit stone, as I do not own a leather strop. As I will eventually destroy the edge anyway from working on trails, I don't mind not having my tools razor sharp.All in all, this stone was a great purchase. Its size and longevity will ensure that it will be used for a long time, and its effectiveness allows it to remain in my tool box as my primary sharpening stone. Great purchase, and worthwhile for anyone who prefers to hand sharpen their equipment.

The king 1000 stone I guess is of older Waterstones. It wears extremely fast dishes very very fast, but sharpens fast also. Its thickness is great. I highly recommend not to use an angle jig on it because it would dish it out extremely quickly. These have to be soaked in water and is better used on softer steals (O 1).

I've been using King Brand waterstones for my chisels and plane blades for years. Absolutely no complaints at all. As a minimum, you will need this grit and a fine grit stone, which will give you a very sharp edge and literally a mirror finish. If you have to flatten the backs of your chisels, you might want to get a coarser grit, which will make that (very boring) job much faster. Water stones are less messy than oil stones... still gets all over but cleanup is quick.

I have a ton of water stones, many much more expensive ones and honestly I prefer the King to many of them. It's relatively hard and slow wearing and offers excellent feedback and feel. It's a true 1000 grit stone. It doesn't cut quite as quickly as some 1ks but leaves a beautiful hazy 1k finish. I've mostly used it on cheaper stainless knives and some carbon steel Japanese knives and it does very well with those. I haven't tried too many "super steels" so I can't really comment on performance there. Bottom line is don't look down your nose at King stones because they are more affordable. There's nothing wrong with them at all. I have experience with much pricier stones from Naniwa, Shapton, Suehiro, Imanishi etc. and honestly this stone isn't a slouch in comparison. Will serve 95% of people very well. They're the best bang for your buck IMO. Another King stone I have high praise for is the King Deluxe 300, it's very hard, releases abrasive at a perfect rate, wears slowly and stays flat well for a coarse grit water stone and cuts very quickly. It's excellent as is this one

I collect stones both new and used. Diamond, oil, water, ceramic, natural etc. Some are good for carbon steel and others are better for stainless. This stone does both rather well for most purposes without a need to progress to finer stones. In other words, I can save time when necessary. It arrived unscathed. I like it.

For some reason, I’ve been afraid of whetstones for years & have tried all kinds of nutty alternative gadgets to avoid just using a whetstone. The results have been consistently mediocre and disappointing.So I bought a King Deluxe 1,000 grit stone to try out. AWESOME! The results after just using this stone and a strop with some green compound are truly fantastic. I haven’t been able to get edges this sharp since my knives came from the factories, and they are once again a pleasure to use. The price of this stone is pretty great, IMO, and it will likely remain my standard although I do plan to add at least one or two finer grits.