Announcing Knifewear Waterstones
As you may know, we have long been knife sharpening nerds. We have opinions and experience. After considerable efforts, we are pleased finally announce Knifewear brand Waterstones. We are extremely happy about how these have turned out, and can’t wait for you to try them.
These are made by Naniwa and have been hand-selected by Kevin Kent. The selection is a mixture of reworked stones from Naniwa’s current line up, stones normally only available in Japan, and products from the back catalogue. We believe these stones are the best selection for sharpening anything you have. All of the stones work well with Japanese or European knives as well as carbon and stainless steel.
“These are the stones I travel with for off-site sharpening classes/demos and Guerilla Sharpening events. I can do anything with this collection from simple sharpening to repairs to straight razors and axes.” — Kevin Kent
220 Grit Oni
This 220 Grit Waterstone is the fastest coarse stones we’ve found. It removes steel efficiently and dishes slowly. You will still need to use a truing stone after every 2-4 knives sharpened, but that’s minimal maintenance compared to other stones on the market. This stone requires a 20-30 minute soak before use.
The box designed by Mason Hastie features an Oni, a devil-like figure from Japanese mythology. It was chosen because in some settings it can be seen as a symbol of strength, and of becoming stronger by using a strong tool. The 220 stone definitely is a strong tool.
1000 Grit Ramen and Gyoza
This is your Everything Stone. The one stone to rule them all. Every knife you sharpen will touch this stone. Either this is your starting point or it is used after repairs on the 220 gritstone. We recommend finishing most non-Japanese knives with this stone, but if you are the kind that wants to get an extra 20% of performance out of everything, you’ll want to take those Henckels to 4000 or 8000 and really have them sing. Please soak for 20-30 minutes before use.
Ramen and gyoza are depicted on this box. This is an everyday stone, and let’s face it ramen and gyoza should be an everyday food. Well, maybe not, but it is a staple of the Japanese diet, and we felt the analogy was appropriate.
4000 Grit Sake
This is a fast, hard Waterstone that leaves a silky edge. Not many 4000 grit stones will raise a burr but this one does, it’s a race car of a stone. With this stone, you start hitting the sharpness potential of your Japanese knife and make your European knives smooooth. Please do not soak, just splash water on it when it’s time to use.
Mason made a 70’s Japanese sake dream. Sake is a lovely drink that (to steal a phrase from Mike, our Operations Manager) “takes the edges off the world and makes me feel like I'm in a 1970’s album cover”. The 4000 stone takes the burr off your knives and makes the edge that much smoother, just like sake.
8000 Grit Maguro (Tuna)
This is the first Naniwa Waterstone Kevin ever bought. It changed everything. After using this stone for a day he claims he smashed his American made Norton 4000/8000 combination stone in the back lane out of frustration. He says that old Norton Waterstone held him back and kept him from getting the results he wanted. Use our 8000 stone on any Japanese kitchen knife, hunting knife, woodworking chisel or straight razor. The mirror edge it leaves will impress. Enjoy smooth cutting. Do not soak this stone, just splash water on when it’s time to use.
From the moment we decided we were going to have our own Waterstones, we felt one of the packages would have a fishing scene on it. Fishing and seafood have a huge role in Japanese culture. This packaging depicts fishing boats on a rough sea, along with giant bluefin tuna. (yum)
All four stones are also available as a set here.
All our stones are a standard 210mm x 70mm x 20mm for easy storage and fit easily without modification into the Waterstone holders we sell.
We are very proud to offer our customers this set of spectacular Waterstones and have plans to add to it soon. Look for a Knifewear truing stone, nagura stone, rust eraser, and combination stones (220/1000 and 4000/8000).
