Here's one of my favorites, the Kitayama 8000x. I think I've been using one of these just about as long as I've been hand sharpening. I've often tried to reduce my kit by removing this stone but it always comes back as I find myself missing it. For starters it has the best feeling during use of any waterstone that I've ever used, a pure pleasure to work with. This isn't a very aggressive stone like other 8000x stones though, it's more a stone that I see as a finishing stone and this is important to note. I've come to find that it's best used following other 8000x stones rather than coming directly from medium stones (like you would normally) as it does not perform as a standalone 8k. I like to use this stone after other 8000-10000x stones and find this is where it performs it's best as it's results can be compared with 10000x-12000x stones. I think that in this regard this stone is not used by most people and as a result often misunderstood. I don't think I could be without my Kitayama 8000x.

 

*Best Used - After 10k stones

 

Stone comes mounted on sturdy wooden base.

 

Nagura stone included.

Use the nagura stone to refine and smooth the stone's surface after flattening/lapping sessions to bring out the true potential of the stone. Also can be used to clean glazing from the stone's surface. Do not use to build a slurry or paste (a big time no-no) as nagura stones are much coarser than this 8000x stone it's being used on and this coarse grit will only serve to dull your knife. Rinse stone after using nagura.

 

The Kitayama 8000x does not require pre-soaking, just splash water on and go to work.

 

Size - 205 x 75 x 25mm