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- Apr 15, 2014
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- 483
Alright guys, today we are gonna talk about the Chevrolet Corvette of three-stone combos. Most of us start out on the Toyota Prius King 1k/6k combo stone, and yeah, it got us there, but there was utterly no flair, am I right?
Now, sometimes you want a little more go than the Prius, but the Lamborghini is a little overboard so you don't really wanna throw down on the Naniwa Pro series either. Well, then what do you do?
You get the Corvette.
It comes in at a third of the price of the Lambo, but it sure as hell ain't a third of the car, is it?
Enter the Classic Combo.
I call it that because the aforementioned three-stone combo is highly recommended on pretty much any thread asking about which new stone set to purchase.
So come with me as I talk a little about why that combo is so highly touted.
Step One: Let's make some bubbles.
The Beston Five-hundo sizzled like bacon in a frying pan for about 5 minutes, the Suehiro Rika 5k basically chilled out, but the Bester 1200 loosed a steady stream of bubbles for like forty minutes. This thing doesn't drink water, it sips and savors it like 20-year-old scotch.
While those were getting their soak on, I perused the Knife Shelf and selected my guinea pig: the ZKC D01
I like this knife because, like Mike Tyson, its huge and built to both take, and dish out, a beating.
Alright, bath time's over. First up to bat is the 500, which I can only assume is its horse power rating, because this thing fckin goes, boys.
Instant, rapid metal removal.
Notice the matte surface? No sheen. Yeah, this stone doesn't hold water on the surface. I've seen less thirsty 220 grit stones. The 500 is a starving beast from the depths of dark Japanese waters. But its great thirst does not stop with water, for it also chews metal like a school of famine-ravaged piranha.
The stone definitely does shed grit, but it avoids the description "too friable" by a large margin. The thing has an absolutely acceptable wear rate for the speed at which it cuts.
Check this out:
Look at that massive imperfection on the edge right at the heel. It was, like, a half an inch long. Huge. Hideous. I reprofiled that thing out in less than 10 minutes. Yeah, I understand that it's been a long time since we called 440C a supersteel, but I mean come on. Under ten minutes? That's a nice number! Beston 500 sporting an 11 second quarter mile! Whew! Smell the rubber, baby! Well, maybe a 12 second... It's fast, but lets not get carried away, a proper 220 obviously outclasses the Beston in raw reprofiling prowess.
And here's why I love 400-500 grit stones so much, especially the 500 area (particularly the Shapton Glass 500):
Shit, nevermind. I forgot to take the photo; it's not in my Imgur album.
Anyway, the 500 is both low enough to sharpen and even straight-up reprofile a blade, yet also leaves an edge capable of--after some stropping--slicing your phonebook paper up into nice swirling S patterns with little effort.
Mm!
I love that one-stone potential! I may pick up a couple of these and just have them on hand to fill that single stone progression role.
Okay, time for a drawback. The Dodge Demon may have 840 stampeding horses, but good luck shoulder-checking in that thing...
Yeah, look at that clean puddle of water. That can only mean one thing: it's dripping out of my damn stone. Keep your spray bottle handy, boys. Like I said, she's thirsty. Being a lower grit stone, it's less irritating. In fact, I personally didn't find it irritating at all. I don't really find it to be an issue, but you should know of it--it absolutely drives some people.
There you go. All the mud build up from a full reprofile on 440C. So, yeah, some wear, but I really don't think you'll find it wearing away too fast not to not be worth it--I mean, it's a fact of life: V8's suck gas.
Next up is the renowned Bester 1200
It actually comes like that. That's how they label their stones.
No. Not actually. Let's lap it.
Screw it. While I'm at it, let's hit the Rika too.
K sweet. They're all flat now. The Bester revealed itself to be notably harder than, say, my King 1200, which really isn't that muddy. Definitely not as hard as the Arashiyama 1k though. A different feel... more porous.
Haha, boys, the powerhouse fun was not left behind with the Beston 500! The Bester brings the heat. I was expecting a kind of Audi S4 experience with this one: definitely some notable power in the biturbo V6, but, you know, more about a luxury experience.
WRONG.
All power, baby. Get in, buckle up, and melt some rubber kinda power.
Just like the Beston, it felt like this stone grabbed my knife. Like a sport suspension, it ripped metal off with less concern for luxury-smooth feel, and dumped all that feedback into pure performance. I actually like that grippy sensation. It really feels like a lot is happening on the bevel, but I have used other stones that feel gentler, creamier, smoother, and that is to be appreciated as well, but what is to be loved about the Bester 1200 is that leave-'em-in-the-dust speed.
Drawback time? Well, the Chevrolet Camaro Exorcist may have a thousand horsepower, but good luck shoulder-checking in that thing... I feel like I said that already.
See the matte appearance of the stone? You guessed it. The 1200 is also a very thirsty stone, so I hope you kept your spray bottle topped off after tearing around on the 500.
Again, a minor drawback that, to me, is a non-issue. But again, it is a characteristic you should be aware of. What can I say? V8's suck ga--oh, wait I already said that.
Rika time!
At this point, I'm a hard two for two. There's no way this third stone is going to blow me away. I must have seriously pissed off the god of games and chance at some point in my life because the odds never go my way, even when, statistically-speaking, they should have done so twice by this point.
So assuredly I'm not scoring a hat trick today.
WRONG AGAIN.
For the third time, I find myself behind the wheel of a tarmac-tearing beast.
It's a finishing stone, yet it's just ripping through steel like a Formula One car rips through laps.
The Suehiro Rika 5k, for the third time, has that grabby, steel-hungry feeling. I really didn't expect this because it is presumably from an entirely different stone company, yet the three stones go together like they were deliberately made to be a set.
The Rika felt like I was sharpening on a 2k, or even maybe a smoother 1k stone. Far different from the creamy, slippery feel you get when you bump up the grit rating by a thousand and hop on the Arashiyama 6k.
A third huge thumbs up. A third very enjoyable stone to use. I can't hit you with anymore car metaphors. In life, the third time may be the charm, but in writing, the third time is just repetitive.
The drawback this time is a little different, which is good because I already wore a hole in my joke for the other two.
The finish off the Rika 5k doesn't look like a 6k stone minus 1k. It looks more like a 3000 grit edge. Has some real nice luster, but it has very obvious grind lines as well, and there is no real way you could look a discerning knifeknut in the eye and tell him its a mirror polish.
You remember me mentioning buying the Corvette back at the beginning?
Well, after this sharpening session, I feel like I took a spin in three Corvettes, just with different paint jobs. Loved the power performance. No, the stones didn't worry about any kind of luxury feel--they were porous which left you susceptible to surface drying and skidding out--but they damn well brought the heat! And the weak point for the Rika was not its impressive acceleration, but its gross top speed, leaving you with a polish that is a little lower than you might have expected.
Let's strop 'er up and see how she looks:
Not too shabby! Some blurry mirroring, but definitely still shows its grind lines. Made some nice S curls in the phonebook paper, so she passed the test with flying colors nonetheless.
This set costs half that of the Naniwa Professional equivalent. The entire set costs the price of literally just the Naniwa Professional 5k alone. And those are amazing god damn stones, do not get me wrong, but they aren't necessarily twice as good, you know what I mean?
So we didn't wanna talk about the Lamborghinis this time around. I'll get to those. Instead, we opted to check out the still-powerful mid range Corvettes. These three stones specialize in maxing their power-for-the-dollar ratio, and they do damn well at it. They got a lot under the hood and do a lot more than just get you there. They get you there in style. They get you there with a thrill. And when your friends see what you're working with, they wanna get in on it. So if you're thinking of taking the Classic Combo for a spin, do it. You won't be disappointed.
