Hi - I'm Tony from Canberra Australia. I run a sharpening business called Sharpfection and am the exclusive WEPS dealer in Australia.

I like most people here waited from early August til December to get my WEPS - but was it worth the wait!!! Also like most people here I had tried all sorts of sharpeners without any great success and I am just amazed at how simple, elegant and efficient the WEPS is and the edges it can produce.

Being (a bit) obsessive I got the WEPS with stones from 50/80 through to 5000/10000 Naniwa Chosera, diamond paste down to .5 micron. I have been so impressed with the 10000 water stones, I have not even tried the diamond paste yet.

I've been lurking round this forum since August, but now that I have my WEPS and used it in anger, I thought it was high time I should appear.

I've learnt heaps from this forum already and appreciate the sense of community and the willingness to help. I hope that I can make the same contribution.

Tony

Welcome Tony! I'd like to hear more about those waterstones since I don't have them but want 'em.

Don

I love the Naniwa Choseras. I have the 800/1000, 2000/3000 and 5000/10000, which is (a bit of) overkill, but that is just me. The 10k gives an amazing finish and edge. I can drop an A4 page end on from 150mm (6" to you) to a horizontal blade a get a 7mm cut (a touch more than 1/4"). I am thinking that this should be a good (and cheap), easily repeated, quantitative standard test of sharpness. What do you think?

The Naniwas are not cheap, but you have done all the hard work with the lower grits, so they are giving the final finish and so should last a long while and give good value for money in the long run (convinced yet?). It would be hard to get a finish and edge like this with anything else other than the WEPS. I showed a chef a Global knife I had done with the 10k and his first word as he inspected the blade was "wow". I also suspect that he did not think that I had done it until he saw the WEPS in action himself on one of his own knives. (Needless to say he bought one)

Tony

Sounds good - I'm thinking the 5000/10000 stones are the way to go after the 1200/1600 ceramics, which I have. I get a pretty shiny finish with those and 3.5 micron strops, the finish on your knives must really be something!

Yes - the 5000 is pretty much the same as the 1600 gritwise, I can't say what difference (if any) the 5000 would give over the 1600 as I have not ever really looked, but the 10000 sure does. It would be good if Naniwa did an 8000 as it would give a good progression from the 1600 and then to the 10000.

I wonder if Clay would consider do a 10000 only Naniwa Chosera to cater for those with the 1200/1600 given that 1600 is pretty much 5000