Naniwa snow-white 8k VS Sigma Select II 10k

[Matthew N. Masail]

sorry, this is not a review.. yet. I am looking to add a finer grit stone to my water stone line up.

at the moment I'm using Chosera 800 then 3000, so the snow-white seems like the logical step. however, I have a few critiria and it seems to me that the 10K select II might just fit the bill better. the criteria are:

1. no soaking. after much reading seems like both work fine without, but the snow-white needs a heavy splash or a short soak to behave at it's best. any sigma select II 10K users who can comment on that?

2. little loading and or sticky-ness. those are the main things that led me to sell or dislike most finishing stone I have used. I tried the shapton 8k, it loads as if it's not meant to be used... the 6k dual stone is better, but boy is it slow.

if you think about it, I'm looking for something that will work and feel more like a good natural stone than a fine grit synthetic stone. but I do not have the $$ to start playing around with natural stones. since the select II has no binder in it, just pure abrasive, seems to me that is might be to closest thing. the snow-white also has a high abrasive content like the rest of the chosera line, and if it's as good as the 3k than I'm sure it's a great stone, so I'm a bit conflicted but leaning towards the sigma...

on a side note: I also use a hard ark from naturalwhetstone and a piece of jasper as an oil stone set-up, works fantastic as long as I keep the ark fresh, but it's not for all of my tools.

[Brian Holcombe]

I have a Sigma 13k…and a snow white.

IMO, both perform better with a short soak.

If you want a finisher without a soak (water stone) you might want to consider Natural stones. Neither feels like a natural stone. Both load up after some use. I flatten with my diamond plate very regularly while honing with these stones.

On Japanese tools I use the snow white followed by the sigma, then return to a natural stone to work the bevel by hand on Japanese stones and get a good looking kasumi finish.

On A2 I do everything short of the natural stones.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

^^^ There ya go. My comments can only be on the Chosera stones- they work better with a little soak. The only Shaptons I have are the Shaptons Glass. They are the closest I have found to a splash and go, but really any man made stone likes a little soak.

David Weaver, may he rest in virtual peace, had good things to say about the 8k Snow White I do remember, and I don't think I have ever heard a bad review of it. I think the two stones are both very reputable.

[Tom M King]

I have both, and use them in sinks in two different houses we're working on. It's a toss-up for useable edge. Since I use them in sinks, I don't really pay attention to how much water either needs. The SII 10k leaves a little prettier polish. We've been working more where the Sigma's are for the past couple of months, and I think every time that I use them that these are really nice stones, and are good enough for anyone. If I was to buy one set of stones now, it would be the Sigma SII. I have a 13 coming from Stu, since I gave the last one I had to a good client. I probably wouldn't even have the 10k, but a lot know the stone weakness, and it came up on the classifieds here too cheap to turn down. I do like it though.

[Matthew N. Masail]

Thanks Tom! that is really helpful. I'm going to get the Sigma SII, seems like a good choice for me.

I had the 13k but it's a different animal. it doesn't fill the spot of a finishing stone to take over a medium stone, it's more of a strop replacement if you ask me. just too fine to be practical and it loads up like some other stones.

[paul cottingham]

Im a sharpening nut, and I polish with a sigma Select II 10,000. Works great, strop to finish, but i doubt i really need to.