Thank you for this interesting and honest review! I was always curious about these Taidea / Aliexpress stones and you have shown me what I wanted to know. It also shows you are making these videos out of curiosity and for sharing knowledge and not out of commercial interest. That is a rarity in the TH-cam knife world. You have a new subscriber!
I have tested some chinese stones too and what I sow is that single grits are a little better than combination stones. And also Taidea seems better than generic stones. :)
I remember years ago buying a Sharp Pebble 3k / 8k. At the time I was still "newer" to sharpening with various grits of stones (previously had always been coarser stones, hadn't been into refining stones) and thought the 3k/8k was going to be something amazing based on what I had read, etc. I quickly learned that was NOT really a 3k/8k, and that started my descent further into Japanese stones. I had a few Japanese stones, but nothing more than a 1k. Fast forward 6+ years and I have many, MANY Japanese stones, both synthetic and natural and my bank account is way lighter. However, I found some decent Chinese stones along the way!
If you go on aliexpress Taidea have some "professional" stones that are larger, closer to the standard japanese size. I wonder if their construction is different. They also have glass stones that are supposed to be splash and go or close to it. It's packaged to be Shapton glass clone. Would be interesting to review these slightly upmarket Chinese stones.
@@lofotenknifeworks2278 I'm sure that's not high up on your list :) . But look in the "Proyan" store or search for "big size whetstone". The stones that are single grit instead of combo might be better from another comment here. Anyway China is a mirror. China shows you what your society values the most. I love how people use "Chinesium" as an insult meaning poor quality all the while typing on an iPhone. China can obviously produce quality if we are willing to pay, but our society just doesn't value quality when it comes to sharpening, outside of the enthusiast niche of course.
I have 600, 1000 and 3000 grit Taidea stones which are very soft and muddy but do a decent job on german steel kitchen knives. I also have a brown/white 3000/8000 Bearmoo brand stone from Amazon. This stone seems to be made from flower pot material, doesnt cut very well and the 8000 side leaves a coarser scratch pattern than the 3000 Taidea. It also grows a layer of white whiskers when it dries out which the Taidea stones do not.
Doesnt sound good. and offcoures there will be variations. I dont trust the grit from chinese manufacturers excactly because of what you describe :) But yea softer steels would be fine. i tihnk that if you go with a really hard steel on these you will struggle :)
Hello. For about 35€ you can get a Norton India combination stone. For the money, i do not believe there is a better deal. Very very hard oil stone at both sides. Can be used with water, as well. I want to ask you a question about the Naniwa pro 3000. How does it compare to your Kramer by Zwilling 3000 after your last video on the Zwilling stones? I will buy a 3k stone, and i am considering the Naniwa pro 3k, Shapton Glass 3k or the Zwilling Glass 3k. People still say that Naniwa pro cracks, is it true for you? Thank you
The naniwa pro is a little bit in the softer side, and you will get a larger stone. Feedback wise, i believe they are quite similar, although it has been a while since i worked on the kramer. Naniwas binding agent on some stones does not like to be soaked for longer durations. so by my understanding soaking, and drying improperly makes them more likely to crack. I have had no such issues, but use them as splash and go-stones. I will definately check out the north india stones :) thanks for the tip
I bought a Chinese green/white 1000/6000 grit combo stone from Amazon. The binder is very weak and makes the stone wear very quickly. It feels rubbery when honing. The stone will wear down with just my finger nails rubbing on the surface. The 1000 grit side feels more like 600 grits. The 6000 grit side feels like 1000 grits. I tested both grits on a cheap knife and examined the scratch patterns on a 10x loupe. The 6000 side and the 1000 grit side produced equally rough scratch patterns when viewed under the 10x loupe. The stone is a total piece of garbage.
I dont disagree. But i wouldn't even brother comparing them to japanese stones :) they will always fall short. I do realize its an unpopular opinion, but I like to look at them as a challenge, and you have to take them for what they are, and not what they try to be. And I also do have a soft spot for soft stones, although these do take it to the extreme 😅. But yea. If you have the money, and want a proper stone, I would go for suehiro, naniwa, shapton, miyagoshi or imanishi all day ( I probably forgot about 10 brands in there).
Soft stones have their place too. They don't load up and they prevent burr formation because the knife apex is always hitting loose abrasive particles. As long as the last stone in your progression is sufficiently hard to form a crisp edge, they're actually very useful. Don't put them out in the garbage yet !
Ok, the grit of taidea stone isn't the same with the grit of Japanese stones, please could you please tell me the Japanese grits of these taidea grits: 240, 600,1000,2000,5000? I mean, I have all of these grits from taidea, and I really need to know what is my sharpening grits in Japanese scale. Thank you
Great review man. Honest and very useful. I had a very different experience with Chinese stones but that's because they are from different brands. MyViT 400/1000 both sides are moderately hard but releases enough slurry to expose new abrasive. 400 grit side cuts very well if you use moderate pressure. 1K side is not silky smooth like a King but relative grit result matches description. It feels like a cheap stone but works fine and has excellent value for money. Brinox 400/1000. 1K side is exactly as you described, very soft and cuts well. 400 grit on the other hand is very hard and suffers from abrasive wearing down. It cuts really slow and feels nothing like a 400. Tried sharpening with more pressure and resurface it using a 120 grit silicon carbide stone but nothing solved the problem. Hate this stone.
For curiosity, I bought a lot of Taidea stones lately. Taidea V-San is advertised as high value, but the 3000 stone is as coarse and fragile as a common stone you can buy at a hardware store. The 10000 side is a bit better, but does not leave any meaningful shine on the blade. Taidea 10000 is somewhat better, but I would swear that my Tojiro 4000 leaves better edge than that. Taidea 3 stone combined sharpening stations: I thought that those stones are too fine for what is written on them, but I haven't used them so much yet. Taidea flattening stone: It feels that the thing is just goes apart during flattening... Also, they weren't even that cheap. I have a couple of cheap chinese stones, which are like 2.5 cm wide and 16cm long from 240 to 10000 (8 stones), and I swear they are much, much better quality than the Taidea. From this form factor I also have a 6 stone set, but the 3000 from it looks and feels the same as the 240, but wears as fast as the Taidea, maybe faster :D
In broad terms, taidea is a chinese Company, and is focusing more on keeping price down, than quality. And I guess what you are experiencing relates to that :) in general Chinese stones rates their grit quite high, especially if you compare them to higher quality japanese brands like tojiro 😀
@@lofotenknifeworks2278 Yes, they are kind of what I expected, but a bit better. I will definitely use them although I don't like them much. If SharpeningSupplies finally send my order, I will have some different types of Naniwas as well to compare. I expect a lot from those stones.
@@lofotenknifeworks2278 Sometimes I just want them all... I don't have enough money and place though, so I selected one from almost everything: 1: Aotoshi (Green brick of joy) 2: Snow white 3: Multi stone, both the 220/1000 and the 1000/3000 4: Traditional Waterstone 4000 5: Lobster 800 6: S2 Super Stone 5000 I tried to select different grits. Maybe this way I may use all of them for different knives. The Aotoshi and the Snow White were the main part of shopping around at Sharpeningsupplies. I also bought the full set of the Shapton Glass Stone Seven at another site, but haven't tried them yet.
I have cheap chinese stones and they´re just not very good. They´re very soft and the grit is all over the place. Don´t expect a 6000 grit even if it says 6000. It´s not much finer than the 1000 side. For the rough work they still can be used. You can get a sharp knife using such a stone but you can get a sharp knife with almost anything.
Yea they really feel coarse when you compare them to japanese whetstones. I would go so far as to not even brother comparing them at all 😅 i try too look at them as a challenge. But I do love a challenge though 😀
@@lofotenknifeworks2278 I did state an obvious opininion considering the price point of these stones. There was a second one I left intentionally between the lines, soo yeah!
@@anon5214 im sorry. My apologies. Offcourse they are cheap stones, and compared to more expensive stones (wich I feel like people tend to do) they will always fall short. And that's exactly why i wanted to show that's its not impossible to get good results on them. 😀
Those Chinese cheap imitation stones load up quickly and dish very fast. Guys learn your lessons, there's no better stones then the Japanese synthetic or the natural stones!! Bury those Chinese stones and put flowers over them or grind them to dust and use them in your garden. 😆😆😆😆
That is not my experience with them. I got a Brinox 400/1000 that is ultra hard, abrasives get worn out no matter what I do, and sucks because it doesn't cut metal. I also got a MyVit 400/1000. It's hard but this time release enough abrasive to renew cutting surface. It has decent cutting speed, doesn't load up and accurate grit description. It doesn't have the silky smooth user experience King and Naniwa have but it performs very well for the price range.
I don’t personally like blanket statements like that, while I don’t own any cheap Chinese stones, there absolutely could be some good ones out there. It’s all about the use/application..! Do love my Japanese whetstones tho ;) I’ll take the Arkansas over the JNATS personally, mostly since I’m located in America
Thank you for this interesting and honest review! I was always curious about these Taidea / Aliexpress stones and you have shown me what I wanted to know.
It also shows you are making these videos out of curiosity and for sharing knowledge and not out of commercial interest. That is a rarity in the TH-cam knife world. You have a new subscriber!
I have tested some chinese stones too and what I sow is that single grits are a little better than combination stones. And also Taidea seems better than generic stones. :)
I remember years ago buying a Sharp Pebble 3k / 8k. At the time I was still "newer" to sharpening with various grits of stones (previously had always been coarser stones, hadn't been into refining stones) and thought the 3k/8k was going to be something amazing based on what I had read, etc. I quickly learned that was NOT really a 3k/8k, and that started my descent further into Japanese stones. I had a few Japanese stones, but nothing more than a 1k. Fast forward 6+ years and I have many, MANY Japanese stones, both synthetic and natural and my bank account is way lighter. However, I found some decent Chinese stones along the way!
If you go on aliexpress Taidea have some "professional" stones that are larger, closer to the standard japanese size. I wonder if their construction is different. They also have glass stones that are supposed to be splash and go or close to it. It's packaged to be Shapton glass clone.
Would be interesting to review these slightly upmarket Chinese stones.
I wasn't aware of that. I will definitely give them a go :)
@@lofotenknifeworks2278 I'm sure that's not high up on your list :) . But look in the "Proyan" store or search for "big size whetstone". The stones that are single grit instead of combo might be better from another comment here.
Anyway China is a mirror. China shows you what your society values the most.
I love how people use "Chinesium" as an insult meaning poor quality all the while typing on an iPhone. China can obviously produce quality if we are willing to pay, but our society just doesn't value quality when it comes to sharpening, outside of the enthusiast niche of course.
I have 600, 1000 and 3000 grit Taidea stones which are very soft and muddy but do a decent job on german steel kitchen knives. I also have a brown/white 3000/8000 Bearmoo brand stone from Amazon.
This stone seems to be made from flower pot material, doesnt cut very well and the 8000 side leaves a coarser scratch pattern than the 3000 Taidea. It also grows a layer of white whiskers when it dries out which the Taidea stones do not.
Doesnt sound good. and offcoures there will be variations. I dont trust the grit from chinese manufacturers excactly because of what you describe :) But yea softer steels would be fine. i tihnk that if you go with a really hard steel on these you will struggle :)
Hello. For about 35€ you can get a Norton India combination stone. For the money, i do not believe there is a better deal. Very very hard oil stone at both sides. Can be used with water, as well. I want to ask you a question about the Naniwa pro 3000. How does it compare to your Kramer by Zwilling 3000 after your last video on the Zwilling stones? I will buy a 3k stone, and i am considering the Naniwa pro 3k, Shapton Glass 3k or the Zwilling Glass 3k. People still say that Naniwa pro cracks, is it true for you?
Thank you
The naniwa pro is a little bit in the softer side, and you will get a larger stone. Feedback wise, i believe they are quite similar, although it has been a while since i worked on the kramer. Naniwas binding agent on some stones does not like to be soaked for longer durations. so by my understanding soaking, and drying improperly makes them more likely to crack. I have had no such issues, but use them as splash and go-stones. I will definately check out the north india stones :) thanks for the tip
@@lofotenknifeworks2278 thank you for sharing your opinion. I might go for the Shapton Glass after all.
@@theodorosmalliopoulos7231 can’t go wrong with the Shapton Glass IMO. It’s gonna cut the fastest out of the 3
I bought a Chinese green/white 1000/6000 grit combo stone from Amazon. The binder is very weak and makes the stone wear very quickly. It feels rubbery when honing. The stone will wear down with just my finger nails rubbing on the surface. The 1000 grit side feels more like 600 grits. The 6000 grit side feels like 1000 grits. I tested both grits on a cheap knife and examined the scratch patterns on a 10x loupe. The 6000 side and the 1000 grit side produced equally rough scratch patterns when viewed under the 10x loupe. The stone is a total piece of garbage.
I dont disagree. But i wouldn't even brother comparing them to japanese stones :) they will always fall short. I do realize its an unpopular opinion, but I like to look at them as a challenge, and you have to take them for what they are, and not what they try to be. And I also do have a soft spot for soft stones, although these do take it to the extreme 😅. But yea. If you have the money, and want a proper stone, I would go for suehiro, naniwa, shapton, miyagoshi or imanishi all day ( I probably forgot about 10 brands in there).
Soft stones have their place too. They don't load up and they prevent burr formation because the knife apex is always hitting loose abrasive particles. As long as the last stone in your progression is sufficiently hard to form a crisp edge, they're actually very useful. Don't put them out in the garbage yet !
Ok, the grit of taidea stone isn't the same with the grit of Japanese stones, please could you please tell me the Japanese grits of these taidea grits:
240, 600,1000,2000,5000?
I mean, I have all of these grits from taidea, and I really need to know what is my sharpening grits in Japanese scale.
Thank you
As Murray Carter said, don't get hung up on the instruments, it's all in the technique. What you're paying for is really the feel and the speed.
@LightBrand *before he started selling nano hone 😅 but yea, totally agree
Great review man. Honest and very useful.
I had a very different experience with Chinese stones but that's because they are from different brands.
MyViT 400/1000 both sides are moderately hard but releases enough slurry to expose new abrasive. 400 grit side cuts very well if you use moderate pressure. 1K side is not silky smooth like a King but relative grit result matches description. It feels like a cheap stone but works fine and has excellent value for money.
Brinox 400/1000. 1K side is exactly as you described, very soft and cuts well. 400 grit on the other hand is very hard and suffers from abrasive wearing down. It cuts really slow and feels nothing like a 400. Tried sharpening with more pressure and resurface it using a 120 grit silicon carbide stone but nothing solved the problem. Hate this stone.
For curiosity, I bought a lot of Taidea stones lately.
Taidea V-San is advertised as high value, but the 3000 stone is as coarse and fragile as a common stone you can buy at a hardware store. The 10000 side is a bit better, but does not leave any meaningful shine on the blade.
Taidea 10000 is somewhat better, but I would swear that my Tojiro 4000 leaves better edge than that.
Taidea 3 stone combined sharpening stations: I thought that those stones are too fine for what is written on them, but I haven't used them so much yet.
Taidea flattening stone: It feels that the thing is just goes apart during flattening...
Also, they weren't even that cheap. I have a couple of cheap chinese stones, which are like 2.5 cm wide and 16cm long from 240 to 10000 (8 stones), and I swear they are much, much better quality than the Taidea. From this form factor I also have a 6 stone set, but the 3000 from it looks and feels the same as the 240, but wears as fast as the Taidea, maybe faster :D
In broad terms, taidea is a chinese Company, and is focusing more on keeping price down, than quality. And I guess what you are experiencing relates to that :) in general Chinese stones rates their grit quite high, especially if you compare them to higher quality japanese brands like tojiro 😀
@@lofotenknifeworks2278 Yes, they are kind of what I expected, but a bit better. I will definitely use them although I don't like them much.
If SharpeningSupplies finally send my order, I will have some different types of Naniwas as well to compare. I expect a lot from those stones.
@@RelakS__ You can expect alot from naniwa. What kind did you go for?
@@lofotenknifeworks2278 Sometimes I just want them all... I don't have enough money and place though, so I selected one from almost everything:
1: Aotoshi (Green brick of joy)
2: Snow white
3: Multi stone, both the 220/1000 and the 1000/3000
4: Traditional Waterstone 4000
5: Lobster 800
6: S2 Super Stone 5000
I tried to select different grits. Maybe this way I may use all of them for different knives.
The Aotoshi and the Snow White were the main part of shopping around at Sharpeningsupplies.
I also bought the full set of the Shapton Glass Stone Seven at another site, but haven't tried them yet.
I have cheap chinese stones and they´re just not very good. They´re very soft and the grit is all over the place. Don´t expect a 6000 grit even if it says 6000. It´s not much finer than the 1000 side. For the rough work they still can be used. You can get a sharp knife using such a stone but you can get a sharp knife with almost anything.
Japanese natural stone video please!!!!!!
Also would love to see the scratch pattern all the stones leave on a wide bevel.
Love your videos.
Thanks man. i appretiate. ill see what i can do :)
I have the same 3k/8k stone as you, and for me it really feels like 800(or even 600)/2000 comparing to my choseras and my kings
Yea they really feel coarse when you compare them to japanese whetstones. I would go so far as to not even brother comparing them at all 😅 i try too look at them as a challenge. But I do love a challenge though 😀
I have one word for quality and "cheap" stone: KING
Still Japanese but not expensive as Naniwa, etc.
Great video mate 👍
These take me back lol
So...yeah...some chinese stones, they're cheap...so yeah!
Soo. Yeah.. They are.. And what? Im happy to discuss, but you have to either state an opinion or ask a question for me to be able to do that 😁
@@lofotenknifeworks2278 I did state an obvious opininion considering the price point of these stones. There was a second one I left intentionally between the lines, soo yeah!
@@anon5214 im sorry. My apologies. Offcourse they are cheap stones, and compared to more expensive stones (wich I feel like people tend to do) they will always fall short. And that's exactly why i wanted to show that's its not impossible to get good results on them. 😀
Those Chinese cheap imitation stones load up quickly and dish very fast. Guys learn your lessons, there's no better stones then the Japanese synthetic or the natural stones!! Bury those Chinese stones and put flowers over them or grind them to dust and use them in your garden. 😆😆😆😆
That is not my experience with them.
I got a Brinox 400/1000 that is ultra hard, abrasives get worn out no matter what I do, and sucks because it doesn't cut metal.
I also got a MyVit 400/1000. It's hard but this time release enough abrasive to renew cutting surface. It has decent cutting speed, doesn't load up and accurate grit description.
It doesn't have the silky smooth user experience King and Naniwa have but it performs very well for the price range.
I don’t personally like blanket statements like that, while I don’t own any cheap Chinese stones, there absolutely could be some good ones out there. It’s all about the use/application..! Do love my Japanese whetstones tho ;) I’ll take the Arkansas over the JNATS personally, mostly since I’m located in America
They don't load up. That's what this review shows. That's the flip side of being so fast.