Whetstone War - Battle 2k Kinda - Red Aoto - Japanese natural stones vs. Naniwa Green Brick of Joy

[@Vamtal]

Thanks for another stone war. I love this series. JNS Red Aoto and Green brick are specialized for surface sharpening like thinning and polishing Kireha. Compare edge from those stones is kind of useless. It would be awesome, helpful and useful to compare these stones with respect to their purpose. Thinning work is a perfect candidate for Moritaka gyutos to compare properities like: scratch pattern, speed of material removal from surface (with and without slurry), Hagane Jigane contrast and so on.

[@nadm]

Well it is time to thin the knives so we're gonna do it.

[@kenos01]

Worth noting Damian chooses red aoto for polishing swords and honyaki. Different application/needs than sharpening. Thanks for the content, as always. Edit: you did note this in final seconds of the video.

[@rafaelandino4713]

The rust eraser might have left residue on the naniwa. It would be interesting to see another comparison with both stones using the rust eraser and nanohome to clean up both stones. Or perhaps not cleaning up any of the buil up! I wonder what would change?

[@nadm]

Over the years people that made comments like that, and I have not found it to be true, because of the particular eraser that I use. The grit is pretty big and I don't find it clogs to stone and I can tell instantly that it's cutting better. If you find out differently than that would be something, and I definitely think it varies with manufacture of the eraser, but I can instantly towel that Stone is cutting extremely sharper than it was prior to use.

[@sonkekoster3105]

Hi Greg, nice video! I just tested my green brick of joy for the first time. I was really impressed by the performance of the stone. I had to maintain my TF Marboroshi 210mm white #1 gyuto and my Kato Nashiji 240mm Super Blue gyuto. I started with the Marboroshi, which had one mirco chip in the apex. I was suprised how fast I was ready to go. The chip was out and the Marboroshi returned beeing a light saber! The Super Blue is an other story on the Green Brick of Joy. It takes much longer to get the same result, but it's get the job done. I was only surprised how big the differend wear resistance of the steels is, when you compare the head to head. For me the Green Brick of Joy is optimal stone for knife maintenance. It brings the knives back to life and produces a impressive edges. I just stroped the knives on leather (with green rouge) afterward and I was done.

[@nadm]

It's just all in all just a great purchase

[@harveysexton7176]

Hi Greg, is there a chance that Arkansas stones will come in the lineup?

[@nadm]

Hey man, I definitely wanna do that. I haven't bought them yet I'm still doing my research but that is on the list. I appreciate your comment in your suggestion. You and I are thinking alike. God bless and thanks for supporting the channel!

[@harveysexton7176]

I have 3 8x3x1 from Dans coming in a few weeks. I’m very interested in how they work with Japanese hard knives. Will let you know how clean they come.

[@munckmb]

Please do a review on the IMANISHI ARATO #220 aka yellow brick

[@davesmith5656]

And compare it to a Pride Abrasive 220. You mean the Pink Brick? (not yellow, unless I've missed something, Imanishi 220). It wears a bit quickly, imo.

[@knife.spa.berlin]

@@davesmith5656 I use the debado 180. Imho the best coarse stone out there

[@munckmb]

@@davesmith5656 Pink! Of course!

[@davesmith5656]

@@knife.spa.berlin ---- LD 21 foh-evah! I love the thing. I broke down and bought a Shapton Glass 100, too (I like to take in friends' knives so I need coarse - it's repair, not sharpening - darn people chip their knives, never sharpen, and I know one woman who gave away an entire set "because they were dull"). The 100 is fast as heck, but scary to the touch, like petting shark skin. For chips, hollow-ground bevels and such, I use a belt sander 3"x18", clamped upside-down, very careful not to heat the edge. They can be had for $50 bucks and it saves hours of time and millimeters of stone. Then I go to low grits to get the mega-burr off, and, finally, an hour of actual sharpening.

[@knife.spa.berlin]

@@davesmith5656 same here. Reprofiling friends knives and thinning my own for performance ! It dishes so slow. Awesome

[@gregorybupp]

A minor note, but I think the way it is outlined in the title indicates you are going to pit an actual Red Aoto vs the Naniwa Green Brick. I think maybe using the abbreviated JNS or the whole name like "JNS RED Aoto Matukusuyama" would help to make it more clear out of the gate you are using a synthetic Aoto.

[@nadm]

Oh I understand. When I get an opportunity to update it then I will try to do that

[@RzTheTree]

Chefknivestogo currently has the naniwa on sale for around $75

[@davesmith5656]

Wow! They have some good stuff I've bought from them, but annoyingly go "out-of-stock" on a lot of items, making you wait for months. :Maybe unfair of me to say that, given governments' recent propensity to shut squash their citizens. I get stuff there I can't find elsewhere.

[@nadm]

Good to hear. I like them

[@paulmoskovich7009]

What blacksmith did you use for the test?

[@nadm]

MORITAKA - tokushuknife.com/collections/moritaka-hamono/products/do-chua-plj8l

[@paulmoskovich7009]

@@nadm thanks! Love your videos! Cheers!

[@DreySantesson]

Felt like the Red Aoto had the edge on the paper test then lost on the tomato. Both good products anyway!

[@nadm]

You know, your word matters. Your opinion does matter. I can't speak for everyone so I have to make a note and say to myself which one's the winner but I know I won't please everyone. These tests are hard sometimes

[@JohanGraaf]

first sorry for my spelling Swedish dyslectic. when you use a rust eraser on a ston you leave abrasives in the stone, its not just cleaning the stone its changing the preformens of your stons to a degree might be wort taking in to consideration when you are judging stones. whit that said, nice videos! its nice to see reviews and personal opinions

[@nadm]

So, we have not found that to be true unless the grid was bigger or I should say coarser than the rust eraser. When the particles are so big that they can't get in between the fine grit of the stone then we have not found any load up coming from the rust eraser. We have definitely looked into it.

[@PanopticMotion]

The Kohetsu 2k and the Chosera 2k are tops for me. I agree, the Morihei 1k is phenomenal.

[@larryjohnson3581]

The Kohetsu is a true beast.

[@DTrizzy]

It would be nice to see the Chosera 2k or 3k go up against the GBOJ. Spending 70-100 for waterstones seems crazy for normal people.

[@davesmith5656]

@@DTrizzy ---- Oh ... you were looking for normal people?

[@DTrizzy]

@@davesmith5656 For Friends no, for viewership for them yes.

[@davesmith5656]

On sharpening, and steels, in general: I took in a friend's Henckels santoku and cannot get it to test below 300 BESS. To check to see if I simply suck, I took my Nexus HRC 60, tested at 260, stropped for four minutes (timed it), and tested at 100. My Yaxell Super Gou tests 85 (and I've used it four or five times since last sharpening). I have an Ikea I had a lot of difficulty getting below 200. Is it the steel? Is it the tester gadget? Is it solar flares? Santoku 15 degrees, Nexus 10, Ikea 15, Yaxell 12. Contemplating cave diving (frustrated).

[@nadm]

You need to go back and watch the videos that I have on strapping. They’re over a year ago. The softer steel gets a wire edge. That means the burr is not coming off and it’s standing straight up. You need to do the softer steel at a slightly higher angle than your sharpening angle. Then you need to follow it up with a strap that has diamond emulsion on it. It will cut away any loose metal that has stuck. If it’s harder then you only need to do the bench strop. You need to do it at the same angle as the sharpening angle. It’s preferred that you have diamond emulsion on it. You don’t have to but it would be better.

[@davesmith5656]

@@nadm --- Thanks. I rewatched your vids on stropping. It's something else going on, I'm stumped. I have a $5 dollar practice knife I picked up at the supermarket that tests low 100's. This santoku is a $39.99 knife, slices foods like a 100, but tests 300+. I may be missing the apex somehow, but different angle scratch marks (at 200X magnification) go right to the apex, ink disappears, etc.. Not all knives sharpen the same. I may take it to a local pro to sharpen and see if he can get it below 100. I hate to blame the knife, but maybe it's designed to be "toothy". Some guy said something about quenching in general and "molecule size" but it's over my head. ---Added: maybe the knife didn't wear a face mask, refused vaccination, and is affected by global warming.

[@nadm]

@@davesmith5656 You have a lot going on in this conversation. The Apex of the knife is sharpened from heal to tip. The test is only testing one particular place. Yes, a knife with teeth will cut certain things sharper. If you’re judging that to the clean Apex then you would be confused. Softer knives tend to have them hard time getting extremely sharp. If you were to sharpen a piece of wood then you can only get it so sharpened because of the material. If you were to sharpen a piece of plastic then you would have the same issue. If you were to sharpen a piece of Styrofoam then you can literally see the size of the balls that make up the Styrofoam. Meadow has grain. The molecules and combinations of molecules come in different sizes. Certain types of steel can get sharpened to a better place. Lots of knives can get sharp but you’re trying to get to a better place and I don’t know if you’ve ever seen or felt a knife sharpened to the lowest scores. When you say that it feels like a certain number that I have to ask if you have ever felt that number.

[@davesmith5656]

@@nadm ---- I re-watched the right video, about different types of burrs and how to remove them. It's working. Assuming the santoku is a softer steel HRC 56-58, I went to stropping on leather at 17 degrees, two more than the 15 it came with. I got it down from 360 to 260. Not knowing how much to do that, I tried a diamond-sprayed strop at 15, and it went up to 280 (four light strokes), so my guess is that more on leather at 17 degrees is advisable. I hope I don't put a burr on it at 17 degrees. A guy on another video said that diamond is more effective at removing burr because it's grabbier, so I'm a bit confused, but it looks like the problem is that with all the whetting and stropping at 15, I put a nice burr on it and didn't realize I was "sharpening a burr". Also, the HRC 60+ knives I have seem to not hold that for long, so again, it looks like burr problems (I guess that eventually those come out, but I didn't know what was going on). Also ... some guy put up electron microscope photos of a cross-section of a knife with a burr. It didn't make much sense to me at the time, kind of a confusing photo, but now maybe I get it. He showed what you used mashed potatoes to show. There must be some way to get good at this, so it isn't such a hit-or-miss labor. I'm back to smoking steaks, and I think I'll just eat them by hand because right about now I don't even want to look at a knife.

[@sonkekoster3105]

So I am happy with my Green Brick of Joy.

[@nadm]

It really is a one of a kind piece that gets it all done

[@deep-seeker]

In my experience in sharpening knives... Its the sharpener who determines how good the edge will be. I can have my naniwa professional 3k produce a finer edge vs a suehiro 3k ouka if I'm using it but my kitchen staff can't do the same. I can make a better edge with the suehiro than they can while using the naniwa. The technique really matters. Of course this does not apply to experienced people.

[@nadm]

I agree to a certain extent. If you have crappy steel then you're only gonna be able to get it so sharp. I've definitely found some crappy steel that frustrated me and made me walk away

[@sonkekoster3105]

So finally I have to confess after my first sharpening session on the Green Brick of Joy the Marboroshi (White #1) was definitly sharper than the Kato (Super Blue). I was totally fine with the result of the Marboroshi, but I have to spend more time and effort for the more wear resistant steels.

[@nadm]

So yes of course that the white number one is going to get the sharpest but it is harder it's all of that makes sense but you get what you put into it

[@hoggif]

I think Green brick is often overrated in net forums. Sure, it polishes well for a "2k" that is probably more like 3k. It is quite slow, loads up quickly and is soft enough that you can cut into in (but not too easily) on edge leading storokes. Feedback is a bit glassy and I'd rate at most average or low average. It has a lot of heft in it which is good as it is a bit fast wearing. Not a bad stone but I have so many better ones to choose that tick more of the squares in my preference list. JNS Aoto would be interesting to try. Perhaps I'll order one some day.

[@nadm]

I hate that the shipping is so much to order the stone from JNS. I really did have to have a big order to make it worth it

[@wfjr997]

The green brick of joy is not more than I gimmick forget about it.

[@nadm]

Please take a moment to reread what you wrote. I don't understand it. I apologize because maybe I'm just not getting it. I don't know if you hate the green brick of joy or love it. I apologize for not understanding. Please be patient with me.

[@RenoxB3sr]

Meine Meinung ist: keiner von beiden ist der Gewinner. Der Morihei soll besser sein aber der ist auch nicht der Gewinner. Arashiyama 1000 ist der Gewinner. Billiger,kann auch viele Stahlsorten und hinterlässt die weitaus bessere schneide.

[@wfjr997]

Your commercials are inappropriate and definitely way too long.

[@nadm]

I am not in control of the commercials. KZbin put them at the beginning in the end. If there's a movie that is eight minutes long, then they can put them in the middle. I cannot control which ones or how long. I can tell them which continent that I won't allowed to be on the show. I did check off I didn't want politics, but I cannot control the length of the commercial.

[@fbombtactical6901]

Whatever you keep doing with your mouth, stop it. You're chewing on air.

[@nadm]

Facial tics exist. I don't have Tourette's. They did an MRI but I do have facial tics. That's part of who I am. I don't want to do it.