Sharpening stone [Specialty Stone 12000 grit SP-491] NANIWA Made in Japan

Love this Naniwa. It was dead flat out of the box. I needed a dedicated finisher for my straight razors and this works beautifully. I could swear this particular stone was specifically made for straights. The shave was smooth as hell from stone to leather. No CrOx or diamond spray for the first shave; I was surprised. Swarf comes right off with water or fingertips. Not cheap but it will last a long time. Polished up my pocket knife quickly too. Still aggressive at this grit so go light. Naniwas have a rep for playing well with other stones in a progression, Shaptons not so much. The Nani stones are softer than the Shaptons so I think the Shaptons will need less lapping and are more suited to heavy tooling, e.g. chisels and so on. The Naniwas are thicker, I think, so they may last longer. Sharpness is important but so is smoothness when it comes to shaving and I’m impressed with this stone already. Laps easy on wet/dry paper. No complaints. Would have been nice is a base of some sort were included since the stone is thin. I’ll live, haha. Nice velvety and milky stone. If you’re looking for a high grit, consistent finisher for straights — one that plays well with other stones — this is it. I’m no honemeister, but I found this stone easy to use. Some people may prefer natural stones, ymmv, but this is a great general finisher. I have no complaints. Overnight delivery, no chips or dings. Yeah, it’s $$$ but I doubt I’ll ever need to replace it. PS: If you find this stone grinding down quickly you are using incredible pressure. Easy does it.

This was my first high grit stone. The highest i had before this was a 6K stone. I needed a stone to re sharpen my straight razors. I was a little nervous on buying this as there were no reviews on it yet. Im glad i bought it...worth every penny. Stone has no stand. Just came in a box with bubble wrap. Re sharpened my straight razor after a month or two of use. Scary sharp now. I think i like the Naniwa stones better now than my other stones. Measurements: 8 1/4 inch long 2 5/8 inch wide 3/8 inch thick UPDATE: I have been using this now for 8 months to hone my straight razors. It works great. Every time puts a new edge of my razor like it was professionally honed. I have put other knives to this as well with also great success. This purchase was pricey, but worth it. I leave it in the bubble wrap and the box with a rubber band to protect the rock from being dropped and cracking or hitting my other rocks. UPDATE2: Its been over a couple years now and i use this stone every month or so to hone my razor. Never had any problems with it. I still keep it in the bubble wrap and box it came in to protect it from chipping. Worth every penny UPDATE3: I have come to cherish this stone. So much that after 4 years, the box it shipped in was starting to degrade from moisture. Im always worried about the kids dropping it out of the shelf. So i made a leather pouch specifically for this stone. I have never dropped it or beat the hell out of it, but i treat it like glass while handling. Its been good to me and im sure will last me my lifetime and more

This stone is capable of sharpening multiple types of steel. I have used it to sharpen all of my various kitchen knives, my hunting and utility knives, and after enough practice on it, my straight razor. I highly recommend getting a smaller leveling stone to help start a mud on the stone, and if you do get one, make sure you dedicate it to this stone because the small grit should not be mixed with thicker grit granules. Awesome stone, I want a second one to keep in my knife sharpening stone kit in case something happens to my current one.

Finishes my sharpening process, and brings the bevel formed at lower grits to a razor sharp edge. And it brings an amazing mirror like polish. Very good stone.

This is an excellent stone for its intended purpose. If you aren't a practiced sharpener looking to put a razor-edge on high quality steel, this stone will be of no use to you. If you are looking for a stone capable of creating a mirror-polished and high-performance edge, this stone is ideal. It should go without saying that this stone should be used AFTER using a high-grit stone. I would recommend four-thousand grit or above. This stone is for final touches on sharpening and the final touches only.

I first found out about this stone from YouTube guys like GeoFatboy and Lynn Abrams. They weren’t kidding when they suggested having this stone in your lineup; it puts a great polish and shaving edge on any straight razor. Whether you’re also using a chromium oxide pasted strop or not, the Naniwa 12k is definitely something you should save up for. You won’t regret it! (Update): I’ve been using my Nani 12k for several months now. But it was only recently I found out that my best edges came from 20 or so laps, followed by stropping on leather only. I learned that German razor maker Ralf Aust does this for his straights, and decided to test it for myself. The razors felt super keen, yet glided through my stubble pretty effortlessly. Once upon a time, I was considering a Suehiro Gokumyo 20k or Shapton 30k. But I’m more than happy with my 12k, now that I’ve learned what’s best for my face!

I just received this and when I opened it, I found that it was broken. Spent a lot of money on this and expected it to be packed more securely and labeled that it was fragile.

It’s a great finishing stone for straight razors. Puts a nice polish on my edge and makes it hair popping sharp. I use my 12000 as a finishing stone after setting the edge with a Naniwa 220, 1000, and 5000 first. The 12000 is a little pricey and significantly thinner than the other Naniwa Super Stones, but it will last a lifetime.

Lovely mirror finish for very good edge