Kensai Waterstones are our house brand. Kensai (which has no direct Japanese translation, in case you were wondering) represents our desire to offer an exceptional line of stones at affordable prices. Our Kensai stones have the great feel and feedback associated with natural stones...
Details
Kensai Waterstones are our house brand. Kensai (which has no direct Japanese translation, in case you were wondering) represents our desire to offer an exceptional line of stones at affordable prices. Our Kensai stones have the great feel and feedback associated with natural stones while also offering the durability of harder man-made stones. Perhaps the greatest attribute of this line of waterstones is its grinding prowess or fast cutting action. Kensai stones cut fast without sacrificing polishing in the higher grits, which means less time creating sharpness in between bouts of actual woodworking. Beginner, intermediate and experienced woodworkers alike will find a great place to start and finish on Kensai Stones.
The Kensai 1200/8000 is a resin bonded stone that does not require extensive soaking. A short dip will do, along with spritzing while sharpening to keep the stone’s surface cutting. 4000-grit to 8000-grit stones are considered polishing stones. The Kensai 1000/6000 and 1200/8000 are dual use stones – both are great for sharpening knives but also excellent for woodworking tools as well. Combo stones are efficient compromises and less expensive than buying two single grit stones … even ours. Plus our combo stones are thicker, giving you an even greater value than other combo stones. Stone size is approximately 205mm x 75mm x 35mm.
Reviews
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Quite a good stone
I've used a lot of different waterstones over the years, from inexpensive, really mediocre ones to the expensive high quality glass stones. This line of stone falls very near the upper range in quality. Very near. PROS 1. Pretty flat out of the box, no more time needed to prepare it than the most expensive ones out there. No complaints there. 2. Very short soaking time needed, only a few minutes to get it ready. 3. cuts fast!. For a hard surface stone, it takes steel off almost as quickly as a softer stone without loading up the stone too much. 4. Since it is a harder stone than some, it wears slowly so it stays flat a nice long time (for a waterstone). 5. Nice thick stone so will last a long time. 6. The 8000 grit side creates a mirror surface and perfect edge that rivals what any stone on the market will do. CONS 1. Not as wide as I like. Now, it is wide enough (at 2.520") to cover the widest plane blade I have (2-3/8"). However, the specs say it is 75mm wide and that is not true. 75mm wide is 2.95". The actual stone is 2.52", which is only 64mm. That is almost 1/2" narrower than the webpage states, so Woodcraft needs to adjust the description. 2. No instructions are included with the stone, so the only way you know it doesn't need soaked (long) are if you read the webpage. OK, so neither of the cons are deal breakers. They are the reason I took off one star, though. I've only used the stone a few times, but with years using waterstones I feel like I have enough experience to make this review. If things change, I'll edit this. Bottom line, the Kensai stones are a good value and you could do both a lot worse and very little better at any price.
