My favourite whetstones #3: Suehiro Debado ld-21, ld 101 and ld 601 

Thanks for the feedback. I source them through my Japanese supplier :) And then i sell them myself here in Norway.

i like it more than the "new cerax". I havent had too much time on the cerax though. But Its easier on the feedback, and doesnt require soaking beforehand. As for speed i would need a quick refresh, but as i recall the cerax is just a tad quicker. I really like the delicate feel on the ld101. And im a person that usually like the softer stones with more agressive feedback, but with these two id go for the ld101.

At the moment i would actually go as far as to say that yes :) Personally, for me at least.

I too would like to know how the LD compare to Naniwa Pro in similar grits

@@garageganggyms They are quite different. Naniwas tend to be on the finer side than most stones in grit. Naniwa pros are quite hard stone with less and different feedback. LD-series feels softer (not a soft stone though) and has the similar grabby feedback but less pronounced than on cerax. I'd say Naniwa pro 3k is pretty similar to LD 4k and perhaps Naniwa 800 is close to LD 1k for example. Both are very good and work well even with difficult steel types but they have a very different feedback so it is a lot about preference. Some like me like suehiro style feedback more, some don't. Both are excelent stone series for sure.

@@hoggif i appreciate the response and will be buying the 101 and 601. How do you feel the LD 21 compares to other 220ish grits? I have a King right now but have been looking at shapton pro and even Naniwa pro 400 grit. Any input? I don't intend to do much "repair" but have come to believe starting on a bit coarser grit before moving on to the 1000 might be the ticket!

@@garageganggyms I have the larger MD21 on my collection, should be same as LD. I find it good. I find 220 stones difficult to rate because feedback is slo different on those coarse ones. My most liked coarse stones is 320 Shapton Kuromaku but MD21, Shapton glass stones 220/320 and King 300 are also very nice harder coarse stones. King really gives you bang for the buck! I rarely use finer than 400-500 that I use only when changing eg. sharpening angle or for a short bit for very dull knive. I rarely have a knife I own that would not get done with starting 1k. I'd go for something around 400 for a coarse stone (Kuromaku 320, Imanishi WZ400, Shapton glass 320, Naniwa pro 400 are good ones in order of most like to less or even King 300) unless doing some very heavy profile changes, removing chips or whatever where 200-300 range is needed and a belt sander always another choice. I have a large collection of 100+ stones but I rarely do heavy lifting because I have them for personal use, not for sharpening to customers. I need very rarely something in the 200 range and almost never anything more coarse. As always, it depends so much on what and how you intend to do and preferences. I use a different stone for a different type of job or even when I just want a bit different feeling stone that day. The curse of having choises.

​@@hoggif thank you for such a thorough response! I really appreciate it! Since I don't intend on doing much repair work, hopefully 😅 ill look for a 320-500 grit! What's your take on flattening stones? Do you do it? Everytime? Once in a while? What do you use to do it, if you do it?

They are a bit on the expensive side unfortunately. If you ever go for one, make the ld-21 180grit your priority 😁

Sorry to say that again and again but you should thank Brexit for that.