Naniwa & Shapton Are In:

This past Monday, one of the best honing stones I have ever used arrived here. This is the best water stone you can use as a bevel setter period. This is Naniwa's Professional (New Chosera) 600 grit water stone. You can take a brand new razor straight out of the box with no edge on it and set the bevel on that razor within 2 to 5 minutes using this stone. The feedback it has is phenomenal and smooth, the slurry it develops is almost instant and it leaves almost no scratches behind as well and it rinses cleanly and stays flat longer:

This also does not require soaking either but you do have to use a bit more water because it's a shade below a true splash and go. What I usually do is hold it under running water for about a minute, maybe not even that and it's ready to go. Right now this is my top water stone and from what I've been told is that these Professional/New Chosera and the Traditional water stones are the best ones that Naniwa makes. I was told to avoid the super stones because they tend to dish very badly and wear out even faster than my Norton stones did which was 3 months shy of a year. Another stone that was recommended to me was both versions of Shapton's water stones which is I've seen to be a great water stone especially in the mid range grits and finishing stones. Now I was told to avoid the grits below the 1,500 grit water stones unless I'm doing repair work, because they seem to leave a bit of a harsh edge behind unlike the Naniwa Professional line does.