Matsunaga Stone King Hyper

A soft bond means the stone releases abrasive particles more easily during sharpening. This creates a fresh cutting surface constantly, which helps the stone cut faster and provides excellent tactile feedback so you can feel exactly how the edge is interacting with the stone.

Yes, King Hyper stones are traditional water stones. You should submerge them in water for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until the air bubbles stop rising, before you begin sharpening.

Because the stone uses a softer binder to achieve its high cutting efficiency, it will wear down faster than harder, ceramic-style stones. To ensure your knife edge remains perfectly straight and consistent, you must flatten the surface periodically using a lapping plate or flattening stone.

While they offer professional-grade results, the softer composition makes them slightly more demanding to maintain than harder, splash-and-go stones. If you are comfortable with the basics of maintaining a consistent angle and flattening your stones, you will appreciate the feedback they provide.

These are optimized for kitchen cutlery, which typically uses softer or medium-hardness stainless steels. While they can sharpen other types of blades, their size and grit range are specifically tailored for the geometry and edge refinement required by chef's knives.