[Tree]

Blades are being delivered, I'm super excited about my first Japanese steel (270 gyuto and 150 petty). There's a few things I want to consolidate: maintenance and whetstones. I've been using a Kiwi and a 1k/4k Bearmoo whetstone which has been a decent mega budget setup for prepping veggies which involves mainly dicing tubs of tomatoes, onions, nuts (walnut, pistachio) amongst a few other things.

1. Anyone else here have experience with Bearmoo whetstones? It's my first whetstone, cheap and seems to work well, maybe a little on the soft side. Good reviews from Amazon. I'm thinking of getting another Bearmoo, 400/1000 so I can also thin a 12" Vic Fibrox I've temporarily adopted from work. On the other hand the Carbonext is a $200 knife so I wonder if a King would be a better choice.
2. The Carbonext is 70/30. Side that looks biggest I suppose is 70. Is sharpening business as usual of simply raising a burr on both sides then stropping asymmetrically?
3. Should I get a ceramic honing rod or can I get away with stropping on some leather? Idahone runs $60 where I live would this be a good alternative?
4. How to contain mess when using drywall sandpaper to flatten stones?
5. Ideas for cheap DIY stone holder/tray/pond

Thanks!

 

[Tree]

Info much appreciated ben. Those questions are pretty loaded I should have just made separate threads.

 

[rick alan]

The DSpaper is not that cheap really, I think you might as well use the sidewalk for free. For $30 you can get a coarse diamond hone, last a lifetime, just hold everything over the sink