What are your Suehiro Gokuymo 20K Secrets?

What are your Suehiro Gokuymo 20K Secrets?

I got a Suehiro Gokuymo 20k recently and have been experimenting with it.

Pretty much, it has taken the place of .3um film as a high grit synthetic finisher but, it is a bit more aggressive and too many laps can take you literally, over the edge.

I had been using Glenn’s 3,2,1 formula and have tweeked it a bit more, but I also have been squeeking the best performance from my 8K Norton and 12k Super Stone to get the best pre-finish possible, as so few laps are used at 20K.

My normal progression is a Nubatama 1k, Norton 4/8K, 12K Super Stone then the Gokuymo 20k finisher.

The real key, oddly enough is the 8k. I believe the 8k is where the edge really gets straight.

The 1k gets the bevels flat and meeting, the 4k begins the polish on the bevels, removing the 1k stria. The Nubatama by the way is very aggressive, yet leaves shallow stria on the bevel, (less than a Chosera) that a 4k smoothes quickly.

I spend a little extra time on the 8k to straighten the edge and polish the bevels. This is where the nexus of the Iwasaki jointed edge thread, I posted a couple weeks ago originated. I lightly joint the 8k edge and then, “weight of the blade”, polish the bevels to rebuild a super straight edge. Sometimes I will do this twice if I see microchips. This make the 12k’s job easier, about 10 laps is all it needs on the 12K, usually. If needed, I will very lightly joint the 12k edge and do another 10 laps.

Then I strop on a Polyester, Canvas Sailcloth Chrome Oxide hanging strop, 10-12 laps, to really bring the edge straight and keen, and then about 10 more super lite laps and it is ready for the 20K.

As I said, I started with Glenn’s 6 laps, but lately have been pushing it to find the sweet spot.
The best seems to be, 9 laps, 5 edge forward, 2 trailing and 2 edge forward, then 50 leather.

So all you SG20K guys, ease back the veil and tell us your secrets, for the 20K?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Euclid440

The 1k gets the bevels flat and meeting, the 4k begins the polish on the bevels, removing the 1k stria. The Nubatama by the way is very aggressive, yet leaves shallow stria on the bevel, (less than a Chosera) that a 4k smoothes quickly.
Sounds good. I like aggressive but I find the Shapton Pro I use also leaves quite deep stria. Do you use the extra hard stone ?

So all you SG20K guys, ease back the veil and tell us your secrets, for the 20K?
I sometimes use it after a slurried Jnat pre-polisher to bring up some sharpness then do a few strokes on my Asagi to finish or just go straight synthetic progression or use it in place of CrO paste, which I use instead of jointing. I'm finding the 20k has quite a few uses.

---

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I use it water only, making sure it is flat, I do between 10 and 20 old fashioned X strokes. Maybe 30 linen - 30 leather. Works for me. I don't know if any of the progression of 3k-5k-10k-20k removes the previous scratch pattern. Never have checked. If there are no micro chips, and 99% of the time there aren't, I'm only concerned as to how the shave is. So far so good. BTW, if it is a razor that needs a 1k bevel set I do that, otherwise I start with the 3k. I caught that in a Livi video and tried it a few times. It is working well for me.

No secrets. It's my polisher and maybe 20 laps and the razor is returned to shaving protection. I don't let my razors deteriorate very much.

I use the following progression:
1k Chosera
3k SS
5k Shapton Pro
8k Shapton Pro
10k SS
20k Sueahiro - 30 laps

30-50 on strop

I get very consistent results

The Nubatama is the Medium stone, though it is hard, with very little slurry off the 300 diamond plate, but does cut fast.

Yes the 20k is an interesting stone, which is why I am looking at the stria to try to figure out how best to use it.

It does produce some nice edges.

I have another question, how do you guys lap this stone? I have lapped it just with my DMT 325 on the blank side opposite to where GMN-200 is printed. Stone is kind of hard and doesn't produce very much slurry so im left with fine but noticeable swirl marks left by the diamond plate. Does this matter? is there a better way to prepare the surface of this stone? It seems to work very well on my Solingen blades ( Aust, Henckels ) that I have put to it maybe 20 - 30 finishing strokes and nice shave result. I have to say that I dont think my C-135 T.I. faired as well. I used increments of 20 strokes I think I got up to a hundred without seeing noticeable improvement. This was just an initial experiment so I will revisit it multiple times to see if maybe im just crazy. But for whatever reason I got better shaves off the nani 12 on that razor. I inspected it for evidence of wire edges over honing etc. Edge looked ok on visual maybe it likes a softer stone I got some of my best shaves with the T.I. off a B/G Thuri but it was alot of work. I will just have to assume I failed somewhere along the line and redo the experiment at some point. just wondering if any others have similar experiences with some razors on the GMN-200?

I use the following progression:

Chosera 1k
SS 5k
SS 10k

Im a simple man and a simple honer, if I get a good shave from this set up I'll do 10-20 super light laps on the gok 20 and it seems to really bring the edge to another level. I find any more than 20 laps and the edge becomes a little harsh for my sensitive face.

I will say that my kamisoris love the gok 20 too.

Razorfaust

I have a TI c135 and it responds very well with a pasted strop, never took it to the gok 20k. Probably just marketing but TI recommend just diamond pastes too.

I find this to be true also I use the pate de razoir made by them and crox with good results but other stones work well too. Just need to figure out what it likes.

My secret is, and promise you won't tell anyone:



I DON'T OWN ONE.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Razorfaust

I have another question, how do you guys lap this stone? I have lapped it just with my DMT 325 on the blank side opposite to where GMN-200 is printed. Stone is kind of hard and doesn't produce very much slurry so im left with fine but noticeable swirl marks left by the diamond plate.

---

I lap with a DMT 220. :D I have also wondered if its bad news that I can see scratches on my stones from it... But they still seem to hone fine. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Aldwyn

I lap with a DMT 220. :D I have also wondered if its bad news that I can see scratches on my stones from it... But they still seem to hone fine. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

---

Scratched up surface of that grit may be a problem, if it releases "chunks" of particles as you hone a razor on it. I guess after 10, or so laps, this will be gone, but unfortunately your razor's edge may be compromised by that time as well.

Wrap your 400 (or 600) grit wet and dry around the DMT and give it a few figure 8s. The scratches will be gone.

Another option is a fine nagura, harder than the base of course, preferably of equal width as the hone itself and perfectly flat. Rub the hone down and that should take care of any loose particles.

Rinse the hone thoroughly after using either of the two methods.

I don't like the G20 slurry. If I decide to slurry, I use thuringian slurry on it...but not very much. Normally I just use a clean stone that I have cleaned with a coticule bout.

My routine is:
CHosera 1K
Shapton GS 2,4,8,16
G20, 10 x-strokes

I have been omitting the Shapton GS 16K more and more

No secrets. My format is really simple.

1K bevel set when needed
4/8k Norton
12K - I only do about five laps on the 12k
20k - about 20 to 30 laps depending on the hardness of the steel in question.
Strop on leather only.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Razorfaust

I have another question, how do you guys lap this stone? I have lapped it just with my DMT 325 on the blank side opposite to where GMN-200 is printed. Stone is kind of hard and doesn't produce very much slurry so im left with fine but noticeable swirl marks left by the diamond plate. Does this matter? is there a better way to prepare the surface of this stone? It seems to work very well on my Solingen blades ( Aust, Henckels ) that I have put to it maybe 20 - 30 finishing strokes and nice shave result. I have to say that I dont think my C-135 T.I. faired as well. I used increments of 20 strokes I think I got up to a hundred without seeing noticeable improvement. This was just an initial experiment so I will revisit it multiple times to see if maybe im just crazy. But for whatever reason I got better shaves off the nani 12 on that razor. I inspected it for evidence of wire edges over honing etc. Edge looked ok on visual maybe it likes a softer stone I got some of my best shaves with the T.I. off a B/G Thuri but it was alot of work. I will just have to assume I failed somewhere along the line and redo the experiment at some point. just wondering if any others have similar experiences with some razors on the GMN-200?

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Srdjan

Scratched up surface of that grit may be a problem, if it releases "chunks" of particles as you hone a razor on it. I guess after 10, or so laps, this will be gone, but unfortunately your razor's edge may be compromised by that time as well.

Wrap your 400 (or 600) grit wet and dry around the DMT and give it a few figure 8s. The scratches will be gone.

Another option is a fine nagura, harder than the base of course, preferably of equal width as the hone itself and perfectly flat. Rub the hone down and that should take care of any loose particles.

Rinse the hone thoroughly after using either of the two methods.

---

Here is my G20. I lapped it with my Atoma 1200 & it is smooth as a baby's butt! The stone in the pics is dry, not wet. It is a very hard stone so it took quite awhile before I got all my pencil marks out of it.

Attachment 238213

Attachment 238214

Attachment 238215

Attachment 238216

Every generation of these stones seems to show a few changes. Mine came with a small stone to clean with. The scratches from the dmt could easily be eliminated using this stone. Maybe they no longer provide one?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by OCDshaver

Every generation of these stones seems to show a few changes. Mine came with a small stone to clean with. The scratches from the dmt could easily be eliminated using this stone. Maybe they no longer provide one?

---

They still do, I haven't tried mine yet. I'm glad you brought that up because I need to get the box out & use it to see how it does. I got the stone not that long ago & I meant to try that smaller one to see how well it worked but the Atoma did a pretty good job on it.

Obviously it is not a flattening stone. But for someone with just a dmt, it will prep the surface nicely. I use it after a few razors have gone over the stone and it brings the surface back to 100% quickly. It does a great job.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by OCDshaver

Obviously it is not a flattening stone. But for someone with just a dmt, it will prep the surface nicely. I use it after a few razors have gone over the stone and it brings the surface back to 100% quickly. It does a great job.

---

Yeah, what I did was lap it but I forgot all about that dressing stone in the box. Thanks for reminding me.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by engine46

Yeah, what I did was lap it but I forgot all about that dressing stone in the box. Thanks for reminding me.

---

Again, as you know, it's not a flattening stone. But after a few blades have run across the ston, it might seem a little dirty. Using the rough, then smooth sides so the stone brings fourth a new surface to hone on. And that next razor that runs over this fresh surface seem to walk away with bragging rights.

The newer versions come with a single grit 400 stone which leaves rougher scratches than I like. It appears to be more course than the dressing stone supplied with my Chosera 1k. I prefer using a grey scotchbrite pad with water to clean the surface.

I condition the surface with a coticule slurry stone, works very well for me

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Wirm

The newer versions come with a single grit 400 stone which leaves rougher scratches than I like. It appears to be more course than the dressing stone supplied with my Chosera 1k. I prefer using a grey scotchbrite pad with water to clean the surface.

---

The center pic you show is the stone I have. It has two grits. Once both grits have been used ont he stone, its up and running great again. I have no idea what the two grits are.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by OCDshaver

The center pic you show is the stone I have. It has two grits. Once both grits have been used ont he stone, its up and running great again. I have no idea what the two grits are.

---

I think 1 and 3 k

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mainaman

I think 1 and 3 k

---

Yes, I can confirm that is correct.

Heres a nice thread with what can be done with the 1k/3k dress stone. Frankenstien and Utopian both used the Gok as a one stone hone with the dress stone to make slurry.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...xperiment.html

I just use mine to refresh...

Yeah, that's a great video to watch if you are have trouble falling asleep. 30 minutes of bevel setting with inane chatter to help you drift off to dreamland.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by markbignosekelly

Heres a nice thread with what can be done with the 1k/3k dress stone. Frankenstien and Utopian both used the Gok as a one stone hone with the dress stone to make slurry.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...xperiment.html

I just use mine to refresh...

---

I hear some say that they find it a fast stone. I do not. In fact, when I need to refresh I usually do three to five passes on a 12k to speed things up before going to the 20k. I suppose it depends on how much touching up is needed.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by OCDshaver

I hear some say that they find it a fast stone. I do not. In fact, when I need to refresh I usually do three to five passes on a 12k to speed things up before going to the 20k. I suppose it depends on how much touching up is needed.

---

My apologies for not being clearer, I meant I use the dress stone to refresh my Gok 20k when swarf builds up.
I too will often drop to my 10k then just a few laps on my Gok to refresh a razor, I have a tough beard but girly skin so too many laps on the Gok is a little too harsh for me.

I do consider it to be a fairly fast hone. Just a few strokes make a noticeable change under the microscope and it leaves a lot of swarf (steel) on the stone.

I found lapping or cleaning my Suehiro 20k with the 1000 side of my trent diamond plate gives a really smooth edge. I also like to use my 20k under running water. I used to do more laps but found going to my Escher or Ark black stones after the 20k takes the really sharp edge and smooths it out.

Personally I like to use a JNat nagura to refresh my SG20k. It leaves a very nice surface that wets well. I got the 1k/3k refreshing stone with mine but I find it produces too coarse of a surface for the first few razors after the refreshing stone is used.