What are your Suehiro Gokuymo 20K Secrets?

[Euclid440]

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?