Thread: "Shapton Glass" In Search of the Perfect Edge

I have been sucked in by the sweet song of the Shapton sirens. I am awaiting the 250, 500 and the 30k to complete my Shapton collection, including the lapping plate.

Have you kids checked out this website:
http://shaptonstones.com/

Welcome to the club Ice Dog. You will have all of your blades sharp now. Take it easy with the 250.

bj

I was wondering if anyone has compared the Shapton Glass Diamond Lapping Plate to the Shapton Diamond Reference Lapping Plate. Please comment.

I have the 4K, 8K, and the 16K, lapped them all with some 600 grit wet or dry. No problems at all, as a matter of fact, they took very little lapping.

Fred

Originally Posted by blaireau

I was wondering if anyone has compared the Shapton Glass Diamond Lapping Plate to the Shapton Diamond Reference Lapping Plate. Please comment.

Well, I don't OWN either but the main reason for the higher cost of the Reference plate is that it is double sided I would think. One side is for setting the bevel on new woodworking tools and the other side is reserved for flattening the hones. The Glass diamond plate is one sided and intended for lapping/cleaning the hones only, and the Glass hones in particular but it can be used for pretty much any hone.

For razor work, the glass diamond is overkill enough, there is no benefit to the higher cost reference plate that I can see unless you also spend a large amount of time honing those wide beveled Japanese plane blades. Me, if I ever get around to ordering those Shapton glass hones, I'll be plenty happy with my DMT D8C for lapping them... it may not look as pretty but there won't be any measurable difference in the end result... aka the shave.

Regards

Kaptain "Sticks his neck out amongst a bunch of straight razor wielding gents" Zero

Originally Posted by TstebinsB

I've already decided to get the Shapton #16000. How does the Shapton 8000 GlassStone compare to the DMT Dia-Sharp D8EE? Thanks.

+1 I would like to know this also. Trying to keep HAD debt under control.


Thanks in advance,

Richard

Originally Posted by riooso

+1 I would like to know this also. Trying to keep HAD debt under control.


Thanks in advance,

Richard

Richard,

I had hoped that someone more knowlegable than I would have commented on this by now.

Here's what I know:

I bought the DMT 8K before I discovered the Shapton system. I bought it mostly on the enthusiasum of Joel at B&B. His recommendation was to mostly use it to touch up edges - using it very carefully, like four to 5 passes only. Okay, I tried this on a few razors and was some what successful, but in the mean time, I had discovered Chromium Oxide and this seemed to work better for me as far as touch ups. I had, also discovered the Shapton 16K - and the rest is history.

The 8K DMT is a mystery to me. I never found a need for it in my honing world. A few times when I had a stubborn edge or bevel, I'd try it with not much luck. I found it useless for any kind of polishing. It was just too aggressive for me, and I could never find a place or a use for it in my system.

I have become a "Shapton" guy, and IMO, there is absolutely no comparison between these two stones.

Steve

Thanks for the reply Zepplin. What I think both of us wanted to know is if we can just buy the 16K since we have the DMT 8EE already? Now I use the 8EE to put a bevel back on a razor that I am using and it will no longer hold an edge for a while. I currently use a 4 sided pasted strop down to 0.25 to polish my razors but would like to branch out to the 16K because it is basically a 1.0 micron and would help smooth the blade coming off the 8EE. Am I headed in the right direction?


Thanks in advance,
Richard

Originally Posted by riooso

Thanks for the reply Zepplin. What I think both of us wanted to know is if we can just buy the 16K since we have the DMT 8EE already? Now I use the 8EE to put a bevel back on a razor that I am using and it will no longer hold an edge for a while. I currently use a 4 sided pasted strop down to 0.25 to polish my razors but would like to branch out to the 16K because it is basically a 1.0 micron and would help smooth the blade coming off the 8EE. Am I headed in the right direction?


Thanks in advance,
Richard

Wow! I'd like to see Chris jump in on this one. - or, any of the other Shapton guys.

I cannot imagine using the DMT 8EE in line with the Shaptons. It sounds almost counter productive. Now I did buy the 16K Shapton before I bought my other Shaptons. I just incorporated it in with my Blue & Yellow Belgums - and it worked great!

Once my bevel is established, the next progression of stones is to polish the scratch marks on the bevel and tweak the edge. - and I accomplish that by progressing from 4K to 8K and finish with the 16K. IMO, the 8K DMT is not a polisher in any way and I wouldn't be using it in my polishing formula.

Steve

Originally Posted by zepplin

Wow! I'd like to see Chris jump in on this one. - or, any of the other Shapton guys.

I cannot imagine using the DMT 8EE in line with the Shaptons. It sounds almost counter productive. Now I did buy the 16K Shapton before I bought my other Shaptons. I just incorporated it in with my Blue & Yellow Belgums - and it worked great!

Once my bevel is established, the next progression of stones is to polish the scratch marks on the bevel and tweak the edge. - and I accomplish that by progressing from 4K to 8K and finish with the 16K. IMO, the 8K DMT is not a polisher in any way and I wouldn't be using it in my polishing formula.

Steve

I can't comment on the D8EE since I've never used one. I sold all my DMTs after going Shapton (I had no beef against the D8C or D8E that I owned, I just couldn't justify keeping them around). Sorry I can't be of help. I know Lynn has both the D8EE and the Shapton 16K so maybe a PM to him and that sharing the comments would work well. Or...even better if he shares his experience on this.

I just touched up two razors on the 16K about 1/2 ago and finished with chrome ox powder on newspaper. A few passes hovering above the skin of my forearm for testing. I literally couldn't even feel about 30% of the arm hairs being cut by the edges and barely felt the other 70% fly in half. I can't wait to shave with those guys again!

I'm going to start a separate post with questions specific to the handful of guys that have the Shapton 30K since I don't have that one yet......

Chris L