Shapton 16K glass, I'm a believer ... with reservations
SRD put a Shapton 16K glass stone in the SRP classifieds. It has a chip on one side so they couldn't sell it out of the store. Went for $50 shipped so I thought I would see what all the fuss was about on the cheap.
I have the Shapton Pro series and have been very happy with the 15K. I had been told by Harrelson and by Howard that the glass stones were a different formula but I didn't think it made that much of a difference.
So my glass stone came in. I had been working on a Heljestrand mostly with a natural coticule and got a fair shave out of it. Next day I took it to the 16k and did 30 laps and it was better but needed more so the following day I did another 30 laps on the 16k. Now it was scary sharp and for my tender skin harsh.
I went back to the coticule with water only and did 30 laps. Seems that I am stuck on 30 laps. :shrug: Just as Bart posted and Randy told me going back to the previous grit level smoothed it out without sacrificing keenness and now it was perfect for me.
So I had gotten my Robert Williams dream razor last week and have been working on it for the past days when time permitted. I plan on doing a review on it so I won't detail the honing here but suffice to say that this morning after a lot of laps on the 16K I stropped and got a great first shave with it. Not too harsh either.
So my conclusion taking into consideration that I have only honed two razors with it is that the Shapton 16K glass is better then the Shapton 15K professional. I still think the 15k pro is a great stone but the glass stone out preformed mine so far.
Edit; When I say I have reservations it is because I have only honed two razors with the stone.