Thread: Grit sizes

Originally Posted by Lesslemming

You cannot rely on the numbers given by the factory
if you want to compare hones with other brands.
But you can certainly rely on them as "relative progression scales".
So you will most of the time definitely know a Naniwa SS 8k comes after a SS 5k,
but maybe not before a King 8k, for example.

Welcome to SRP. I certainly don't know the actual grit sizes of various stone relative to each other. As you say we know that one maker's 8k comes after their 5k and chances are it will be so with another maker's 5/8 IME.

I read your other post on comparing Naniwas, Shaptons, Cerax and Suehiro. As you mentioned in that post the Cerax and Suehiro are uncommon in the USA. My experience with synthetic hones has been limited to the Nortons, Shapton Pro, Spyderco and the Dia Sharp DMT continuous plates. Being crazy about hones I am eying the super stones with lust in my heart.

Of the synthetics I've used I've done some mixing between manufacturer's stones based on their given grit rating and they seem to be close enough in the sense that a 4 or 5 comes before an 8 and an 8 before a 12 or 15.

I have read that the DMT 8000 plate is more equivalent to a 4k but I couldn't say for sure. Good to see another hone aficionado coming to the forum.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Welcome to SRP. [...]
Good to see another hone aficionado coming to the forum.

Thank you Jimmy!


Shapton, Spyderco, DMT, it seems you never did encounter soft hones?
You may like it! Not that we *really* need any more hones, do we?
Or am I the only one whose finishing hones outnumber his razors
...

How much are the Superstones in the USA anyway?

Originally Posted by 0livia

Duh, reminds me to work on that table.

Norton 4000 = F800 or JIS(new) 2000
Norton 8000 = F1200 or JIS(new) 4000

Olivia, that might be true, but if it is then I should be able to get a good shave off my King 4k stone...and I can't. It also means that the Naniwa 8K is a very high grit finisher...and it isn't.

Norton PROBABLY uses the same system as the Japanese waterstone manufacturers, as far as my research goes.

I hope this helps:

Well not really. The table I got this info from is the table from here, made by Christopher (Smokintbird)

Jim, why shave off a King 4000? Can you shave from a Norton 8000?

Originally Posted by 0livia

Well not really. The table I got this info from is the table from here, made by Christopher (Smokintbird)

Jim, why shave off a King 4000? Can you shave from a Norton 8000?

Well, according to this thread you should be able to.

I still think that the Nortons use the same numbering system as the Japanese hones, whatever that may be. It just doesn't make sense that there would be such a huge difference between the Nortons and, for example, the Naniwas when lots of people here use both.