Thread: Norton vs Shapton vs Naniwa

Originally Posted by AndrewJM

Ive got an escher now for finishing stone - got one at a fair price from a kind gentleman/member of this forum, but still deciding whether to go the shapton glass 1/4/8 or the chosera 1k + naniwa 5/8/12. Get mixed advice from those who know their stuff. Both seem like very good options. More people suggest the chosera 1k to set the bevel, and it seems like the general advise is to stick with the same brand/style ie not use chosera 1k, then shapton, or vice versa? I like the idea of shapton as its just a splash of water then good to go, but far more people seem to have experience with chosera/naniwa.

Hey andrew,
As i understand it, the issue with mixing brands is that the grit ratings arent consistent, i think this is to do with the hardness of the binder that holds the abrasive together, but at the 1k level it shouldnt matter, its just as you get higher grits, and ratings that are reasonably close that its going to matter.
Though i could well be wrong, and hopefully i will be corrected.

I personally like to stay with one "brand/honing system". I use Naniwa CHosera 1K, Shapton GS 2,4,8,16K followed by finisher of choice. Most of the time my finisher is a Escher, however I am having fun with my new 20K that is showing a lot of potential on German, American, and custom blade steels. Personally I'm not much on mixing and matching my honing stones as the "feel" is too different & the key to learning to hone is learning to feel. As far as the comment on "grit" ratings, I'm not too keen on worrying about that as my "next" stone is normally twice the previous stone (1,2,4,8,16). Something that is also kind of cool is that I tend to use about half the amount of strokes as I did on the previous stone as well with the shapton's.

My personal key to honing is having a stone that will:
Set a bevel: 800-2K
Pre-Polish: 3-6K
Polish: 8-10K
Finish: 8K+