8000 --> 15000 --> CrOx

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Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Harellson Stanley, the USA rep for Shapton said that doubling the grit, as in 4k to 8k, 8k to 16k is sort of a rule of thumb. I happen to have a 10k and go from there to 20k. I forget who it is offhand (oldtimer's disease) but I know at least one member has the 15 and 20k Suehiro. Personally I just "think" the 15k is an unnecessary step in the progression, but that is just what I think, not from hands on experimentation. If you've got the $ I would say a naniwa superstone 12k would be a nice jump. Then, if you still want to go on up, the 20k is the cat's whiskers IME.

Chrom-ox is good stuff. I've used it on felt, and on leather. I don't use it often because I have the high grit finishers and I can't see using a nickels worth of powder on an edge I've just honed with a $250.00 stone. If I'm shaving,doing a first pass, and I feel like the edge could be smoother I grab my SRD modular paddle and do 10 light round trips on chrom-ox on felt, then another 10 on the scrub leather on the flip side. That gets me to the second pass, and I put that razor aside to touch up on the hones. IMHO.

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Agree Jimmy, I go 1,4,6,8.10,20k, works for me, although I still wonder about filling the big gap 10 to 20, but I've not felt a need, emotionally I'd like the 15k, but do I really need it?

Bobski

My opinion out of the c12k and Naniwa ss 12k would be go the Naniwa as being synthetic it is actually 12k and guaranteed to perform. The c12k is a bit hit and miss and may or may not actually be 12k. You can get beautiful smooth edges off the Naniwa and you cant go wrong. And if in the future you do decide to go further then the Suehiro Gukumyo 20k is a magnificent stone.

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Originally Posted by Birnando

I have the 10-15 and 20K Gokumyo.
what I have found is that when coming off the Norton 8k, the 15 is the perfect balance of fineness vs speed.
one could also use the 20k, but that would require more quality strokes and a really refined 8k edge to work as well as possible

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Hey,

Do you find the 15k gets little or even no use in the progression, from my POV most of us find the 10k to 20k GOK seems to work Ok, your opinion?

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Originally Posted by bobski

Hey,

Do you find the 15k gets little or even no use in the progression, from my POV most of us find the 10k to 20k GOK seems to work Ok, your opinion?

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Yes, that is true.
I use it mostly on my single bevel Japanese kitchen knives these days to be honest.
When I first came across the Suehiro Gokumyo's a couple years back, they where pretty much an unknown entity in the Shaving communities, except perhaps the 10K.
So, as any true hone nut I decided to get all three of them, and figure them out myself:)
I did play around with the 10-15-20 progression for a bit buy found the 15 to be a redundant step pretty quickly.
On my cherished Yanagi ba's and Deba's though, it rocks.
And I get to separate my stones to each part of my honing hobby.

I would like to say thank you to everyone in this thread for all of the incredible advice. The best part of this is that we (the noobie clan) get the best of all of the knowledge and experience from you guys. I have now realized that I can do this but I am going to go slow and practice on straights that I have not spent a lot of money on but are still true straights. I can make a knife sharp enough for surgery, as my left index can attest to, so I should be able to make this work.

Thanks guys!

Cheers Kinghooper,

Main thing is, if you ultimately want to 'hone your own' is to get your 1st razor or thereabouts honed by a professional, so you will know just what to aim for, how a comfortable shave feels, how the edge feels on your thumb pad. Then you can use all the info on this forum to get you on your way, but that 1st one needs to be pro honed.

Regards, Bobski