Thread: Imperia la Roccia 7 x 2-1/2 x 3/4 Natural Stone 12-15K Review

Originally Posted by Bushdoctor

Just for info, I'm living in Imperia and I can assure you that there are not stones quarry here around.
As you can see stones are shipped from US, I suppose that Imperia LaRoccia is just a marketing name and stones probably comes from Taiwan.
Anyway, I don't own this stone and I can't talk about his performance, but I've read some post above that vendor says that comes from my area, well, isn't true.

I also think its a marketing strategie from the Vendor, actually just "think" the same as Fabrizio, probably stones from Asia....

Originally Posted by DireStraights

That guy who posted above saying he's from the region is interesting.

Kinda of a strange lie if the vendor did make it up.

Right or wrong, Italy seems to have a bit more cache than Guangxi, but it had the opposite effect for me. It looked like a Chinese hone and the name came across as an affectation to me. I don't mind cheap hones for experimentation but I didn't want to fan the flames, so to speak, so I did not buy one.

I have both the Imperia La Roccia stones, the one listed 8-10 and the one listed 12-15. I also have a Guangxi.
The Guangxi and high grit Roccia look nothing alike, the former is a medium grey with darker "stretchmarks" running diagonally through the stone, lapped one side only and very roughly sawn, about 1/2 inch thick and no chamfers. The latter is a light greenish grey with slightly darker wavy lines and a dark oval inclusion on one side. It came lapped 2 sides with fine saw marks on the edges and is about 3/4 inch thick, with all edges chamfered. The inclusion doesn't catch the blade at all but I generally use the other side.
I haven't put a lot of blades on the Roccia, but the general feel I get is a slightly chalky, dragging. My stone does not slurry well at all with the supplied rubbing stone and I've been using it with water only.
My Guangxi will lightly slurry and the feel is one of smooth cutting fine grit.
I'll experiment more but so far I prefer the Guangxi.
I also have the La Roccia listed as 8-10 and it is a dark, almost black, grey and has 3 small pyrite inclusions on one side. It came lapped all sides, with nice chamfered edges. This stone slurries well and has a lovely, silky feel. It performs well.

YMMV, but for me, the 8-10 La Roccia was a great bargain(same cost as 12-15) while the jury is still out on the La Roccia 12-15 finisher.

I should have clarified. I have no basis for claiming that the Imperia and Guangxi were the same or even related. That simply was my initial impression from the one time I looked at the ebay listing.

joamo Your experience thus far virtually mirrors mine, sans the inclusions. My stones are very clean but my results are very similar to yours. Chalky feel is an excellent description for this stone. Much more so than the slick hard guangxi.
One difference is that I have been able to get slurry with my "12-15k" but quite honestly I dont like the feel of it. The slurry off of the coarser stone feels much smoother cutting to me.
The jury for me all around is still out as I really only picked up the lower grit stone for kicks and dont need it so my hopes were more for the higher grit stone and im just not there with it yet.

Just mho, and experience.
I have been using the 12-15K for a couple of months now. I also have the 10-12, and another similar from the same vendor. I also own a 12K Chinese. The 12-15k is slow to slurry, but speeds up as the slurry appears. I find the slurry is easily and quickly capable of taking out striations as far back as 4K, and I find the stone finishes with clear water faster, and finer than my Chinese. I find similar qualities from the other stones from this vendor, though faster slurries, with possibly a little less to offer at the very fine finish. It takes a bit of practice to get the full realm of capabilities from these stones. I have seen some speculation about where these stones come from. At least one other writer mentioned that it does not look anything like his C12K, and I agree. I personally don't care where it comes from as long as yall leave mine where it is. : -) I almost always use slurry with the mentioned stones, as it helps reduce lapping and keeps the surface fresh. I also own retired coticule, black surgical arkie, and soon to be retired C12K.
Yall enjoy!

I just picked one of these up today, and should arrive in a week or so. Is lapping this with a Norton lapping stone advisable?

These stones are to the softer side - like an Escher.
A Norton lapping stone would be a good start - to remove the saw marks.
However, you will quickly progress to 600 and then 1000 grit sandpaper.

Where is it quarried from, Italy?

Italy according to the vendor, but that's sparked a whole other conversation. Truth, I don't know where the rock came from and no one else does either, I only know what the vendor posted on another site and that it works for razors. Hope this helped.