Thread: How to tell the grit of a hone?

Originally Posted by Vasilis

You can find a piece of iron/steel, grind it, and see how deep the scratches are. I find this to be the most reliable method, as long as your stone is lapped. After that, it's experience.
Or you can lick it and see how long it takes for your tongue to start bleeding

____________________________________________

YES. Scratch marks will tell how deeply the stone cuts. OR How deeply it doesn't cut.. Either way it can be telling.

Originally Posted by mrsell63

____________________________________________

YES. Scratch marks will tell how deeply the stone cuts. OR How deeply it doesn't cut.. Either way it can be telling.

So I looked at the scratch marks and found the dark blue is coarser then the light blue. Very fast cutting stone. Sharpened my pocket knives on it. Started progression dark blue, light blue, 1k and they are shaving arm hair now. Not a bad little stone. If used for anything razor related I would use it for sub 1k chip removing or fixing a frown. Not a bad little stone for $ 1.25. Thanks guys for the advice.

Originally Posted by S0LITARYS0LDIER

So I looked at the scratch marks and found the dark blue is coarser then the light blue. Very fast cutting stone. Sharpened my pocket knives on it. Started progression dark blue, light blue, 1k and they are shaving arm hair now. Not a bad little stone. If used for anything razor related I would use it for sub 1k chip removing or fixing a frown. Not a bad little stone for $ 1.25. Thanks guys for the advice.

Stones like this one come from factory with a weird spiky surface, and pretty much cut like a super coarse diamond plate. And are messing both your grit estimation and speed. After a few knives, it will get slower. You can lap it, but then it you will be wasting speed. Something to have in mind.