Thread: Glass stones vs Shapton pros?

I am not putting myself in Lynn's echelon, but Jimmy let me borrow his Pros for a while and my findings with them matched what I later learned to be Lynn's findings. That is, on average, about 7 out of 10 razors were successfully honed on the first try with the Pros. Now in my case this could have been due to my inexperience with those hones, but Lynn surely honed more razors with them and ended up with the same result.

I really like the Shapton Pro hones though and bought a few of the lower grit hones.

On the GlassStones, the success rate is well over 9 out of 10. For that reason I eventually bought a complete set of the GlassStones, except for the 30k. They work very well.

Having owned both Pro & GS I'd say the GS is a better polisher & the Pro is a better cutter. I found the Pro's held shape better, less lapping & for restore work, those 2 reasons made my decision to sell the GS stones. Not crazy about the 12k Pro shave but some CrO stropping helps a lot. I often finish on a Goku 20 or Jnats so the 7/10 thing may be right. The Pro's are quite aggressive & a light touch is crucial at all grits.

If I went back to GS I'd like to try a minimalist progression of 1k/3k/6k then some pre polisher & finisher.

The 320 Pro is a far more aggressive cutter than the 220 GS & great for restores. One step away from a DMT I'd call it, without the deep scratches of diamonds.

The coarsest I ever use is 1K with thick slurry. Never saw the need for coarser stones.
As for thickness, that is just a theoretical issue unless you become a pro honer, and in that case the cost of the stones is negligible.
For reference, I have been making custom razors for 2 years now, and I am still using my first set of nortons, with a 16 glass stone as finisher.

However, I would not use the same stones for knives and razors, because knife honing dishes out a stone more quickly, and then you'd need to lap it for razors again, which means you waste a lot of stone.

As you're planning to use your hones for both razors and kitchen knifes my recommendation would be to go with the Pro instead of the GS: you can use one side for knives and the other one for razors. This way you can maintain a flat unblemished surface for the razors and use the other side for knives without worrying too much.

That's the reason why I went with the Choseras without base...

Cheers
Jörg

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Having owned both Pro & GS I'd say the GS is a better polisher & the Pro is a better cutter. I found the Pro's held shape better, less lapping & for restore work, those 2 reasons made my decision to sell the GS stones. Not crazy about the 12k Pro shave but some CrO stropping helps a lot. I often finish on a Goku 20 or Jnats so the 7/10 thing may be right. The Pro's are quite aggressive & a light touch is crucial at all grits.

I see. I just recently found out aboput the suehiros. more on that later.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

If I went back to GS I'd like to try a minimalist progression of 1k/3k/6k then some pre polisher & finisher.

My minimalist approach would be glass 2k,6k,10k, the 2k instead of any 1k since its rumored to be fast, and the 6k because its the first one that leaves an
IMO good scratch free finish according to the glass stone pdf floating around. and the 10k because it leaves shallower max-min valleys than the 16k/shapton recommends the 10k for razors and not the 16k/jende did a macro comparison of all the shappros and the glass stones and the 10k left a mirror finish the 16k left scratches. I saw it with my own eyes.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

The 320 Pro is a far more aggressive cutter than the 220 GS & great for restores. One step away from a DMT I'd call it, without the deep scratches of diamonds.

The 320 and 1,5k shap pros are for carbon only, the rest is made for both carbon/ss supposedly.

Also I've been plowing through all the knife/razor/kitchen forums for over a month now and according to those:

the best 1k is the chosera. The shap pro 1k is a very fast cutting 800, and the 2k is the "best stone" in the pro series. Possibly the best 2k out there. The 1k chosera is about the same grit or slightly below the 2k pro.

And what did I do armed with that combined knowledge?? I ordered a 2k glass Since its the fastest 2k I figured it would be my 1k and 2k all in one stone. And since no one can really specify what 1k really is, it could be similar in grit to the chosera 1k, who knows? I guess I'll find out.

If i need to go below this I have 320 dmt and 45 and 65 micron diamond plates.

Now I'm looking into a 10-12k or a finisher really but not one of those über sharp ones like the 30ks and jnats. and something to bridge the 2k glass to whatever 10-12k I'm getting. The 5k pro seems nice, but I think I'll go with the 6k glass instead since I have actually seen micrographs on the result it gives.

Now for the most important stone:

Many people seem (or is it seems) to like the naniwa 12k but its regarded as soft and fast wearing/dishing, its a known quality stone though, known to produce a repeatable, good result.

The shapton glass 10k; the micrographs looks good (polished look) and and the jende pics looks good too. Quite expensive though. I have a feeling it will be good enough for me as a finisher.

Shapton pro 12k/15k; hazy but uniform look, some people say its quite rough. At first I wanted it but now I don't. Nobody seems to really like it.

chosera 10k; leaves a polished finish with some deep scratches somehow, maybe they use a too lax filtered powder for this one? and its quite expensive too. no one seems to like it a finishing stone for razors and there has to be a reason for that.

4-8k norton; looks pretty much like the chosera 10k, polished look but some deep scratches. I guess its possible to shave after this one but most people have a stone after this one.

Coticules; looks like sh1t on the micrographs, but somehow people say its a very smooth shave. How that even is possible is beyond me but i trust them. I have ordered 2 coticules. a 60x115 and a 70x130mm. Need to find out myself.

Suehiro Gokumyo 10k, well I just found out about this one, but from what I have read this might be the one for me. Smooth enough and non dishing, quite expensive (like the chosera 10k), gonna read all teh Gokumyo threads here to try to make up my mind.

right now I'm seriously considering the Gokumyo10k/ss12k/glass 10k, those 3 seems to be the best options for me.

anyone care to comment on those 3? vs eachother maybe? I will be going for a 3 stone system and thats it pretty much.

wow sorry for the long a55 post but its really hard to choose sometimes. I guess you have all been there.

Originally Posted by jigane

And what did I do armed with that combined knowledge?? I ordered a 2k glass Since its the fastest 2k I figured it would be my 1k and 2k all in one stone. And since no one can really specify what 1k really is, it could be similar in grit to the chosera 1k, who knows? I guess I'll find out.

I can think of 2 stones faster than the 2k glass, the Shap pro 2k & the Bester 2k but the Bester needs about 6 hours soaking

Agree.

I have done a few thousand razors on both the Pro's and the Glass and both definitely work. For me though, the nod for consistency and reliability goes to the Glass stones.

Have fun.

Originally Posted by Utopian

I am not putting myself in Lynn's echelon, but Jimmy let me borrow his Pros for a while and my findings with them matched what I later learned to be Lynn's findings. That is, on average, about 7 out of 10 razors were successfully honed on the first try with the Pros. Now in my case this could have been due to my inexperience with those hones, but Lynn surely honed more razors with them and ended up with the same result.

I really like the Shapton Pro hones though and bought a few of the lower grit hones.

On the GlassStones, the success rate is well over 9 out of 10. For that reason I eventually bought a complete set of the GlassStones, except for the 30k. They work very well.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Not crazy about the 12k Pro shave but some CrO stropping helps a lot.

Just want to point out that the 12k is identical to the USA imported stone known as the 15k. I've had both and the only difference is the printing on the boxes and stones. The edge off a 15k could be kind of harsh, so maybe that is what you mean Oz ?

Originally Posted by jigane

Many people seem (or is it seems) to like the naniwa 12k but its regarded as soft and fast wearing/dishing, its a known quality stone though, known to produce a repeatable, good result.

I'm not sure who regards it in that manner, but I consider it to be quite sufficiently hard enough for razors and I certainly do not consider it to be fast wearing at all. The minimal refreshing that it requires it has been quite sufficient to keep it flat without any dishing at all.