Thread: Glass stones vs Shapton pros?

For me the Pro do not load like the Glass, obviously are thicker thus better value.
I use the 5k and 8k Pro and like them a lot. Both are fast cutting, produce very uniform scratch pattern, and are very consistent over all kinds of steels.

Glass stoned all the way
1k,4k,8k,16k,30k

Worn out?? I'm pretty sure I will pass on these in generations..

I had the pro series from 1k through 30k. Rarely used the 30 as the 15 was enough for me. I liked them very much but moved them along and ended up with the Chosera series. I probably would have been as well off just keeping the pros and leaving it at that but the grass is always greener on the other side ......... but it is still grass.

Lot of guys like the glass stones. I had a 16k for a short time but traded it almost as soon as I got it. Anyway ........ I'd probably go with the pros just because of the thickness. Especially if you're going to be doing knives as well as razors.

I had the glass based hones, I think they would have lasted me my lifetime and then some. I sold them in favour of a set of Naniwa SS hones, with a Naniwa Pro 1K at the bottom. I like the *feel* on the SS hones better than the Shapton Glass hones.

Shapton Glass vs Shapton Pro.... By the time you wear a Shapton Pro down to half thickness, it's going to become easy to break. The Shapton Glass series avoids that by having a layer of glass as the substrate. While I have never heard of anyone wearing out a set of either hones, that does not mean it has not happened. Guys like Lynn and Gssixgun hone enough razors to actually wear out some hones, generally the coarser ones that see most of the work from what I have heard.

I don't think there IS a better, only what an individual likes, much like razor size, toe shape, strop draw and such... they all work, they just *feel* different in use, and it comes down to personal preference. I think you should get whatever you like, and just remember Gssixguns tagline:

"No amount of money spent on a Stone can ever replace the value of the time it takes learning to use it properly"
Very Respectfully - Glen

I resemble that tagline, I'm re-evaluating a Coticule I've ignored for years. I'll be trying all the usual tricks and see if I can't eek out a little more "special" out of it.

Regards

Christian aka

Kaptain "I really like my new Naniwa hones, but my shaves are pretty much the same as before." Zero

I learned to hone on Naniwa's (1,1,3,4,8,12 set), learned how to use the Norton 4/8, and learned the Shapton GS (1,4,8,16,30) stones. I sold off my Nani's and Norton & now have added 220, 500 (only use those on knives as I am a maker) & 2K to the mix. I have found that there is absolutely nothing I can't hone on Naniwa CHosera 1K, shapton gs 2,4,8,16 (or G20) followed up by a natural thuringian. This is the edge that I like, semi "crisp" & smooth.

I do not recommend the 30K until you have literally mastered your stones. I have found that less than 3% of the razors made can handle that fine of an edge and it's an edge that I personally don't care to shave with.

I've had those stones for about 5 years now and show little to no wear on them. It may appear that there is little material on the GS stones, but remember that they are like a ceramic & wear very little. I most likely cause more wear on them cleaning them up than actually using them.

If you decide on the GS stones, feel free to contact me any time!

Thanks for your input guys!

I might go with a combo of brands/lines instead.

Has anyone bought from any of these retailers in europe and can recommend them?

Naniwa Wassersteine kaufen? - Gro?er Vorrat & Superpreis
Japanese Waterstones and other Sharpening Tools | FINE TOOLS
https://www.dictum.com/en/sharpening/bench-stones
https://www.baptist.nl/en/houtbewerk...apanese-stones

BTW how large jumps in grit can I make generally?


I need a 1k and 2 for knives so those are a must. But after that I need a 12-15-16k or so, and a 4-5k at least I guess, but do igenerally need like an 8-10k too?

I was thinking chosera 1k, shap pro 2k, glass 4k and 8k and shap pro 12k or SS12k.

Or maybe just a glass 2k, glass 6k, shap pro 12/15k? Would that work?

Well Norton made the 1-4-8. Harrelson Stanley, the plane honer extradonaire, and USA rep for Shapton has said that doubling the grit is the 'rule of thumb' he uses. As in 4-8-16 in the glass series. Some guys like to put in between grits in there.

In Europe the only vendor I've bought hones from is Deiter Schmidt's Fine Tools in Germany. Very satisfactory service. On the grit question, it would seen that, other than the 1k, jumping beyond double is stretching it ....... no pun intended.

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.

I have Shapton ceramic on tempered glass (I am confused by the "glass" vs. "pro" terminology here) 500, 1K, 4K, 8K, 16K and love them.

So much easier to use than the King 1K, Norton 4-8K,
12K grit natural water stone from the Guangxi province of China with slurry stone.