Thread: Europe synthetic hone prices

If you already have a 1K and 3K then adding the 8 and 12 will work fine.

My own progression is 1, 5, 8, 12. But I can't see anything wrong with 1, 3, 8, 12.

Don't worry about the SS been thin. Especially at higher grits, You don't remove a lot of metal at higher grits it's just polishing. And because of that you don't wear them out fast at all.

The 8K is more than enough to shave from. So if you are tight on budget pick that stone up. It will leave the edge crisp and well polished, and after a few laps on Chrome oxide the shave will be perfectly acceptable. Then finish on a coticule. The other thing you could pick up is one of the other naturals and use it from the 8K edge. Personally I would not feel limited if my highest stone was the 8K. I also don't use a slurry on my 8 or 12K stones, they don't need it, and not building a slurry and removing swarf with a scratch pad seems to work pretty well. I lap them probably every 4-5 razors. And it's just a very light grid lap to make sure everything is still nice.

The king on the other hand I have never used. I have a 1/6 king and the 6K side is no where near the 5K SS polish. The scratches are much deeper and the edge is only just beginning to polish. In SS comparison it's probably similar the the 3K. If that is true for the range then the 8K could only be as good as a 5K SS. Don't quote me for correctness on that as the 6K I have may well use a different manufacture, binder, or abrasive to the 8K.