Thread: naniwa 3k - the hidden gem of my progression

I had been setting bevels with the 1k for many moons, and though in the old days guys would say if all you had was a 4k you could do a bevel set, but it wasn't ideal, and a 1k was faster. No doubt.

Somewhere amongst Mastro Livi's videos is one of him repairing a customer's razor. The edge was damaged somehow, but not really too badly. Mastro used the 3k to reset the bevel, and strongly recommended it above the 1k, unless the edge was really rough.

Anyway, so hearing/seeing that video I set my next bevel with the 3k and was very happy with the work and the result. I would go to the 1k if I thought the edge needed the coarser grit, but for a 'decent' edge starting out, the 3k was fine.

I used to do 1k-3k-5k and test shave. According to the Japanese grit chart the 3k compares with a 5k, and the 5k with the 8k in the USA chart. So I did that for a time. Lately I've been doing 3-5-8-10-20. TBH I haven't been doing much honing from jump street lately. Mostly doing touch ups using the higher grit stuff, but I find that 3k a good tool to have.