Thread: Shapton 16k, mixed grit??

I used a 16K Shapton Glass for quite some time and the scratch patterns were 100% uniform and definitely finer than 12K.

Hopefully this notion will be put to bed soon.

I just know my 16K Shapton Glass does an amazing job when used correctly with very little to no pressure with the hone not soaked in water but I just use my water & Ballistol mix to spray on it.
What it's makeup is I just don't care. It is a fast cutting hone that needs to be lapped more often than many hones. As to why the 10K hone costs more in some areas I don't have a clue.

Slawman

I finally have made progress on this. Shapton USA's contact link on their website has been having problems so that is why they did not get back to me sooner. I called them today and I explained the question that has arisen here.

According to the rep I spoke with, what THEY sell is not of mixed grit. The hones are made in Japan and they cannot guarantee that such a mixed grit hone does not exist but they do not sell one, nor are they aware of one.

Harrelson Stanley is supposed to call me some time in the next day or so, possibly to elaborate on this more. I will relay whatever I learn from him.

OK, I just got off the phone with Harrelson. We had a very nice conversation. I certainly would like to spend a LOT more time speaking with him.

Here are the points salient to this thread.

1. He says that the Shapton company's grits are accurate to within 10% plus or minus the identified grit size. This actually is a very high tolerance level given the sizes involved, and in fact they only developed the technology to more accurately assess grit sizes about 8 years ago.

2. Harrelson is not aware of any Shapton hone being comprised of any mixed grits, and he has worked with the Shapton company for a couple of decades.

3. Because he only is responsible for Shapton in the US, he cannot speak to, nor speculate on, the claims made by any European vendor, including Dictum. Regardless, please take note of point #2.

Originally Posted by Utopian

OK, I just got off the phone with Harrelson. We had a very nice conversation. I certainly would like to spend a LOT more time speaking with him.

Here are the points salient to this thread.

1. He says that the Shapton company's grits are accurate to within 10% plus or minus the identified grit size. This actually is a very high tolerance level given the sizes involved, and in fact they only developed the technology to more accurately assess grit sizes about 8 years ago.

2. Harrelson is not aware of any Shapton hone being comprised of any mixed grits, and he has worked with the Shapton company for a couple of decades.

3. Because he only is responsible for Shapton in the US, he cannot speak to, nor speculate on, the claims made by any European vendor, including Dictum. Regardless, please take note of point #2.

The consistency of the Shaptons is why So from Japan Tool has always recommended them for razors. He told me that years ago. Never thought to mention it here.

Originally Posted by Utopian

OK, I just got off the phone with Harrelson. We had a very nice conversation. I certainly would like to spend a LOT more time speaking with him.

Here are the points salient to this thread.

1. He says that the Shapton company's grits are accurate to within 10% plus or minus the identified grit size. This actually is a very high tolerance level given the sizes involved, and in fact they only developed the technology to more accurately assess grit sizes about 8 years ago.

2. Harrelson is not aware of any Shapton hone being comprised of any mixed grits, and he has worked with the Shapton company for a couple of decades.

3. Because he only is responsible for Shapton in the US, he cannot speak to, nor speculate on, the claims made by any European vendor, including Dictum. Regardless, please take note of point #2.

So if I'm interpreting that right, the grit of a 16K hone (.92 Micron) lies between 1.01 and .83? Which is much tighter than the proposed combination of 2.45 Micron (6000 grit) and .75 micron (rough estimation of what 20K would be since I couldn't easily find a chart with that in microns as well) used to comprise a Shapton 16K according to some retailers.

Kind of cool that they not only responded, but also got you in touch which a fellow that had quite a lot of tenure there.

That is the nice thing about the Shapton hones. Harrelson said they use the JIS scale, but they put the micron size right on the hone. He said he believes Shapton is the only company to do that, and it certainly is a helpful feature.

My impression from both conversations is that they have no basis even to speculate about the claimed grit range described by that Dictum site.

This is my own speculation, not that of the people I spoke with today...
IF the claim by Dictum were true, then we would see 6k scratch patterns from that "mixed grit 16k hone." Since we don't, the 16k hones that WE are using are NOT mixed grit. Bottom line for me is that I would not buy a Shapton GlassStone from Dictum. Then again, I was not planning on it anyway.

Originally Posted by Utopian

IF the claim by Dictum were true, then we would see 6k scratch patterns from that "mixed grit 16k hone." Since we don't, the 16k hones that WE are using are NOT mixed grit.

That's along the lines of what I was thinking. Mixed grit of 6,000 and 20,000 does not a 16K hone make. I'm not even sure that would average out to be 10K with all the errant 6K stria that would be scattered around.