Thread: 20K vs 12K after dovo black paste

I have a Naniwa 12K, a Shapton Glass 16K and Suehiro G20K. I also have several natural finishers. The Naniwa was my first finishing hone. Although it is capable of producing a keen edge, I never was able to produce an edge that was both keen and smooth. The Naniwa 12K produces a harsh edge if you over-hone.

At least in my experience, the Suehiro 20K seems to be immune from over-honing. Yet it has enough abrasive capability to go all the way from bevel set to finishing if you have the patience to do so. This is exhibited in a couple of YouTube posted by a member of the SRP forum. This versatility makes the stone easy to use as a finisher.

If you are getting edges with your current honing/stropping methods that suit your preference based on your beard coarseness and skin sensitivity, then there is no need to spend the money on a G20K. I have never used the Dovo black stropping paste, but I have used CBN spray as fine as 0.1 micron, even after the G0K, which is advertised as about 0.5 micron.

With the wide variety of synthetic and natural hones and lapping films and the variety of polishing pastes and sprays and stropping substrates, there are numerous ways of achieving the results you desire while still staying within budget constraints.

After shaving with them a bit more, I decided to re-visit my 20K stone as I felt there was still a slight improvement to be made.

I did extra strokes, actually quite a bit of strokes under running water on the Suehiro 20K and also took my sweet stropping up the razor real well and voila.

The edge remains very sharp, but I felt an increase in smoothness. Smoother than I experienced before. Not sure if the extra laps on the hone did it or the excessive stropping.

Either way, I wanted to compare it to my Coti and Escher once again, but I didn't even bother shaving with those edges this time. The 20K was outstanding and left nothing to be desired.

As with most stones, it's probably a good idea to max out its capabilities and boy am I impressed by the 20K. Skin feel is better too, it shaves through the hardest stubble like it's nothing and feels very smooth doing so. Effortless shave.

I've been shaving daily for a couple of weeks now which I rarely do (usually every other day), but my skin feels really good and the 20K edge seems to be more gentle than I thought.

I haven't touched pastes but I'm very curious to compare a 20K vs 20K+paste. Seeing how the 20K edges shave, I don't have any intention of going to a pasted strop though.


Yes, I am very pleased with my 20K.

Your killing me, Tristan. I thought I had gotten over “needing” a g20k, then I read your post and BAM! HAD is tightening its grip.

Originally Posted by jfk742

Your killing me, Tristan. I thought I had gotten over “needing” a g20k, then I read your post and BAM! HAD is tightening its grip.

Ooops!

I've finished 2 other razors of my 7day set on the 20K and will test shave with them soon, I'll keep yinz posted.

It's funny because I always felt I was missing something in my synthetic honing progression and it took a while before HAD kicked in to buy the 20K; it seems to fill the gap / missing part in the progression nicely and gives that extra finish (without needing to go to pastes).

One of my Swedish framebacks has been giving me a bit of trouble finishing on my naturals, I feel my edge "never really gets there". I took it to my Naniwa 12k and finished on the Suehiro 20K, now I'm very interested about the upcoming test shave with this razor.

I too feel the 20k is what I can always go to if my edge isnt agreeing with a stone. If I get fed up I grab the 20k and it seems to always do the job right. Im trying to learn the Jnats right now as I have HAD badly this year. Ok, a couple years now, but the 20k always works.

I agree, the 20K works. Consistent, easy results. It's a beautiful thing.

My Swedish frameback took a killer edge from the 20K, very very smooth and very keen. Outstanding shave. (Pre-finisher was a Naniwa 12K)
The more I use my 20K, the more I come to like it.

Slowly, more and more of my razors are getting the 20K finish treatment.


I think I've found my preference: A Swedish frameback and a 20K finish =>
The razor I hadn't been able to get "that" finish on shaved marvelously:


To give a little more entertaining value, here's a link to the gallery of razors I'm testing on:

https://imgur.com/a/Ly2hlfv


They're not all the same, but I feel no difference in the shave.

My other 7day set of Heljestrand framebacks are all getting a synthetic progression with 20K finish aside from maybe one or two Coticule edges, so that's saying something.

I always finished on Naturals for awhile and it was always my Charnley Forest its a big stone, and Ive only ever had complements from edges off of it.
Then 2 years ago I bought the SG10k and the SG20k and Ive been loving the edges, again NO complaints from anybody thats had a razor hones by me.
Ive also added a Naniwa 12k Ive no idea why Ive used it only once or twice its nice but I still dont know why I got it or thought I needed to buy it
The 20k is just much quicker than my CF, and with me doing shift work honing time is hard to find sometimes.

I think I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about regarding the SG20k and the Naniwa 12k, That said since Ive no longer wanted for anything else stone wise.

While nothing beats the Coticule in smoothness of shave, the 20K comes very close but feels crisp in comparison during the shave. Which is a testament to the Coticule's extreme smoothness, because the 20K is a very very smooth and a very easy shaving edge.

However I feel there's something to be said about the high mirror polish and 'evenness' in the edge the synthetic 20K leaves and the implications for the skin. I find the post shave skin feel outstanding and where I used to struggle to shave daily, the 20K makes it easy. Skin feel after the shave is amazingly good, it certainly feels that it does ""less damage"" than the Naniwa 12k does (It's also the case that daily shaving for a while has unquestionably improved my technique to that point where I can).

While the shaves from my Coticule edges feel smoother (La Grise and La Veinette) and just as sharp (LV mostly), my skin feel after the shave is just as good with the 20K.
I'll need to shave more with my Coticule edges to be able to make a clear comparison post skin recovery wise, but am very happy with the 20K so far.
At least my skin seems to take it very well and very quickly recovers from the shave, something that is very impressive from a synthetic stone. This is something that has very pleasantly surprised me, I'm sure my technique is to thank for this as well, but I've never imagined being able to shave daily with "my skin type" and my skin feeling as good and smooth as it does. No soreness or pain, no redness, no tenderness upon touching, no shave irritation or anything else.

After shaving with a couple Coticule edges I have a newfound love for them, I'm experimenting with 2 Coticules that I know deliver good edges. As other Coticules seem to be a hit or a miss for me.

One of my vintage ones leaves the best edge I've ever experienced, as sharp as a 20K but the smoothness is unrivaled. I bought this one cause it looked a lot like the one I inherited from my great-grandfather. My modernly mined La Veinettes don't deliver the same results.

My other Coticule is a modernly mined La Grise, feels a bit 'meh' WTG and XTG, but feels amazing ATG, it's an odd thing. Shaves extremely well and is extremely smooth in the ATG pass. Maybe the most skin friendly edge I've experienced.

I took a couple razors that were finished on a 20K and were shaving very well and finished them under running water on a Coticule, great edges. Delivering in a slightly smoother shave that seem a bit more skin friendly compared to the 20K. It's a hit or a miss with Coticules for me, they shave somewhat alike but not all give the same edge, it's the little nuances in the edge that matters. I have only found a few that seem to be top notch and they're one of the finest finishing stones around. My other Coticules deliver different edges that I personally don't like as much.

I loved the 20k g and used it for 6 months
Shaving for 6 months of the 20 k.

I then switched back to a pure coticule edge

And I have to say the coticule edge was much smoother and kinder on my skin .