Thread: Chinese 12k question (s)

Originally Posted by zib

I don't know Hunter, I respectfully disagree. If you have all those stones, what's another 30 bucks or another toy to play with?

Very true. As far as HAD goes, the Ch12k is pracitcally free!

LOL! You guys crack me up.

Tim Zowada's web site has some great 200X photomicrographs of various stone surfaces including the Chinese 12K. It's uniformity compares modestly well to the eschers.

Zowada Custom Knives - Stone Surfaces

I realize this is not the ultimate answer because there is no comparison of various stones ability to form a swarf with a given number of strokes. My guess is the Chinese 12K is harder and more resistant to
"surrendering" it's grit than most other stones, hence the need for so many strokes to polish a blade.

Don

So many answers here and many opinions, I wanna say thanks again for all the info, and that this thread got me thinking....
My thought was maybe we should do a few threads, like this, profiling each stone, get as many opinions as we can on each stone, and then put together a Wiki "Hone Zone List"...

Profiling the strengths, weaknesses and even impressions of the users....

Originally Posted by gssixgun

So many answers here and many opinions, I wanna say thanks again for all the info, and that this thread got me thinking....
My thought was maybe we should do a few threads, like this, profiling each stone, get as many opinions as we can on each stone, and then put together a Wiki "Hone Zone List"...

Profiling the strengths, weaknesses and even impressions of the users....

I believe dwessel is working on a top secret project right now for something like this.......

Originally Posted by gssixgun

So many answers here and many opinions, I wanna say thanks again for all the info, and that this thread got me thinking....
My thought was maybe we should do a few threads, like this, profiling each stone, get as many opinions as we can on each stone, and then put together a Wiki "Hone Zone List"...

Profiling the strengths, weaknesses and even impressions of the users....

Good Idea Glen, Maybe drop David a PM....If you haven't already.....

I'm no pro when it comes to honing, so I don't know if I should even post here...Anyway, I love my Chinese 12K. Simply put, it does what it's meant to do without all the jumping through hoops and tricks people have come up with to maximize some of the other natural stones. Sometimes I wonder if this stone doesn't have a higher standing so we can justify the $$ we've spent on the sexier stones

I use mine with water only. 80-120 laps off the 8K - badda bing! Done and ready every time (provided I've done good work at the lower grits). YMMV and all that...

I lapp it easily with 220-400 grit sandpaper and finish on 600-1000 - Whatever I have laying around.

If I had to choose one set up right now, it would be the Norton followed by the Chinese 12K and then a little chrom ox for good measure. This is subject to change of course, but for somone like me who doesn't take the time to experiment eight ways from Sunday, it's all you need.

Jordan

During my initial days here I started a few discussions by saying that my C12k stone produced coarser results than an 8k Shapton. I've started using a Belgian natural combo since and so I do no longer care about the C12k but I wonder if there is a fairly significant variance of hardness and grit size among these hones.

Thanks Jordan a very straight and to the point write up....

Quite a bit of difference between your write up and Lynn's but also two totally different uses.......

Originally Posted by sparq

During my initial days here I started a few discussions by saying that my C12k stone produced coarser results than an 8k Shapton. I've started using a Belgian natural combo since and so I do no longer care about the C12k but I wonder if there is a fairly significant variance of hardness and grit size among these hones.

This is what I was wondering when I started the thread, seemed like some people love them and some hate them, which normally means there are variations between the stones...
Then I started thinking that there were maybe variations on how they were used, I had heard stroke numbers from 50-300...
Now I can see huge variations of stroke numbers in the lower grit stones, but a finisher just should not vary that much, I mean come on all you are really doing is smoothing out the minute lines from the last stone...