Thread: Shapton 16K blew me away

All I can say is WOW, I'm amazed and delighted.

I was getting by with my Chinese 12K as my finisher. Does OK, but gets a little old after a while when you have a few new toys to hone. Some go fairly well, some seem to take forever to finish. I have a coticule but it's not a good finisher unfortunately, or I'm a poor honer. Probably the latter.

You new guys take it from another new guy. If you are finishing with a Chinese 12K, for whatever reason, when you get the Shapton 16K it's like going from a plowhorse to a Maserati. Un-be-lieveable. Took delivery of the 16K yesterday,thank you Howard from the Perfect Edge for the excellent delivery time. Couldn't wait, of course, so I touched up 4 razors last night. They were all shavers already but I wanted to play. This stone takes off so much material that on just the 3rd pass I started to get resistance. By 8 passes I've got full resistance and the rest was wasted effort, even though I did 20 laps from force of habit. You just don't think it's possible after using the unfeeling, million stroke per razor, Chinese 12.
Then I went to 1 micron, then .5 micron pasted strop, canvas, then leather. Nice shave, noticebly keener. You have to be less agressive shaving, it's sharper, easier to get burn compared to the Chinese 12. Once the whiskers are gone, hell stop.

What a pleasure to use. Thanks again Howard.

I'm thinking of getting 16k to use after my bbw/coti.

Welcome to SRP. Glad the stone has worked out so well for you . If it was me I would have stropped and shaved after the 16k just to see how it felt without the added icing on the cake. Different strokes for different folks.

The 16k is probably still my top all around finisher. I assume you mean 1 mic and .5 mic diamond pastes? I'm agreeing with Jimmy about test shaving after the 16k and before the pastes unless you did that already. Why? I've stropped and shaved off of the 16k with great and comfortable edges and shaves. At most, I normally do some finishing passes on chrome ox.

I'm just wondering if leaning towards harsh has more to do with the diamond pastes for you rather than the sharpness? When I shave straight from diamond .5 mic I find the edge a tad less comfortable. YMMV.

BTW, I had a similar WOW experience when I tested my 16k for the first time. It's cool.

Chris L

We call it the Sweet 16 for a reason

Now ya know !!!!!

OK Fella's!! you've sold me on the Shapton, I calling Howard next week and see if I can lay one away for a couple of months!!! He's always good about that to us 'Fixed Income' People!! I use a Norton 4k/8k now, the 16K sounds like the next logical step.

Y''all have a great G/Day!

tinkersd of SRP.

Sweet results!

I'm also thinking you might want to try it without the pastes too, to properly evaluate it.

Also, even if pasting, why hit the 1 micron paste when the hone itself is finer than 1 micron... that's going backwards? Not to say it won't change the feel even at a similar almost the same grit rating, but still, seems redundant if not backwards.

for those experienced, is going from 8k to 16k too large of a jump? just curious.

Originally Posted by Razorburne

for those experienced, is going from 8k to 16k too large of a jump? just curious.

Not to big at all. If you have the 10/12k and the time it would be nice and takes less time on each stone.

Originally Posted by Razorburne

for those experienced, is going from 8k to 16k too large of a jump? just curious.

Nope, I progress through hones doubling the grit
each time (fitting, since I use Shapton GS hones).
The absolutely number gap isn't the important
part, it's the ratio.

- Scott