Sharpening/Polishing Stone Grits
I apologize in advance if this has not been covered in some other forum. I have been reading some of the links asking if someone should use this or that stone and I'm not sure if some realize that there are differences in how "grits" are measured. I only have experiences with Japanese wet-stones (other than a couple diamond stones for kitchen knives) and a couple of Shapton stones. This link ) is one that I found years ago when I began to find interest on polishing Japanese swords: [FONT=Garamond][SIZE=1][COLOR=Black][FONT="] www.nihonzashi.com
I'm relatively new to SR shaving (3-4 months), but puting a keen edge on blade is an old hat. The key is not taking too much material away & removing the scratches from the previous stone. I can't believe that it took me so long to give SR shaving a try. I'm hooked.
Equivalent Grit Table
Particle
Size
(Microns) US
Grit Japanese
Grit Examples
0.5 12000 25000 Chromium Oxide Polishing Compound, Moor White Ceramic
1 5000 10000 Honyama Awasi (Brown Stone), Linde C Compound (Aluminum Oxide Powder)
2 3000 6000 Karasu (Blue Stone), Awasi Toshi
3 2000 4000 Uchigumori, Extra Fine White Ceramic, Green Chrome Rouge, Spyderco Extra Fine Ceramic
6 1200 2500 Ao-To (Blue Stone), Spyderco Fine Ceramic
10 1000 2000 Hard Black Arkansas, Extra-Fine Diamond Hone, Lansky Ultra-Fine Hone
15 800 1500 Koma-Nagura, Hard White Arkansas, Extra Fine Diamond, Medium Ceramic, Moor Black Ceramic
20 600 1000 Soft Arkansas, Lansky Fine Hone, Ultra Fine Scotch-Brite Pad, Spyderco Medium Ceramic
25 480 800 Chu-Nagura, Washita Stone, Fine Diamond
35 320 500 Kaisei (Natural Sandstone), Fine India, Medium Diamond, Super/Extra Fine Scotch-Brite Belt/Pad
45 280 400 Medium India, Fine Crystolon (Silicon Carbide), Coarse Diamond, Lansky Medium Hone
60 220 300 Binsui Coarse Stone, Extra Coarse Diamond Hone, Very Fine Scotch-Brite Belt/Pad
80 180 260 Fine Scotch-Brite Belt/Pad
90 150 220 Medium Crystolon (Silicon Carbide), Coarse India, Medium Scotch-Brite Belt/Pad
110 120 180 Arato (Natural Sandstone Or Carborundum), Lansky Course Hone
150 100 150 Coarse Crystolon (Silicon Carbide)
180 80 90 Lansky Extra Coarse Hone, Coarse Scotch-Brite Belt/Pad