Finishing thread. What hones are best. What hone do you use?

[PaulX608]

Have you ever used the shapton 30k, and are the results about the same? (Shapton 30k is apparently .5micron particles embedded in glass if I read the info correctly).

Nope. The only honing I've done has been using films on a 3"x6"x¾" glass block. I have 6µm, 3µm, and 1µm diamond films and 0.5µm aluminum oxide film. Works great for me, but I have no way to relate the performance to stones.

[ben.mid]

I selected "other".
Sometimes i'll finish on the coticule, which i'm very happy with, but more usually, i'll take it on to a vintage Thuringian.

[Kees]

I use a Nakayama for final polishing.

[JimmyHAD]

The Japanese stones are taking the field by a wide margin. My HAD is kicking in....

[0livia]

other

Escher and then Frankonian

[mainaman]

it is un the 20k so I went on to acquire this fella
http://thejapanblade.com/Copy_2_of_206.jpg
it should be in the high 30k range based on the grit test

Will try it today when it comes in the mail

[IanS]

I bid 72 bucks on a razor (smallest other than chisel) nakayama from 330 on ebay... figured, thats $32 above what he says they RETAIL for... I'll win...

Come back and a sniper got it for $73... about $20-25 above what they typically sell for (looking at his past sales). Man that seller's gotta be loving how the price has been going steadily up all through November.

He sent me a second chance on the slightly larger (sword/knife/razor) one I had bid on earlier for $77, and I'm debating accepting it. If only I read Japanese, I have a suspicion that he SELLS them for what he lists their retail as... and eBayers are just feeding him additional profit on top of what he sells for there, because he doesn't have an english page (that I could find).

Anyone read Japanese wanna order me one of the $40 razor ones?

[mainaman]

The e-bay 330mate stones are not the best finishers out there(unless you get very lucky I guess).
On his website you can see he sells some stones in the $300-2000 range.
If you really want a good finishing stone there are other places to look, but the prices can be really steep.

I bid 72 bucks on a razor (smallest other than chisel) nakayama from 330 on ebay... figured, thats $32 above what he says they RETAIL for... I'll win...

Come back and a sniper got it for $73... about $20-25 above what they typically sell for (looking at his past sales). Man that seller's gotta be loving how the price has been going steadily up all through November.

He sent me a second chance on the slightly larger (sword/knife/razor) one I had bid on earlier for $77, and I'm debating accepting it. If only I read Japanese, I have a suspicion that he SELLS them for what he lists their retail as... and eBayers are just feeding him additional profit on top of what he sells for there, because he doesn't have an english page (that I could find).

Anyone read Japanese wanna order me one of the $40 razor ones?

[Seraphim]

Other.

I like to finish on 1.0um lapping film. Maybe a few swipes of Chromox afterwards as well.

[IanS]

So are his ratings on the listings bogus? Because he rates the grit as 3++ (where I understand 3+++ is the highest possible), basically every rating he gives the stones is ideal or damn close to it. I'm sure you're right because the price is way below what most people with Japanese stones have paid, but I'm wondering how that can be identified. Are the japanese ratings standardized at all or could I pick a brick up off the street and list it as a 5+++, 3+++, 3+++, 3+++++, 1?