Thread: How Important Is A Progressions Of Stones?

Originally Posted by Pyment

What synthetic hones feel most like naturals? I have been kind of looking at the Bester ceramic hones.

I use Chosera 1k and its great stone. Its faster than the Superstone and uses the same abrasive just more of it. Using the stone with slurry is not problem too.

I would really like a 1000/3000 combo stone. I don't find too many of them however.

I have an inquiry in to Japan Woodworker about which of their stones would feel most like a natural. They have a "Debado" 2000 stone, the Bester (which gets good reviews on the "Foodie Forums"), "Dragon" stones (which "are the best abrasives for sharpening A2 HSS blades". Since I don't know steel that well, I don't know what that tells me), and the Shaptons. They also carry the synthetic Aotos.

Which Shaptons? glass or ceramic? I am concerned I will have the same problem with feel I have with my DMT.

Originally Posted by Pyment

I would really like a 1000/3000 combo stone. I don't find too many of them however.

I have an inquiry in to Japan Woodworker about which of their stones would feel most like a natural. They have a "Debado" 2000 stone, the Bester (which gets good reviews on the "Foodie Forums"), "Dragon" stones (which "are the best abrasives for sharpening A2 HSS blades". Since I don't know steel that well, I don't know what that tells me), and the Shaptons. They also carry the synthetic Aotos.

Which Shaptons? glass or ceramic? I am concerned I will have the same problem with feel I have with my DMT.

This is 3k stone. i really don't know from where you can buy etc. it has been given to me as a gift By Lynn.
if i am not mistake name should be diamond stone.
Does the great Job.
hope this helps.

I think the progression of hones is mostly a way to save time in getting to the final hone that you prefer.

How large can the jump between grits be? Depends on the hones used and how much time you want to invest at the honing bench. With DMTs the 1k to 8k jump is quite quick; with most other hones it will likely be too slow for many. I select my grit progression based more on "honing time", than finish. IME, the final hone is the major factor regarding the edge you will shave with.

Considering the pressures and feed rates that we hone with, I don't think that compression fractures under an intact edge are significant at all. That's just a guess.

I'm also with Glen on "too many variables".

Yes, that's a Naniwa (Shrimp brand) Diamond #3000. (Or: エビ印ダイヤモンド角砥石 3000)

I agree with your idea that you could end up polishing a dull and imperfect blade by missing out intermediate steps but it should also be mentioned that using a progression of hones will only serve to speed up the honing progress. You can set a bevel on a Norton 4k if you have a few hours to spare and you'll probably end up with a very nice edge. You could probably probably put a nice edge on a high quality butter knife with an 8k, but life's too short.

I see two issues on the table. Bevel setting+honing and finishing.
In the honing steps the coarsest stone used is the finest stone that
will recover the edge.

For a good shaver that coarsest stone is going to be a very fine stone
since it was shaving a face just yesterday it should not need much
to bring it back.

A progression of stones is selected such that each can remove the
scratches from the previous stone/hone is a reasonable time. The
progression is obvious with man made stones. It does get interesting
when the stones have different compositions or different vendors secret
binders and process. One vendors 8K might leave different scratches then
another vendors and reduce the previous scratches at a different rate too.

The finishing steps end with the strop and result in the edge you shave with.

Also there is the person doing the honing.
A light practiced hand with an 8K may result in a finer edge than
a mutton hand like mine on a 200K mystery stone.

The theory in using natural hones in the progression is that they produce shallower scratch patterns. Because the scratches are shallower, it permits a finer edge to be developed.

The 1000 grit Dragon stone:

http://fwd4.me/9Q1

1k 2k 5k 10k Chosera or Super Stone....should do the job. Be careful of the Naniwa Chosera 3K it tends to leave a "sticky edge" on sushi knives resulting in drag while cutting. Don't know if the same goes for straights but I wouldn't be surprised if thats the case.

I'm doing OK with King 1k, 6k and Naniwa 12k. However the OP does resonate with some of the difficulties I have experienced. I get the edge flinging hairs off the arm on the 1k, then move to the 6k, 12k, and sometimes the edge disappears. Other times it's superb. The "indian" in this scenario aside, this thread has me thinking if I could use maybe one more "arrow" to fill out the progression.