Thread: Difference between stones

Good evening everyone!


I have, for some time now owned a Norton 4000/8000 grit benchtop water stone and a few weeks ago I purchased from a local knife shop a SUEHIRO 6000 grit waterstone.

I haven't played with the Suehiro all that much untila few days ago and I noticed that the 6000 grit suehiro seemed much, much finer than the 8000 side of my norton.

My question is Is it possible that the 6000 might be mislabed, or that the difference in the material used in making the 6000 grit make sit SEEM finer?

To give yoiu an idea of what the suehiro feels like, rub you finger along a piece of very very clean, smooth chalk but without rubbing any white off.

Any thoughts are greatly apprieciated. I am greatly concerened by this for some reason as I am trying to learn to hone my own razors.

Feel can be very deceptive. A Naniwa 1k feels very smooth, but there is no doubt it's a bevel setter. When you touch a stone, you feel everything, not just the grits.

As holli4 pointed out, a finger on a stone is not a barometer for the fineness. If you have an eye loupe or a microscope to compare the scratch pattern left on the edge from one stone to the other that may tell you something. The Norton's grit is established with a USA grit measuring system while the Japanese stone (which I'm not familiar with) is, I assume, graded with the Japanese grading system and they are not the same. So it could very well be that one is finer than the other regardless of the number designation.

Also different companies have slightly different abrasive sizes. So comparing two different Co's stones is only a close guestamate to each other. Binders and grit make up also affects how it works for razors.

While I love diamond cutting grits for kitchen knives I'm not so fond of them on my straight razors. Cro2 works mich better for me on my razors but not so fondly on my kitchen knives. Testing is the only way you will be able to feel the difference for your self as everyone has a diferent tolerance for the effects of sharpening.

I agree with the others, however if you want to get an indication of the grit of a hone by feel it's important to wet the hone and rub with light pressure. For example a BBW I have feels dry smoother than my Thuringian (around 11k), wet I can estimate the fineness much better.

New stones must be lapped, this also changes the way they feel. My norton 8k side is smooth to the touch since it's been lapped about 7 times.