Thread: 12K Chinese Stone

Uu

Originally Posted by Marshal

I've got one of these stones. First thing you need is the will power to lap it. They're hard as h#!! And mine came rough sawn which meant a LOT of lapping. Then you need the will power to polish it. I worked mine up to 2000 grit sand paper, then hit it with both the 4 and 8k sides of my Norton hone. Now that I can see my reflection in the stone, it puts a pretty good edge on things. The last thing you'll need I'd a good deal of patience, because it cuts slower than molasses in January.

It should come with a slurry stone. Polish one side of that while you're at it, and chamfer it's edges so you don't dig into the hone while building slurry. Do the first set of strokes with a medium slurry, and water it down as your polish gets better. After about 100 to 150 strokes you should be good. Did I mention this thing cuts slow? Because it cuts slow.

It took me a lot of trial and error to figure out how to use the C12k effectively. Now that I've got it right, I love the hone. Whether it's worth the work to save the money you'd spend on a faster cutting finisher I can't say. I don't have a Belgian coticule or Thuringian to compare it to. And it seems to be much like my small black Arkansas as far as cutting speed and final polish goes. I still want an Arkansas hone, but I'm content with my C12K for the time being.

Edit: my slurry stone is made of the same hard-as-frikkin-diamond stone as the hone itself. If it doesn't have one, I might suggest using it without the slurry. Might cut even slower, might not. I'm still not entirely convinced that using one speeds the process up any, it's just fun to play with.

Awesome write-up and description of using this stone. Extremely hard, takes forever to lap it. And did Marshal mention it is sloow! Lol! Also don't have anything to compare it to like a coticule.
That being said, it does put a super smooth polished edge on a blade that shaves oh so nice. Only had the patience to put a truely polished edge on a couple of my favorite razors and to say 100 laps, he ain't kiddin, but the effort was worth it.
So if you have the time and patience, this stone is fairly cheap and works well.

Loose SiC powder, slurried on glass will make short work of any stone. You can buy down to 40 grit & maybe lower.

Stones with saw marks start on the pavement.

I'll remember that if I ever make the mistake of buying a rough cut hone again lol.

Gotgrit.com has all the Silicone Carbide grits you will need, from 60 up to 500 grit, a ¼ lb of each is plenty, you just need a table spoon or two of each grit. Finish on Wet & Dry. Will cost you about $15 for all the grits.

A steel cookie sheet on a hard flat surface will contain the mess, and it is messy and a workout.

Thanks for all the info, I think ill try the sand paper on it. Ill let you guys know how it turns out, going to get a few cheap razors to try it out on

Here's some tips and tricks to try with your Guangxi stone.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...-cnat-ect.html

Looks a lot like what I do, but without the intermediate steps on the 4k and 8k hone. Probably takes me about the same amount of time from bevel set to finish if I'm moving at a decent pace, with fewer strokes over all, but time spent switching between stones and doing prep work and checks between.

I agree that it doesn't need to take hours, and that slow cutting isnt necessarily bad. In fact I prefer it, but It is something people need to be aware of. It isnt a 20-40 strokes and youre done hone. This kinda makes me want to play with It again, but I don't want to dull one of my razors just to try your slurry process lol.