Thread: hone fineness succession determination

i thought i had seen this concept somewhere but can't be sure..

is it reasonable to determine relative hone fineness by rubbing 2 hones together and which ever makes the mud would be considered to be the lower relative grit? probably not now that i think about it.

can someone comment on naural vs synthetic in relation to abrasive and binders and it's affect on the above concept? seems a soft binder with finer abrasive will give slurry more easily than a harder binder with less finer abrasive.. does the second example hard binder/harsher abrasive actually exist.. is that a c-nat fine stone?

i have been rubbing hones together (natural and synthetic ) and just observing the mud..

thanks
-jon

Whichever makes the 'mud' more commonly known as slurry, is the softer of the two stones.

Originally Posted by Scipio

Whichever makes the 'mud' more commonly known as slurry, is the softer of the two stones.

so the answer to my concept question is "not really"...

What does 'not really' really mean? I prefer yes or no - in this case, no, although it could be possible due to the available stones in my arsenal, it is not always indicative of grit. Perhaps with two synthetics within the same series, i.e. a Naniwa 3 and 8k, but generally no, as I said, it is indicative of hardness. This is certainly true with naturals.

For example, an Escher is considered to be finer than an Arkansas. The Escher is sedimentary clay, the Arkansas being metamorphic novaculite. If the Escher were to be rubbed against the Arkansas, the Escher would give off a slurry, even though it is finer. This is due to hardness, not because the Arkansas is coarser.

Now look at it the other way round - some Jnats are considered to be finer than Eschers. They are also harder. If the Escher was to be rubbed against the Jnat, the Escher would again give off slurry.

For naturals the stone that has softer binder will make the slurry , this has nothing to do with the fineness of the slurry.

thanks guys, the answer was "not really" because there isn't that determination as i started to think about binder and stone hardness.