Thread: Please suggest a finishing stone

Originally Posted by JimR

The thing you should be asking is, what finishing stone should you NOT buy. The answer is: a cheap ugly Japanese stone off eBay.

This is clear

I am between the shapton 12k and the naniwa 12k.
I will consider the oracle to choose in between.

Thank you all!

Id go natural and get a nice coticule or an oozuku asagi from masksim at japanesenaturalstones.com

Imo synthetics aren't nice on the finish.

Unfortunately Disburden, the stones that cost less than 100€ are all out of stock

Honing maniacs have bought them all

For a beginner, I would stay with the synth finishers. They are faster, bigger, easier to use, and cheaper. Naturals have their own character, learn to use them after you can use a synthetic. The edges off the nani 12k and crox are super, I am sure the shapton is the same. The odds are high that you are not even getting out the max from your chinese, so another natural would be meaningless.

I am very satisfied with my Chinese. I want to buy my second finishing stone for hobby reasons. I don’t need it. I want it.

Originally Posted by Slur

I am very satisfied with my Chinese. I want to buy my second finishing stone for hobby reasons. I don’t need it. I want it.

I think I have seen this sentence wrote down here in the forum a few dozen times

Originally Posted by Slur

Could you please suggest a finishing stone which in your opinion is better from the Chinese, and could be considered as the next step?

Nobody can recommend anything that is 'better', only 'different'. Whether it is 'better' or 'worse' you'll find out yourself only after using it.

Then if you ask what is 'different', the answer would be 'anything', including most likely another block of the chinese stone - they have noticeably large variations among them. So, just pick whatever fits your budget and seems appealing, for what you want out of it (find something that you may like better) one is just as good as any other.

I think a Naniwa 12k or Shapton 16k GS meets your criteria. Both are synthetics, but good stones with solid reputations. Most natural finishers are expensive, Coticules, J Nats, Charnley and Escher. Yes, you can get a less expensive Coticule or J Nat, but it'd be a small piece for less than 100.00. Not even sure you can find a J nat under 100.00

What’s the difference between Shapton Pro and Shapton GlassStone ?

Originally Posted by Slur

What’s the difference between Shapton Pro and Shapton GlassStone ?

Glass stone were formulated to handle more exotic modern alloys but do awesome job on carbon steel too making them more versitile.

Pro series are a little harder and were made for carbon steel with the exeption of the 12k that handles alloys a bit better.