Thread: What is Grit in Japanese Natural Stones, and How Important Is It.

Martin
Thanks for the post. I agree that 150, 50 or maybe as low as 15 strokes with a Shapton 30k is overkill for honing if an edge is already fully developed . I was not trying to sharpen the blade in order to provide a photo of a 30k working edge and I am sorry if I was not clear about that. My goal goal in the photos was to polish the bevel to as bright finish with the Nakayama as I could hoping to show that the Nakayama could compete somewhere in the 30k range.

I found that with the Shapton 30k or the Nakayama it takes more than 40 strokes to polish out all of the deep scratches left from the earlier King 1k bevel setter, this you can see, but not difficult as all to remove the Suehiro 6k scratches for the Nakayama or with the Shapton even with these light four inch strokes.

I feel that a polished bevel is just that, a shiny bevel. A sharp edge is something else that begins with bevel setting at lower grit levels and working up through the middle grits as I am sure you agree. But a well formed bevel that is properly set will be shaper by default if the small scratches are removed to leave a bright polished bevel at the cutting edge. The polished edge should be sharper but it could also be slightly more fragile if polished too far as you illuded to.

When I get back to the California I will prepare a better photo of the bevel with a taped spine and polished with the Shapton 30k. Alx

Gentlemen: If the post continues to go down the "Advanced Honing" avenue, I will move it there. No big deal, We just like to keep things in order.