Thread: How to seal the stamps on Shapton Pro's?

I've just bought a set of Shapton Pro's.

I've only done 15-20 razors on them but so far I am very happy with them, except for one thing, the stamp/marking is wearing down quickly.
I know it's not a biggy, but I will need some more time to remember the color coding, so I'd like to seal the stamps with the grit rating.
Since these are synthetic I'm a bit sceptical to use laquer or similar as I guess the binder in the hones needs to "breathe" and I'm afraid of ruining them, they're too expensive to risk anything.

Anyone successfully sealed the stamps?

Or is my best shot to write down the color coding untill I have them memorised?

You could take a Sharpie permanant marker, and write the grit on one of the sides or bottom of the hone? I'm not familiar with the Shapton Pro's. I have one Shapton GS 16. The info is on the bottom under glass, so it's not going anywhere. If the grit rating is on the face of the hone, or the honing surface, like Kanji, your gonna loose it to lapping eventually.

Believe it or not, I've wrote the names of my Jnats mainly, on the bottom of them, and any stones without ID. On my combo stones, especially Coticules, I've written vein names on the sides. Sounds stupid, but if something was to happen to me, SWMBO has no idea what they are. Now she will...

The grit markings and stamps are on the "reverse" side.

I've thought of using a sharpie to mark them, but I like to keep me stuff "as new" but in this case I'm afraid I will loose that battle and just write the grit at the bottom

I don't have any Jnat's (yet...) but I was just today thinking of marking all my naturals, better do it now before the collection grows too big and I no longer remember which is which

Thanks, I really had no idea where the Pro's were marked. Marking your stones in some fashion helps if they have no id.
I have hones I've collected over the years, and they have no markings at all. It helps me to remember. In most cases, the marking can be lapped off if you so desire.

When I had a set I used a sharpie to mark the plastic boxes they came in. I always kept them in those between uses. I didn't have the markings on the stones wear much if at all IIRC.

I use a sharpie marker on my hones. I write big on the bottom
and small on the ends. The working top for me is the non logo
side.

So how are your shapton's serving you?
I just collected a short stack of shapton on glass
hones so I am looking for hints....

As the others have said, a markie is a fine tool for marking the stones.
It is easily removable, and will not do damage to any stone.

On stones that can handle it, I've added Shellac over the stamps, and that turned out great.
Now, marking naturals with a markie BEFORE adding Shellac turns out to be a very bad idea, as you have seen on my Nakayama

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

When I had a set I used a sharpie to mark the plastic boxes they came in. I always kept them in those between uses. I didn't have the markings on the stones wear much if at all IIRC.

I don't know how much it will wear off, I just noticed that the stamps have gotten quite a bit lighter in the ~month I've had them, might just be the excessive ink that's worn off.

Originally Posted by niftyshaving

So how are your shapton's serving you?
I just collected a short stack of shapton on glass
hones so I am looking for hints....

I'm still learning to know them, but so far I really like them, the feedback is exeptional, to quote gssixgun: "They raise a red flag when it's time to move to the next grit", they're fast, very fast, and so far I've gotten consitent and nice edges of them.

Do NOT seal the stamped end of the Shapton Pro, this will make the stone prone to warping!!!!

The easiest thing maybe is to print out a brochure with the colour codes and keep that in a safe place. Laminate it even that way u can look at it while u hone. I only have the 12k shapton but the stamped side is still ok.