Thread: Any experience with Suehiro Gokumyo Hones?

I don't have a 20K Sue yet. My final lapping step on my high grit nanis includes using a well worn 600 grit DMT submerged in soapy water. The stone surface is glass smooth when finished and the honing is a great deal of fun!

Thanks mate, the tendencies seem to be to use a slightly higher grit lapping/truing stone that does not leave scatches on stones like the high nanis and the gok 15 or 20. A useful thread gentlemen.

I used a 400/600/1200 Atoma to lap mine and finished with 1000-1200 W/D on plate glass. The surface is like a mirror. The Atoma is not at too much risk if you use lots and lots of water, just rinse the slurry off every few seconds whenever it becomes "not watery". Thick synth slurry can indeed damage an Atoma.

Cheers, Steve

I used the atoma under running water with no issues. 400 then 1200. Bob did you break in the dmt properly. Once broken in it shouldn't leave deep scratches unless you are using plenty of pressure

Hey Ed, I believe I have broken it in. I used it on the nani 1000 lobster deluxe, which is 207 x 66 x 34, so I gave it a good 20 minutes figure 8's under running water, then I used it as one normally would, as a precursor to honing, whether or not it was needing a grid lap or not. I just feel when I carefuly examine the 15 and 20k suehiros, sure it's very much mirror smooth, but I still have what is a pedantic view of barely visible scratches. Bare in mind mate, the things are mirror sharp and I am as I mentioned, being bloody manic about it, so i thought of buying the atoma 1200. I'd love to hear someone say for certain that it would not be a wise purchase, and stick to the 325. Either way HAD rules and I want perfection. I once conferred with Murray Carter who emphatically said, 'keep diamonds away from waterstones'. I like to hear the options. Advice is welcome,

Cheers Bob

For breaking in a dmt I would use steel not a softer water stone and give it a good grinding with pressure. I got a knife and ground an entire new bevel after it had been breadknived. Was a hard steel and took some time. Then just to be sure I hit it with some old steel pole. Honestly there isn't much difference between the dmt and atoma 1200. No matter what you use you are going to leave scratches unless you are using something like an ark witch is super hard and super smooth to face it with after lapping

Originally Posted by bobski

Mate, whats the story about truing this 20k stone? Do we need a $350 dollar lapping plate to lap this stone. I'd rather a 1200 atoma plate? Any ideas men

I had one for a while, but no longer do. I couldn't get any better results with it than good jnats, but it did make a shave ready razor just fine. You don't need any expensive lapping plate for it. I use a worn atoma 400 for all of my fine stones (jnats included, and I rub them with another stone if I think they should get a burnished surface). If you want to go out of the box, one of the finer atomas would be fine. Ordering in yen from toolsfromjapan is the best way to go, off of a credit card. the credit card's currency conversion is a LOT more economical than paypal's. It's 3 or 4% better in price than if you select dollars on any japanese site...just order in yen if you order from japan and fund with credit card.

That would be about $75 with shipping based on current conversion rates. Still not cheap, but a lot better than the shapton lapping plate, which has a price that doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Shapton's plates don't have indefinite longevity, either, and they don't suggest that they do. They are to be avoided if money counts at all.

A very hard natural stone will work well to break in a diamond plate also. I have a few that a diamond plate will barely raise a slurry on!

Thanks Ed, it puts things in perspective now. I never looked at it that way before.

thanks Bob

Originally Posted by eKretz

A very hard natural stone will work well to break in a diamond plate also. I have a few that a diamond plate will barely raise a slurry on!

If the whole world was made of level jasper, I'm pretty convinced you could put atomas on the bottom of your shoes and ice skate on it without doing much damage.

Well, spyderco Fs and UFs, too.