Thread: Just ordered a set of Shaptons :D

Originally Posted by shooter74743

This is going to be fun when we get together. I remember when you were "wet behind the ears" when I was showing you a little about honing. Now that you have some experience under your belt with your Norton's, I truly look forward to showing you the ropes of honing on the GS's. THese stones literally will tell you when to move on to the next stone. I will get back with you as soon as my family personal business is finished today & we will get you to the next level of honing...

Scott, your help was invaluable when I first started shaving with a straight razor. The edge that you put on my Henckels lasted me nearly a year before it became unusable. I touched it up with the 8k Norton, and it did come back quite well, but it just isn't the same. That Shapton 16k edge finished on your Escher provided a really superb shave.

@jc50: I'll definitely let you know what I think of the Shapton 4k and 8k compared to the Norton 4/8 once I get a chance to use them.

My Shaptons were delivered while I was at home for lunch today. I had a little extra time before having to go back to work, so I decided to give lapping them a shot. Surprisingly, they were all really close to being flat straight out of the box. Within ten minutes, all three were flattened. Since it took no time at all to flatten them, I decided to give them a shot with one of my razors that's been in need of some work for a while.

The razor was a Dubl Duck 6/8" Gold Edge that had been shaving alright, but I'd been playing with some of my lesser used stones and had dulled the edge using too much slurry. I knew the bevel was still set, so I took it straight to the 4k Shapton. It only took about 4 or 5 x-strokes before I felt the sticktion kick in. It was amazing how quickly and strongly the stone would grab the blade. Moved to the 8k, and it was an identical experience. 6 or 8 x-strokes and then all of a sudden it was like the blade was in quicksand. Then it was time for the 16k. 10 super light x-strokes and I was done. I have a small blue thuri that I finished the razor on, and after stropping it, it was popping hairs better than any razor I've ever honed before. I'll test shave with it in the morning and report back.

My impressions thus far, for anyone who may be interested, are rather good. The stones are definitely harder than the Nortons that I've been using. However, they don't really feel hard when honing on them. The feedback is remarkable. I enjoy using the Norton stones, but they didn't provide me with any kind of noticeable feedback like these Shaptons do, and it wasn't something that I've had to develop a feel for. It was apparent on the first use. Also, these dudes cut fast. You wouldn't expect to see swarf on a 16000 grit stone, especially within 10 super light strokes, but it was there, albeit ever so slight. Given the speed of these stones, I could see that someone could quickly take an edge to a flaky finish that wouldn't hold up. With these stones, less truly is more.

What a horrible choice....can you send them back?

Just kidding, I have pretty much the whole set from 1K to 30K and have been very happy with all of them. Like gssixgun I went with the DGLP and the Shapton holder. Unlike Glen and Lynn I generate zero revenue with mine.

No revenue from my Shaptons either but I have sure enjoyed using them. For me they have a better feel than the Norton/Naniwa and I just think I have better results.

I'm a, me too. Have the whole set and they're great hones. I do use the Steelco holder and it works just fine. Enjoy them, I love mine!!

Howard

No, no, threads like this don't do anything good to my paypal account. I have the 16k and love it, but I am totally sure the rest is total crap, and there is no need to buy any of them

I couldn't stand it last night, so I wound up touching up my favorite razor, a 6/8" full-hollow Wusthof so I could use it this morning. The shave was still not quite where I want it to be, but I can say that it's better than any initial shave test that I've done in the last 6 months and extremely comfortable...no razor burn at all. I'm going to hold off on using them again until I meet up with Shooter74743 next week. I'm definitely impressed with the stones thus far. On another note, I've got another little something showing up in the mail today, but that'll be the topic of another post.