naniwa 12 k or Chinese 12 k

[Airportcopper]

Fellas,
Before I purchase my finisher stone I want to make a educated buy, most are telling me to purchase the nainwa 12k and rave about it.. what's the difference between the naniwa and a Chinese 12k.. I'll probably just take the advice and get the naniwa but just curious.

[mdarnton]

I have both and there's no comparison. Just buy the Naniwa and don't look back. I also spent a lot of money on two Chinese stones from different sources because people here believe they are not all the same. The second was just as bad as the first. Don't waste you're money like I did.

The Chinese stone is quite fine, but scratchy; the Naniwas is both finer and another. My two 8000 Kings are smoother than the Chinese.

Is you look around you find that there's a thick version, and a thin version of the Naniwa for a lot less money. I haven't gone through but a couple of mm of my King in 30 years of daily shop use on woodworking tools, so I figure the thin is good for several lifetimes of heavy use.

[Birnando]

The Chinese stone is a natural, and as with all naturals, they vary somewhat.
You could get lucky, and get a lovely finisher, or you may not
They are also generally regarded as very slow.
The Naniwa sounds to me like the far safer bet to be honest.

[zib]

Like Birnando said, The Chinese 12k is a natural, and they do vary. One of our Mods went through 3 or 4 before he found a good one.
They're not bad stones, but it's crap shoot. I'd go for the Naniwa 12k. At least you'll be certain you got a got a good stone.

[Martin103]

Same story here, have both as well, the chinese 12k been collecting dust for a while, the Naniwa is used often.

[regularjoe]

Naniwa: Universal dependability, exact and undisputeable grit rating, efficiency, ease of use, immediate honing feedback, 6 strokes to finish an edge.

C12k : Each stone is unique, guesstimated grit rating, very inefficient, honing feedback and result will be based on that guesstimated grit rating, 100+ strokes to a finish that may or may not be any good.

If you do your six strokes on a naniwa and the razor isn't shaving, you know without a doubt, that the stone is not to blame. Provided you lapped it properly.

If you do your 150 strokes on a c12k, and your razor isn't shaving, the only thing you really know is that the razor isn't shaving. Any other supposition would be simply a stab in the dark, based on your experience level, and what you can remember you read.

[razorbarber38]

Nani all the way..I purchased the C12K first and although I wasn't completely dissappointed the Nanis performance in time spent and shaveability won hands down. Spend the extra $$ and enjoy.

[TexasShaver]

I havent used my Chinese 12k yet, but I am in the process of lapping it and I will tell you that it is a PITA to get done. It took me about 45 minutes to lap both sides of my Norton 4/8. It took me about an hour and a half to lap the C12k. But, now that its lapped, the thing is like glass. Im sure it is a much slower stone than a Naniwa, but it seems like as long as you dont mind putting in the work with the Chinese stone that it will work just as well.

[rjezuit]

Repeat after me..... NA Ni Wa. Done.

[Sterm]

The naniwa 12k is a great finisher, you cannot go wrong with it. I also tried some c12k, but I never was able to improve with them the edge that I get from my norton 8k.