Quote Originally Posted by Laurens View Post
I am looking into buying a Shapton GS 8K or 16K. At this moment, I cannot justify buying the 4K/8K/16K lot that eventually I will own, so I ask your advice on which of these to choose.

I have a few medium grit hones (BBW, Dick.biz's cheap Honyama Quarry Hone with unknown but well-working Nagura) and pastes (red Puma, black Dovo), so I think I got the lower-range sharpening covered. A friend of mine judged one of my edges slightly below 8K, which seems to be the magic number.
I have the feeling I improved my edges since then, if only a little bit. With the grain, I feel very little tug. Against the grain, there's still some, but I'm thinking that may be due to technique.

Now I know that Shaptons perform best as a set, 8K is the magic number and the Shapton GS 16K gives epic edges. Hence, I do not know what is my best option: should I go for the 16K and see if, with a few extra laps, I can still get the best out of it? Or should I play safe and go for the 8K, unsure if it will improve anything?
Myself, I'm thinking of buying the (very cheap) Rozsutec 8K and Shapton 16K. Little info is found on the Rozsutec, other than that it seems to perform quite well.


Any thoughts are well appreciated.
I am a BIG fan of the Shaptons. If your razors are shave ready and just need maintenance, I'd get the 8K and 16K without hesitation.

If you plan to set bevels to razors and initially establish them to shave ready status I'd add the Shapton 1K and 4K.

I have a 325 DMT lapping plate that I like. Those are my preferences.