Thread: 12k Shapton Pro or yellow Couticle

There's no reason to buy a $200 coticule, the 6 inch ones are much more affordable, you really don't need anything more than 4x2 or 6x1.5.

That said, a good finishing stone on the cheap is the chinese 12k stone from woodcraft, just about the best value for the price: Natural Polishing Water Stone - Woodcraft.com

But if you can clean that swaty up it may be good enough, though there's no guarantee on it's grit rating, you may have to try it out to see whether it's worth using.

The grit ratings don't compare that well, because coticule grit are round, whereas sapton and norton ceramic grit is sharp and pointy.
So 8K ceramic grit is much more aggressive than 8K coticule grit.

Personally I'd buy the 6x2 coticule if I had to choose on a budget. It's big enough, and I like natural finishing stones.

Concerning the M versus the Pro series this off of the Shapton site here,"

Q: What's the difference between the Professional and M15 series? They look pretty much the same except one comes with a plastic case.
A: The professional series stones have 30% more particles by volume than the M series. They are mixed differently and they act quite differently. The 5000 and 8000 in the pro series do not "load up". This has been a problem with some steels in the M series. The 12000 is designed for stainless and will load with the soft iron in a Japanese chisel."


I have the Pros in the complete series from 1 to 30K and if I was doing both kitchen knives and razors I would go for the 12K pro. I assume your knives are stainless ? Shapton also points out that the higher grits are for polishing an already sharp edge so a 4 or in the Pro series a 5K is needed to get to the level of sharpness needed to begin polishing usually with an 8. The 12 and up is icing on the cake.


I have a Swaty like yours and I used it to polish my razors after the 8K before I bought the 12K. It worked well but going back to the knives I find it a bit small for working on large blades.


With razors in mind if I had it to do over again and I was on a budget I would get a 6X2 Coticule with a slurry stone and the Chinese 12K. The coticule is more versatile especially if you get a natural with both sides cutting.

Originally Posted by Russel Baldridge

There's no reason to buy a $200 coticule, the 6 inch ones are much more affordable, you really don't need anything more than 4x2 or 6x1.5.

That said, a good finishing stone on the cheap is the chinese 12k stone from woodcraft, just about the best value for the price: Natural Polishing Water Stone - Woodcraft.com

But if you can clean that swaty up it may be good enough, though there's no guarantee on it's grit rating, you may have to try it out to see whether it's worth using.

Hmm, 35 bucks...that looks like a winner there Do those chinese stones require slurry like the coticules?

Neither "require" a slurry, it just speeds up the honing process, but decreases the effective grit rating on the stone.

I like to form a slurry on the Chinese stone but also finish with just water, that way you cut through the lower grit scratches relatively quickly and polish the edge as well.

(or if you are feeling like experimenting try, just putting a microbevel on the edge with a high grit finishing stone; look under the honing section for the part where he describes adding tape to the spine: Care and Feeding of Zowada Razors)

The Chinese stone is nice, and works well, but be warned it's a slow cutter.

I was thinking about picking up the Norton flattening stone for my 4k/8k combo stone...would that work to lap the Swaty hone as well?

Originally Posted by clehman67

I was thinking about picking up the Norton flattening stone for my 4k/8k combo stone...would that work to lap the Swaty hone as well?

The Norton flattening stone is very coarse and rather soft. I would recommend the DMT D8C. It is 325 micron and will do double duty to lap any of your stones, remove chips from damaged blades and will last for years with no need to lap it. More $ but more bang for the buck.

Originally Posted by JimmyH-AD

The Norton flattening stone is very coarse and rather soft. I would recommend the DMT D8C. It is 325 micron and will do double duty to lap any of your stones, remove chips from damaged blades and will last for years with no need to lap it. More $ but more bang for the buck.

Sorry if I'm a bit slow on the uptake here, but I am not able to find any DMT hones labled D8C. I've looked on the Japan Woodworker website (wicked collection of hones on that site) but can't find any stating they are a D8C; is this an actual model name or a nickname for the hone?

This darn "hobby" is rapidly turning into an "addiction"

Thanks!

Charles

Originally Posted by clehman67

Sorry if I'm a bit slow on the uptake here, but I am not able to find any DMT hones labled D8C. I've looked on the Japan Woodworker website (wicked collection of hones on that site) but can't find any stating they are a D8C; is this an actual model name or a nickname for the hone?

This darn "hobby" is rapidly turning into an "addiction"

Thanks!

Charles

Here they are. You'll be lucky if you get away with just RAD, HAD is arguably worse. A holder is handy to have along with it.

Originally Posted by clehman67

I was thinking about picking up the Norton flattening stone for my 4k/8k combo stone...would that work to lap the Swaty hone as well?

No.
The norton flattening stone is very soft, and only suitable for norton waterstones.
If you'd use in on your swaty, you'd destroy the flatness of the norton flattening stone and round the swaty.

If you want to flatten anything but nortons, buy a DMT D8C. These will last forever if properly cared for.sssss