Thread: Shapton ceramic stones...

I'm a newb, doing research on honing. According to my research, Norton and Shapton are well liked. I was wondering, if the Shapton stones require lapping OOB.

If so, what would a proper lapping stone be?

TIA for your advice!

Well, I have a couple of questions. Regarding the Shapton hones, are you considering the GlassStones or the Professionals?

What is OOB?

Both brands require lapping and occasional refreshing of the surface. Your options pretty much are wet/dry sandpaper, a lapping hone, or a diamond plate. These are in increasing order of cost. Which you choose depends both on your budget and how frequently you intend to use them.

Originally Posted by Utopian

Well, I have a couple of questions. Regarding the Shapton hones, are you considering the GlassStones or the Professionals?

What is OOB?

Both brands require lapping and occasional refreshing of the surface. Your options pretty much are wet/dry sandpaper, a lapping hone, or a diamond plate. These are in increasing order of cost. Which you choose depends both on your budget and how frequently you intend to use them.

OOB, is out of box.
I'm looking at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FYEYKE8...86JV4DM2&psc=1
In regards to lapping, I think of a good lapping hone, rather than a diamond plate. However, I would consider https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/D...Plate-P451.asp, if it's worth spending that kind of money.

Ok, I have never used those. They probably are adequate but odds are that few here will have experience with these so you the advice you get here will be more speculative.

Before making any decision, could you please provide some sense of how much honing you intend to do? Do you plan on maintaining a few razors for personal use or do you have grander plans? If the former, then a maintenance hone may be all you need.

The sharpening supplies link did not work.

Ive wondered about the ceramic line too, but I figure there's a reason that there aren't many people using them for straights. I can't recall the name of it, but there was another ceramic hone that folks were testing out here, and they found it to be too uncomfortable to shave off of.

As far as lapping, I would advise against it with any ceramic hone. Deferring to experience with ceramic barber hones, they're very difficult to lap because ceramic is hard, and they may well be getting whatever their grit result is by using coarse cutting material that is just barely poking up over the binder and very finely burnished. You just might end up wrecking the stone's performance by lapping it, and getting it back to factory performance can be quite an ordeal.

My advice, barring a member that uses ceramics saying otherwise, is go with the glass/pro hones, or the Norton/Naniwa line as those are known good hones for our purposes.

If you get a lapping stone, as opposed to a diamond plate, be aware that the lapping stone will also wear, and is liable to go out of flat. A diamond plate doesn't. They may slow down, but will always be flat.

Originally Posted by Utopian

Ok, I have never used those. They probably are adequate but odds are that few here will have experience with these so you the advice you get here will be more speculative.

Before making any decision, could you please provide some sense of how much honing you intend to do? Do you plan on maintaining a few razors for personal use or do you have grander plans? If the former, then a maintenance hone may be all you need.

The sharpening supplies link did not work.

I'm an "all in" type of guy. Therefore, I'm thinking ahead, buying things I'd need to maintain the straight razor, but also major work, including honing my kitchen knifes as well.

Research indicates that whatever ceramic these are made of isn't what I'm familiar with. Judging by the reviews they'll need lapping out of the box before use. There's also a few reviews giving them the thumbs up for straights, but I'm not sure how much stock I'd put in an Amazon review.

Originally Posted by Marshal

Ive wondered about the ceramic line too, but I figure there's a reason that there aren't many people using them for straights. I can't recall the name of it, but there was another ceramic hone that folks were testing out here, and they found it to be too uncomfortable to shave off of.

As far as lapping, I would advise against it with any ceramic hone. Deferring to experience with ceramic barber hones, they're very difficult to lap because ceramic is hard, and they may well be getting whatever their grit result is by using coarse cutting material that is just barely poking up over the binder and very finely burnished. You just might end up wrecking the stone's performance by lapping it, and getting it back to factory performance can be quite an ordeal.

My advice, barring a member that uses ceramics saying otherwise, is go with the glass/pro hones, or the Norton/Naniwa line as those are known good hones for our purposes.

If you get a lapping stone, as opposed to a diamond plate, be aware that the lapping stone will also wear, and is liable to go out of flat. A diamond plate doesn't. They may slow down, but will always be flat.

I think, I'll go with the Norton honing stones (at least to get started). In addition, I'm thinking of going with the DMT Dia-Flat 95 Lapping Plate.

The last version I remember editing

http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...ml#post1148199

Norton is a good starting point. You can get a comfortable shaving edge off the Norton line. And you can always add a 10k or 12k from another line if you feel like it later, once you've gotten the Norton system figured out.