Thread: Chinese Synthetics

No, you can not use the Norton flattening stone to raise slurry. It is a course grit Silicon Carbide, probably about 60 grit. You will end up with slurry of that grit.

A diamond plate is more effective and cleaner way to flatten and raise slurry. Good diamond plates can be purchased inexpensively, Chef Knives to Go sells a good 400/1000 grit combo plate for $30.

Kim, so you are using .09 um Iron Oxide, not Car Pro Iron X, right?

Originally Posted by Euclid440

No, you can not use the Norton flattening stone to raise slurry. It is a course grit Silicon Carbide, probably about 60 grit. You will end up with slurry of that grit.

A diamond plate is more effective and cleaner way to flatten and raise slurry. Good diamond plates can be purchased inexpensively, Chef Knives to Go sells a good 400/1000 grit combo plate for $30.

Thank you for your advice.

Will any of these grits work:

I was thinking maybe 325 grit or 600 grit. Do I actually want slurry on anything except 1K for bevel setting?

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07GLN7DV2/...2s9dHJ1ZQ&th=1

Classic edge sells something very similar, also credit card size for raising slurry but they don't have any stock, haven't for a while I think.

https://classicedge.ca/index.php?rou...product_id=270

325 grit - 45 microns

Here's all ya need for raising a slurry, on any hone.
Mind you keep it off the hard Arks, and Washitas, they eat DMT's like candy.



The red, is .25 micron. (Fine). By their standards.

Yes.. Slurry helps speed up the abrading of the steel. As you hone, the loose particles get broke down, and thinned out with additions of water, till you reach the point of honing on the stone itself.

Now with my synthetic hones, ( Naniwas ) I only slurry my Chosera ( 1K Bevel setter ) using the Naniwa, finishing stone. AKA. "Brown Turd". But I've also used it on the rest of the progression to clean the surface, of swarf. Followed by a thorough rinse under running water, to remove unwanted particles from the " Turd" ( around 600 grt.)

I've used a coti, to build slurry, on a Thurigan, and vice versa. Just for S&G, I had to know.!

600 is a good diamond size for just making slurry, but I would spend the extra $15 and get a dual grit 400/1000, 8X3 inch plate. Then you can lap, make repairs, hone knives and tools and make slurry.

1000 makes nice slurry and 400 will refresh a stone quickly. 1000 will sharpen kitchen knives a treat in a minute.

+1 to the advice above.

I tried a few cheapo synthetics from Wish (so, possibly same mfg as Aliexpress?) out of curiosity. They now reside in the workshop and I only use them on tools that don't need a fine edge. In the ones I got, the grit seemed to be inconsistent. Because of this, I never did try them on a razor, and while they work fine on my shop knife, they get nowhere near my chisel or plane blades. The two halves of the combo stone were mis-aligned and it looked like it was glued together by a drunk apprentice. That wouldn't affect the stone's performance, but sure doesn't inspire much confidence in their QC process.

I too have had good luck with the diamond plates from the same vendor. I still rely on my DMT for lapping my razor stones, but really only because I prefer the full size, heaviness of it. The cheap diamond plates I got were both smaller and thinner. The grit appears to be absolutely fine and it doesn't seem to be shedding diamond. I just prefer the size of the DMT for lapping 8x3 stones.

So, fwiw, I'd stay away from the cheapo stones, but would have no problem ordering the diamond plates again.

The two most important hones in your collection are the bevel setting hone and the finishing hone.

The bevel setting stone has to remove metal, establish a proper bevel, and get your blade ready for further honing. Typically, this will be approximarely 1K. This stone take a lot of "abuse" because it is the workhorse of the progression. Make sure you get a good one. Naniwa Chosera hones are often the choice of those who hone a lot of razors, but for someone sharpening their own razors, less expensive options like Naniwa SS, King, etc. are suitable.

The finishing hone puts the final polish on your edge prior to stropping. If you get a group of honemesters together, each of them is liiely to give a different opinion from many on which natural or synthetic hone produces the best edge. However, an inexpensive Chinese synthetic is unikely to be anyone's choice. Some, however, do use the inexpensive Chinese Guangxi natural stone, that is, if you get a good one.

The purpose of the intermediate grit hones between the bevel setting hone and the finishing hone is to remove the scratches left by the bevel setting hone and to replace them with progressively finer scratches and stria to prepare the edge for polishing using the finishing hone. Without these intermediate grits, you are just polishing over top of the original scratches. However, since these hones get far less use and abuse than the first and last hones in the sequence, it you need to save money, these are the hones that provide that opportunity. You can either go to larger jumps between grits, go to a less expensive brand of hone, or use a smaller size hone that will be less expensive due to its size. Ideally, the stones in your progression will double in grit for each step: 1K, 2K, 4K, 8K, 16K, but Shapton glass stones, which are somewhat pricey, are one of the only series of stone that come in this progression.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

Chef Knives to Go sells a good 400/1000 grit combo plate for $30.


600 is a good diamond size for just making slurry, but I would spend the extra $15 and get a dual grit 400/1000, 8X3 inch plate. Then you can lap, make repairs, hone knives and tools and make slurry.

1000 makes nice slurry and 400 will refresh a stone quickly. 1000 will sharpen kitchen knives a treat in a minute.

Do you have a link to said hone? I can't find it on Chef Knives to Go.

Looks like they have gone up $5.

400/1000 CNTG Diamond Plate $34.95

Originally Posted by Euclid440

Looks like they have gone up $5.

400/1000 CNTG Diamond Plate $34.95

Thank you. That isn't showing up under diamond or combo stones on their web site. I have been teaching some people how to make and sharpen knives. I use the DMT 325 and 1k plates, so I was looking for a less expensive alternative for them since they don't have much money. This looks like it would be comparable.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

Kim, so you are using .09 um Iron Oxide, not Car Pro Iron X, right?

Iron Oxide.

@RayClem
I am considering the Shapton Glass, not sure if I should go for the 1K or 2K.

I'm going to take a cheap 1.5K diamond plate, just out of curiosity I will test it on a GD.