Thread: Naniwa's never lapped

I have that same Sharptonn 12k professional and I almost never use it. As stated it is too prickly and requires follow up with a natural or something. Why not just go to the natural straight off the 8k? Besides most of the time I go bevel set all the way to finish on Arkansas anyway or maybe start off bevel set on the 1K and then go to a burnished washita to lapped hard ark to trans or black because...I'm like that I guess. Although these days I've been playing around with a lot of other weird stones too but that's another story.

I have no experience with the Naniwa so...I got nothing on that.

I think you're going to love those stones with the built in stands... they are great!

I have a 1.5 K Shapton Professional for the bevel setter... I like it.

Originally Posted by planeden

I watched a hone review video by Burrfection and he is not impressed with the 1K superstones. He is a knife guy, not a razor guy, but he said that the polishing agent they put in the stone slows down the cutting and that since you are going to progress to higher grit stones, why polish on stone 1.

Note that I have no personal experience with the 1K SS, but I would say play around with the ones you have now before getting the new one. In fairness, I do have the 12K and not sure that I like it.

As I was talking about a synthetic 1K stone I will say that I have played around with what I have (1k Norton) for about 16 months. I don't have any problems with my Norton, it's a good and capable bevel setter, no complaints.

The only reason I am even thinking of getting another 1k synth is because I took delivery of a 3k, 8k and a second 12k Naniwa which are spray and go and so convenient that I would like a 1k that is spray and go too. It's a personal thing, but I would prefer not to have a bowl of water slopping about on my bathroom floor, especially as our 3 cats think I put it there especially for their benefit and won't stop drinking out of it.

As far as the Naniwa 12k goes, I have one, two now actually. I find it's horses for course. I have put a Coti edge on some razors, an Ark edge on a couple, but I also have one that really prefers the synths, if I had problems with a Naniwa 12k edge a minute on the Crox strop would tame it a bit.

I will just say, when I first started to get interested in refreshing my razors, almost everyone suggested I get a 12k Naniwa, that was good advice but even a 12K Nani can bugger up an edge if take your eye of the ball.

If you want to compare a variety of sharpening stones, one of the best places to do so is. SharpeningSupplies.com

They sell a variety of synthetic waterstones from Naniwa, Shapton, Norton, Suehiroa, and their own private brand. They also sell diamond plates and a variety of honing pastes and other sharpening supplies. I found them to be an excellent source when purchasing many of my hones. However, even if you purchase from another source, the site is a good source of information.

The Naniwa Traditional series is the least expensive of the Naniwa stones. The S1 line and S2 line are identical in composition, but the S2 stones are thick enough to hone on the edge of the stone if you wish. The S1 stones are half as thick as S2, so they are less expensive. The P3 Professional stones are equivalent to the Chosera line that is often the stone of choice of those who hone a lot of razors. However, if you only plan to hone your own razors, it may not be worth spending money for a Professional stone. They are harder and last longer, but you only need the coarser stones when setting the bevel and going through the full progression. Most of the time you will be using very fine grit synthetic hones or natural stones to maintain your razor. I have not had to use my coarser stones in several years.

If you plan on using your hones to maintain knifes as well as razors, then you might get more use out of the coarser grits.

Originally Posted by RayClem

If you want to compare a variety of sharpening stones, one of the best places to do so is. SharpeningSupplies.com

They sell a variety of synthetic waterstones from Naniwa, Shapton, Norton, Suehiroa, and their own private brand. They also sell diamond plates and a variety of honing pastes and other sharpening supplies. I found them to be an excellent source when purchasing many of my hones. However, even if you purchase from another source, the site is a good source of information.

The Naniwa Traditional series is the least expensive of the Naniwa stones. The S1 line and S2 line are identical in composition, but the S2 stones are thick enough to hone on the edge of the stone if you wish. The S1 stones are half as thick as S2, so they are less expensive. The P3 Professional stones are equivalent to the Chosera line that is often the stone of choice of those who hone a lot of razors. However, if you only plan to hone your own razors, it may not be worth spending money for a Professional stone. They are harder and last longer, but you only need the coarser stones when setting the bevel and going through the full progression. Most of the time you will be using very fine grit synthetic hones or natural stones to maintain your razor. I have not had to use my coarser stones in several years.

If you plan on using your hones to maintain knifes as well as razors, then you might get more use out of the coarser grits.

Useful information, thank you.

I will look at sharpeningsupplies.com to get some information.

I would actually buy from paulsfinest.com, they are in Canada so the prices are in CAD and the delivery is quite fast.

I have used them in the past and they carry a good selection.

I've never tried to sharpen a knife, I have a steel for that.
I say I've never sharpened a knife but that's not exactly true. I used a large chefs knife to burnish my Trans and ended up with a killer edge on it, purely accidental but I'm not complaining.

I probably won't use a 1k too often but a spray and go 1k in my arsenal would be nice.

Ive bought most of mine from sharpening supply's. And if your not happy with a stone for any reason they will take it back plus full refund. I only sent one back but they didnt have any issue with the refund.

As Ray said, unless your going to start collecting and restoring and feel you may go through 100 razors some day, a basic set of the thin stones are all that is needed.

Any 3-400 grit diamond plate will lap a synthetic stone quickly, but on a new stone, you must make sure the stone is lapped flat and you did not just wipe off the pencil with slurry. You should remove a pencil grid, 3-4 times to ensure the stone is fully flat. When you can remove all the pencil grid in 3-4 laps it is flat. Make sure you round or bevel the edges.

That the stone is perfectly flat is not important. On a new stone, you want to remove any low spots, so you have a consistent face. Once the stone is lapped flat, a quick lap with a diamond plate will keep the face smooth and cutting well. Some stones like the Super Stone will load up with swarf and prevent even cutting, (and can microchip an edge), that swarf must be removed to get an even cutting edge. Some stones will glaze and prevent even and efficient cutting.

Lapping before honing will improve your edges. I lap before each use and before I do the final laps at each stage in the progression, just a quick 5-8 laps and bevel the edges.

For razors, which 1k you use does not matter, as far as performance. All use 1k grit and produce 1k stria. Some will feel softer, some are a bit more aggressive, and some can produce a finer finish when used on a clean stone, (no slurry) with light pressure finish laps. But really it does not matter, you will not be shaving off that stone and the next stone in the progression will remove all the 1k stria anyway.

How a stone feels and how fast it self-slurries is a product of the binder.

You do not need to keep you stones soaked in water, I let my stone dry out after each use and store them on their sides in the open air. A quick 5-minute soak in a plastic shoe box and using a plastic lab rinse bottle in place of a spray bottle will deliver more water precisely on the stone than a spray bottle and keep the stone fully hydrated.

Learning to recognize when a bevel is fully set is way more important that which 1k stone you use. 95 percent of all new honer issues are from a lack of fully set bevel, no stone will improve the ability to set a bevel if the operator does not have the ability to recognize a fully set bevel.

It is not the stone.

On the subject of soakers, some people perma soak the stones that are tolerant of it.


Some of the people that permasoak use tupperware with a bit of clorox to stop algae. But a great tip is to store your perma soaked stones in your toilet tank. I have seen where some knife guys have wanted to add some perma soakers to their stone collection, just so they could store them in the toilet tank. I find the idea tempting myself.

Originally Posted by bluesman7

On the subject of soakers, some people perma soak the stones that are tolerant of it.


Some of the people that permasoak use tupperware with a bit of clorox to stop algae. But a great tip is to store your perma soaked stones in your toilet tank. I have seen where some knife guys have wanted to add some perma soakers to their stone collection, just so they could store them in the toilet tank. I find the idea tempting myself.

I can see the benefit, the water is clean and changed several times a day. I wonder if my Norton 220/1k is perma soak.

Originally Posted by STF

I can see the benefit, the water is clean and changed several times a day. I wonder if my Norton 220/1k is perma soak.

I should have put a question mark at the end I reckon.

I wonder if my Norton 220/1K combi is ok for perma soak ?