Thread: Scratches on the bevel after natual finishier, too much pressure?

Originally Posted by stoneandstrop

I have a Gok 20k as well. It produces beautiful edges for sure. Best in the synthetic world IMO.
If you are having a problem with embeded grit in your stones I would figure that out first.
The Gok doesn't release embeded grit easily.
Do NOT use the cleaning or conditioning stone it comes with, it can make the base stone agressive and not nearly as nice an edge will come from it.
If you wish to clean off swarf and such, either a scotchbrite pad or a tomo stone of good quality will work best.
Do NOT try to use w/d paper to lap it - it will embed grit. An atoma is recommended from the mfg. A 400 I believe. I have used the 1200 Atoma and had no problems either.
One of the nice things about the Gok is you can go to it from a decent 8k and in 20-30 strokes you have a fantastic shaving edge.

Thanks for the tips. I wish I had seen your no w/d paper suggestion earlier. But I was having problems with naturals, so it's relatively easy to fix. Also, I probably should not have used the new 1K diamond plate neither. The scratches left by the large gits on the diamond plate most likely contributed most of the problems in this thread. So many gotchas and so much fun to learn.

Pulled the trigger for the Shapton 30K, although I feel it might become a $400 paperweight.

Originally Posted by RayClem

I do have a Suehiro GK20K. It does produce a very sharp, very smooth edge. However, I cannot say that it is any better than other stones followed by pasted strops.

For a while, it was difficult getting CBN. Ken Schwartz was the primary promoter of this method and he passed away. I recently found that KME has several emulstions in stock along with kangaroo leather strops.

https://www.kmesharp.com/cbnemulsions.html

Diamond pasted strops can be overly aggressive. If you apply too much paste or spray to the substrate, it can be too aggressive and you will get microchipping. The same thing can happen if you use too many strokes. That is why I use CBN pastes and sprays. They do not seem to be quite as aggressive and are not as prone to microchipping. Thus, they are more forgiving.



Microchipping, however, depends upon how the razor steel is heat treated. I have one razor that microchips no matter how I hone it. I think the steel was improperly heat treated. Other razors will take a super sharp edge without microchipping.

Never try to make a razor sharper than you need it to comfortably shave your beard. I have a very tough beard and very sensitive skin. That is why I like super sharp, super smooth edges. Unfortunately, the downsize of producing such an edge is that it will only stand up to a few shaves before it needs to be refreshed.

Originally Posted by stoneandstrop

I have a Gok 20k as well. It produces beautiful edges for sure. Best in the synthetic world IMO.
If you are having a problem with embeded grit in your stones I would figure that out first.
The Gok doesn't release embeded grit easily.
Do NOT use the cleaning or conditioning stone it comes with, it can make the base stone agressive and not nearly as nice an edge will come from it.
If you wish to clean off swarf and such, either a scotchbrite pad or a tomo stone of good quality will work best.
Do NOT try to use w/d paper to lap it - it will embed grit. An atoma is recommended from the mfg. A 400 I believe. I have used the 1200 Atoma and had no problems either.
One of the nice things about the Gok is you can go to it from a decent 8k and in 20-30 strokes you have a fantastic shaving edge.

Just received the Shapton 30K. It seems to be made on demand as I had to wait around 1month before it's shipped and the stamp wasn't dried on arrival. It came with surfaces reflecting light like mirror but still not flat and need lapping. I did not notice that and directly lapped the side without stamp without any protection. Thus after finished lapping the stamps got smudged a little bit.

While I was waiting for the Shapton 30K, I order a Naniwa Gouken Kurouto 1K and a Naniwa Gouken Kagayaki 12K both arrived before the Shapton 30k. Did fresh honing from bevel setting on 3 different razors, the result was quite surprising to me.

Naniwa Gouken Kurouto 1K is a superb bevel setter, got the jobs done in just around 20 laps but it seemed to have left a couple stria of 600 or so, as I never manage to remove after. It might be me did not spend enough time on 2K stone though. No the concern here.

Naniwa Gouken Kagayaki 12 behaved quite weirdly. Mirror finish, buttery like shaving but left lots micro nicks on my faces. No bleeding, no harsh feeling but could be easily picked up by Alum block. Micro nicks went away after stropping with CrOx or finishing on naturals. 3 razors behaved exactly the same, not sure why.

Shapton Pro 12K. Did some additional research. Mine was a Japanese version, and the similar one for other part of the world are marked as 15K according to some forums. As mentioned before, this one needs stropping on CrOx or finishing on naturals. But if I shaved directly of it, there would much less micro nicks on my face.

Taidea 15K. Seems to be finer than Shapton Pro 12K but still needs stropping on CrOx or finishing on naturals. Feels smoother than Shapton Pro 12K, but still not quite there. Like Shapton Pro 12K, much less micro nicks than Naniwa Kagayagi 12k. This was from my memory as the replacement hasn't arrived yet.

Shapton Pro 30K. I tested it with on razor off the naturals, which was still shave ready. Went 10 laps on each side. The shave off it was a little bit better than that off naturals but hard to tell how much, less or same level of micro nicks than that off naturals. I might have to retest it again after the razor needs touching up.

Seems my shaving technique needs some improvements too, as though there was no bleeding, there were still occasionally micro nicks.