Thread: Couple basic questions about Chinese 12K

1) that depends on the particular stone, but mine is.

2) I use a small cheap diamond hone to form a slurry on mine, so lapping is never an issue. I guess if you start to notice a difference, lap it.

3) Soap won't harm it one bit. That's actually a superior method, good job for using it

4) I just wet the top as well, it soaks up water so slowly that this is all that's necessary.

i agree with the soap the chinese hone is so hard that a little soap will make the blade slide smoothly across the hone it is not porous at all like a norton they dont want you to use soap on the shaptons for some reason id use a diamond hone to make a slurry if you want to use it of you could cut off a 1/2 or 3/4 piece of it for a slurry stone with a ceramic wet saw

My 12k is good for touching things up, too. I've used it dry and with water, and I prefer to use it wet with no slurry. Whenever I just put water on the top, I find that it's easy to push the water off of the stone with the razor. This doesn't pose a problem after soaking it.

I'm not in such a rush that I'm really put out by soaking a stone. I fill the sink with water, chunk my stone in, and go do one of the million other little projects or things that I've been meaning to do for a while, then when I come back the stone is ready to go.

While you can shave just fine right off the 12k, getting a bar of chromium oxide (I got mine from lee valley tools) and putting a bit on a canvas strop does wonders for the edge.