Thread: Couple basic questions about Chinese 12K

So, my Chinese 12K is my new favorite finisher. I have a couple basic questions about it, though.

1. Is it aggressive enough to touch up an edge that is just beginning to dull?

2. Others have said that this stone benefits from a periodic lapping to expose fresh abrasive. About how many hone jobs do you do before lapping? 10? 100? 1000? And what do you lap it with, 1000 grit? Or something coarser?

3. I am in the habit of wetting my fingertips with soap I stirring the water around on top of the hone. This breaks the surface tension of the water, so it lies in a uniform film on top of the hone. If I don't do this, the water balls up into large spherical beads which the razor rolls off the edge of the hone, leaving a dry surface. I have no reservations about using soap on my barber hones because they're not porous. What about the Chinese hone? Any chance of soap seeping into it? If soap is bad, how do you keep the surface uniformly wet?

4. Do you need to soak this hone? I don't soak it, I just wet the top before using it.

Thx,
-Johnny

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.