Thread: Got my 12k Chinese stone from Chris L today!

If you're doing a good job on the 12k, you don't have to follow it with anything. I finished a razor on the 12k yesterday, and the razor was sharp and smooth enough that I did ATG as the first pass on my neck with no irritation. No preshave oil, no fancy soaps or creams. Van der Hagen deluxe following a hot water rinse. Two day growth, however.

That said, if I were going to follow it with anything, you could go 1 --> .5 --> .25 no problem, or just .5 --> .25 would be fine.

Follow this with 50 on the canvas then 100 on plain leather.

Originally Posted by Ben325e

If you're doing a good job on the 12k, you don't have to follow it with anything. I finished a razor on the 12k yesterday, and the razor was sharp and smooth enough that I did ATG as the first pass on my neck with no irritation. No preshave oil, no fancy soaps or creams. Van der Hagen deluxe following a hot water rinse. Two day growth, however.

That said, if I were going to follow it with anything, you could go 1 --> .5 --> .25 no problem, or just .5 --> .25 would be fine.

Follow this with 50 on the canvas then 100 on plain leather.

I completely agree with your statements. The Chinese 12K was my only finishing stone up until HAD took hold of me this past Summer. I regularly shaved ATG with edges from the 12K.

Yeah, I think if the 12k was mined in Germany or other country rather than China people would still be buying them at 3 times the price given their effectiveness.

Chris L

I just got a chinese the other day. I'm very pleased with it. I follow it with chrom ox, but that really isn't needed.

Jordan

Previous to getting my Chinese 12k from Chris L, I had been going right from my DMT 8EE to 1.0, .5, .25 diamond pastes. I thought that the reason for my harsh edges had been the .25 diamond paste. Not so. I took a blade from dull all the way through my progression yesterday: DMT 8E, 8EE, 1.0, .5, .25, then 100 laps on a strop. I took another blade, and did the same progression, except I threw in 25 laps on the Chinese 12k with slurry, then 25 laps without slurry.

I examined both blades under the microscope before and after.

The one where I did not do the 12k Chinese stone still showed significant scratch marks left from the DMT 8EE. I don't think *any* amount of work on the diamond pastes would have gotten rid of them. No wonder it felt so harsh.

The blade that I did the 50 laps on the Chinese 12k showed zero scratch marks left, and was highly polished.

Moral of the story: If you're using a DMT 8EE as your 8k stone, you will definitely benefit from using a higher grit stone afterward; it's probably not going to go well if you go straight from the DMT to diamond paste.

That thirty bucks I spent on the Chinese 12k has been the best investment I've made in honing materials yet.