Thread: Bevel Setting

+1 on the very essence of what Glen said...

but not on the notion that 1K is 4 times faster than a 4K. It's considerably faster than that.

particle size of a Norton 1k=14 micron (according to Norton)
particlz size of a Norton 4K=3 micron (also according to Norton)

Since where talking about 3 dimensional particles, we have to calculate in volumes. The 4K particles fit about 4 times in the 1k particles in each axis (x,y and z), hence 4 X 4 X 4= 64. So: while the 4K particles are 4 times smaller in diameter,they are 64 times smaller in volume. Fortunately the scraches they make run the same length, so we only have to bring a 2 dimensional cross section into account. The 3th dimension is actually the length of a scratch, which is obviously constant. But the cross section of that scratch is defined by 2 dimensions of the particle. 4 times smaller X 4 times smaller = 16 times smaller.
This is only true if the scratches run full depth of a particle. Now I don't think honing scratches are the full depth of the particle size, but I believe that the speed difference between a 1K hone and a 4K hone will be closer to 16 times than to 4 times. My point is that dividing the grit numbers does not yield a correct estimate of the speed ratio between 2 hones.
That explains why the speed difference between 1K and, let's say 8K is big enough to keep you honing all week, if you go to the 8k too early.

But yes, bevel correction can be done on a 4K synthetic water hone.
Bevel repair is in an entirely different realm.

Bart.