Quote Originally Posted by IanS View Post
It's a 4k king so it is 8k. I go back and forth with what to call it. I'm gonna just start saying 4k JIS or 8k mesh whenever I refer to it to avoid confusion.

I've got a 1200 DMT I'll use once I've gotten a better feel for the stone to slurry it.

I'm pretty sure it has been laquered although it does appear bits have chipped off exposing unlaquered rock. I'll repair that as soon as I get a chance.

Yeah, I know 250 is a lot. I was using zero pressure and just wanted to see what the thing would act like at its least aggressive. It was like honing on greased glass most of the time, until the surface got just short of dry (when the water becomes really tacky for that minute or so), then the friction went through the roof. Not so much I wasn't comfortable honing with one hand, but you know how you can feel almost like there's a patch of something sticky on the stone and it grips at parts of the spine every once in awhile? That was happening.Then as soon as it's dry (Or I add more water) it becomes like glass again.

Thanks for the advice.
S'ok, I 'm not confused I used to use King's & sometimes still do. I would still recommend something like a King 8k before the Karasu. It just really saves a lot of time. If you do that you'll get to that greasy sticky point on a J-Nat polisher with just water in a very few strokes & the blade will be ready. Much beyond that & you can over hone but of course your stone may be as slow as you say. It's all about learning your individual stone. You've tried the 250 pass madness . Now maybe try see what 5 or 10 does to a nearly shave ready blade.
And I wouldn't worry about re-laquering a few exposed chips.

YMMV