Shapton Glass Hones

http://www.shaptonstones.com/stones/glass.php

Has anyone used these or know anything about them? I've never heard of them before, so was just wondering what the general opinion of them is. The prices are comparable to the Nortons, except that you can't get a combo. stone.
I'm not really interested in buying one of these, just curious.

That being said, I was just about to buy a Norton 4k/8k, but in reading about the stone prep on the forums realized that they are a little messy to work with. I am living in a dorm over the summer:cry: for my internship (getting out here and settled in is why I've been absent for a bit), so that might be a problem as I don't really have a good place to work with something messy. Oh, well I'll probably buy the Norton anyway, and see what i can do with it.

Anyway, just thought I'd share the link as I found it interesting.

Take care.

ohboy, ohboy, I can already smell the adrenaline in some of you guys :) And in 16K and 30K too!!! Jordan, feel free to test drive them for us, or wait for someone with apetite for (destruction?) experiments :D They look kewl!

Nenad

Quote:

---

Jordan, feel free to test drive them for us...[Nenad]

---

Ha, You finance the experiment, and I'll carry it out...Oh wait, I've never honed before...D'oh!

Oh no!!! Now I have to buy more sharpening stuff!:eek:

Thanks for the link, very cool lapping plates.:)

I've been using the Shapton Pro stones in my woodworking shop for the last 5 years and I'll say there is nothing better out there! They are called water stones, but that is a misnomer. They are an abrasive bonded in a carrer to make the stone. As you use them, the abrasive breaks off and exposes new abrasive. You use them wet, but don't let a slury build up like a traditional water stone.

A plane making friend of mine has to sharpen and flatten blades daily. He said that Shapton's are the fastest cutting stones he's ever used.

I personally love them. I don't think you could go wrong with them.

Now the bad side, they are expensive!

Bernie

I know it's bad form to respond to my own posting, but I just thought of one other thing. I notice that Norton water stones seem to be a favorite around here.

The grading on the Shapton stones is different. Look here;
http://www.nortonstones.com/Media/Do...%20Catalog.pdf

On page 2, Norton rates their 8000 grit waters stone at 3 microns.

Look here;
http://www.shaptonstones.com/stones/...toneset-lg.jpg
You'll see that Shapton rates their 4000 stone at 3.68 microns and their 8000 stone at 1.84 microns. That's quite a bit of difference from the Norton stone.

I only have up to a 15000 in Shapton, but that's rated at less than 1 micron. If anyone good at honing is in the NYC area, I'll bring over my Shapton stones and let them do a review of performance. I'm sure I'm not qualified at honing a razor, so I can't tell the difference. I can tell you the Shapton wins when honing a plane blade.

Bernie

Nothing wrong with replying to your own post, seeing as you've provided some very eye popping info :) I mean, taking into account the respective grits, the shapton 30,000 is equal to what a norton 50,000 would be! holy calamity scream insanity :eek:

Well, stone grit rating is a different story altogether. In different countries too... Some companies will rate the average particle size, some the largest mesh grit, e.t.c...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by superfly

Well, stone grit rating is a different story altogether. In different countries too... Some companies will rate the average particle size, some the largest mesh grit, e.t.c...

---

That is a good point. I don't know how Norton rates their water stone. I make a quick call to their tech support, but they were busy. Shapton's ratings are mesh and therefore largest grit size. So no matter how Norton measures there stones, they don't have as fine of grit stone as Shapton.

When Norton get's back to me, I'll post what they say about how they calibrate their measurements.

Bernie