Thread: ** Urgent ** Shapton 16000 Glass Series Stone Info

I was calling people from Shapton to see if they had any CDN distributors and to inquire about the 15k Pro Series Stones. Started chatting with the rep, told him why I needed the stone and he told me that their Glass Series 16000 grit stone would perform better on razors than their 15000 grit Pro Series. I don't see why he would recommend a cheaper stone as a better performer unless he is truly convinced in it, but I wanted to see if his belief is correct.. Therefore I have a couple of questions:

1) Has anyone here used both of them or at least just the Glass Series 16k stone and what were the results? How do they compare?
2) What is the maintenance for these stones? Do I just lap them with some wet/dry sand-paper on a glass plate?

By the way if noone here has tried it yet, I wouldn't mind being the guinea pig, but if the guy is absolutely wrong, I'd like to know before I place the order.

Damnit! I just ordered a 16k pro hone this morning!

edit: make that 15k.

I'm assuming you meant 15k pro. They may not have shipped it out yet and you may be able to change the order as long as you do it by monday. However, wait for someone who already tried these hones to give us a better idea.

Hmm, the lapping plate for those hones is $289 on shaptonstones.com. The lapping plate for the pro hones is only $128 on the same store.

I am hoping it's not necessary for straight razors. I'm not gonna be spending $400 on a hone unless I win the lottery.

I too am curious about lapping these hones. Or really, diamond hones in general.

I was checking out shaptons site a few days ago and these glass hones are pretty big. 8.25x3.75" with the thickness of the abrasive surface @ 5mm, it's pretty juicy. Too bad they don't sell them in something more like 2.5x7".

I'd go for 2x8. However, my main concern right now is whether I should get one or not and I want to do it before I spend the salary bonus on something else lol.

I have the Norton 4/8K, Shapton Glass Stone 2K & 16K. I rub the 8K and 16K with the 2K and all the stones are as flat as it can be. It could be better if they were rubbed on sand paper over a glass plate.

The Norton 8K gives a very fine edge and can go straight to a pasted strop. The Shapton 16K, to me, is only a very tiny bit finer than the Norton 8K. I would say the 16K is not a must have item. But if you are a perfectionist and got the spare money to spend, why not.

Like the high end Hi Fi, you have to pay a lot more in order to get a vey small improvement in sound quality.

Regards,
Tom Tong

I just had another chat with a Shapton rep. He reiterated that the Glass Series would be more suitable than the Pro Series, so MP you may want to call them and change your order if it hasn't gone out already.
The guy also said that sandpaper on a glass plate would lap them, just not very effectively in comparison to their lapping plates. His take was that when you get up to the grits that fine, sandpaper just doesn't cut it (pun intended). Can anyone tell me how much of an effect would this have on the edge?

Unfortunately, the hones went out last friday morning, and arrived here yesterday. I picked them up at lunch, and since it looks like I may be stuck with my fraudulent ebay razor I may get some honing practice in on it here in a day or two.