Praise for Japanese slip stones

Japanese slip stones are a good, inexpensive alternative to a Norton. They haven't been mentioned in a while, so I thought I'd plug them for the new guys.

Firestart introduced them to me when I was first starting on my honing. Even now, after buying a Norton 4/8, five barber stones, a pasted paddle strop, and a 220/1000 combo waterstone, I find myself grabbing these slip stones whenever I'm putting an edge on an eBay special.

Here's a link to purchase them: http://w-u.com/wucatresults.htm?snum=26375

The main thing I use them for is polishing a bevel once I come off of the 1000-grit waterstone. You rub the 8K stone on the 4K stone to develop a slurry, then I do a hundred laps or so. It quickly leaves a beautiful, polished bevel that I can't duplicate with any other stones. It's a great foundation for finishing on my Norton.

You can also lap them against each other to keep them flat.

Good luck,
Josh

That's good to hear, Josh. I'd always figured Ilija was just the kind of nut that only that would work for, but you seem quite sane so it must be worth considering. I really appreciate the descriptive actions there about slurry and lapping. It gets me thinking. At that price it might just be worth trying.

Ilija metioned that "holding them together" while honing was a bit of a trick. How have you solved it to your satisfaction?

X

I actually don't hold them both while I use them. The bottom is sloped, so I just hold it in my palm like a barber hone and tilt my hand a little. It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it.

I mostly use the 4K stone. The 8K stone doesn't seem as fine as the Norton 8K, and I can't get a clean HHT edge off of it. It will shave nicely, though.

The real pluses are the cost and the polishing I get from the slurry. It's also easier for me to keep the blade flat on a smaller stone, so I can work faster to polish the 1K edge.

I think a lot of shave-ready edges could be improved with this kind of polishing. Under the microscope the bevel is flawless and the edge is perfectly straight. I just can't get that from my other stones yet.

Josh

Thanks for the compliment X :rolleyes: and I'm glad they worked out for ya Josh. :tu I'm still keeping them but they're probably going to be sent to Serbia for my stepbro to use them.

Actually these are my only 4000 and 8000 grit stones as of yet. They do work and it is good to hear a little edge comparison with the norton. I use them as Ilija suggested with one supporting the other to make a flat surface, and they work fine, no slipping they just sort of stick together.

You do really have to step up the number of reps in comparison to the written Norton pyramids though. First the stones are half the size and seem about half as fast cutting, so I usually use four times the stated Norton reps and see comparable results. Of course they are also about a quarter the price so four times the reps seems about right:D

Tim,

Do you make a slurry on the 4K? It seems to cut a lot faster that way. I also use the 4K slipstone with a slurry to take out little microchipping. For some reason the Norton 4K seems to take forever to take out these tiny nicks. And sometimes it makes more in the process.

I've never tried to work up a slurry on my Norton. Maybe I'd have similar results that way.

Josh

I do make a slurry I use a pocket stone that I know is flat to do so. It is more coarse than the slip stone and kind of laps it at the same time, but it still has half the surface area of the Norton.
I'd think making a slurry on the Norton would be a help, but I don't own one yet. I was taught to make a slurry on all waterstones, but that was before the man made ones were really available.