Hi everyone,
Has anyone tried Shapton's Rockstar 8k ? Opinions?
Has anyone tried Shapton's Rockstar 8k ? Opinions?
Shapton Rockstar 8k
- Thread starter Edo
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The RockStar stones seem to be very similar to the HR Glass Stone equivalents. Just thicker and no glass. I would the expect the 8k RS to be nearly identical to the GS 8k HR.
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- #3
Thanks Gamma!
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- #4
Personal question. Between the shapton pro 8k and the shapton glass (hc and hr) 8k which do you prefer?
Steve56
Ask me about shaving naked!
Yes, the Rockstar is a double thick Glass Stone without the glass.
Prefer the Glass stones and G7 over the Pros for razors because I feel that the grit is better graded (less variation).
The GS 8k HC is a fine pre-finisher for fine naturals and it’s quite good as a final finisher, maybe the best of the 8k stones. It’s slower than the 8k HR and polishes more. It’s designed for carbon steel.
The GS 8k HR is faster than the 8k HC, and was designed to cut hard, wear-resistant semi-stainless steel. If you have SLD, HAP40, etc kitchen knives the HR can do double duty.
If I could only have one I’d do the 8k HR Glass or Rockstar, based on the steel that I own and what I actually do most of the time.
Prefer the Glass stones and G7 over the Pros for razors because I feel that the grit is better graded (less variation).
The GS 8k HC is a fine pre-finisher for fine naturals and it’s quite good as a final finisher, maybe the best of the 8k stones. It’s slower than the 8k HR and polishes more. It’s designed for carbon steel.
The GS 8k HR is faster than the 8k HC, and was designed to cut hard, wear-resistant semi-stainless steel. If you have SLD, HAP40, etc kitchen knives the HR can do double duty.
If I could only have one I’d do the 8k HR Glass or Rockstar, based on the steel that I own and what I actually do most of the time.
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- #6
Thanks for the info
Steve56
Ask me about shaving naked!
YW sir.
I received rockstar 3k&8k, I have not use many other stones experience，just some Jnat and Gok20k，IMO RS3k is a very good stone，very hard and I love it，RS8K is little softer than 3K，but I think it is good stone too，I can do 400 x stroke on 8K and use atoma 20 pass make it flat again. Both of them are harder than vintage KOUSEKI.
I was looking at rockstar 8k vs 10k grit difference. 8k was 1um and 10k rockstar is 0.6um. I understand that each stone has its own role.
If you last stone is a 6000 grit, does it make sense to get the 10k rockstar instead of 8k stone?
Also... Why Shapton doesn't make a 12k stone but goes to 16k one after the 10k?
If you last stone is a 6000 grit, does it make sense to get the 10k rockstar instead of 8k stone?
Also... Why Shapton doesn't make a 12k stone but goes to 16k one after the 10k?
When I use my 10k Rock Star I typically use a 3k, followed by a 6k HR. I have also used an 8k before the 10k. I don't bother with the 8k in-between anymore.
A 12k stone is typically 1 micron. The 10k is rated as a sub micron stone. This stone gives a noticable finer edge then a Naniwa 12k.
Steve56
Ask me about shaving naked!
Shapton designed the HR series Glass Stones to go in 3x steps, for example the recommended razor progression is 3k, 10k, 30k. The Rockstar seems to be a very similar stone thpugh Shapton says that they are different, but not in what way. I’ve allso gone from 1k to 4k, and from 2k to 10k in the HR series with no issues at all.
I’m betting that 6k to 10k in the Rockstar series is entirely possible. Start thinking in 3x steps and things might make a little more sense (or not!).
Steve56
Ask me about shaving naked!
Should be fine,
If you look at the particle size instead of the grit numbers, it will make a lot more sense.
So, don’t get caught up in the “Grit Rating Race”. More important is how the stone finishes. Most modern synthetic stones have a wide range of aggression and can finish much finer, near mirror polish depending on technique and pressure.
But it all depends on what you are trying to achieve, are you going to be shaving off the 8 or 10k edge? Or are you pre-finishing an edge to take to a hard finisher like an Ark?
If pre-finishing for a Coticule or Jnat it does not matter and an 6k King edge is plenty of finish on a bevel, actually a 1k is plenty.
Once a stone can finish to a near mirror, 8k Naniwia Snow Whtie, 10k Suehiro or 12k Naniwia Super Stone, you will not see much further improvement with synthetics unless you make the large jump to 20-30k stone or film, but at the cost of too much aggression and comfort.
But it all depends on what you are trying to achieve, are you going to be shaving off the 8 or 10k edge? Or are you pre-finishing an edge to take to a hard finisher like an Ark?
If pre-finishing for a Coticule or Jnat it does not matter and an 6k King edge is plenty of finish on a bevel, actually a 1k is plenty.
Once a stone can finish to a near mirror, 8k Naniwia Snow Whtie, 10k Suehiro or 12k Naniwia Super Stone, you will not see much further improvement with synthetics unless you make the large jump to 20-30k stone or film, but at the cost of too much aggression and comfort.
I want to add a "guaranteed" edge after my 6k king stone. If the difference in comfort from shapton rockstar 10k vs naniwa 12k is very minimal, that would be great. I just don't want to buy a 10k stone and then regret and realise that I must buy a 8k +12k stone later.
To me my Shapton Pro Kuromaku 30K is just too expensive. It actually enhances the comfort a bit over my 8K/10K/12K stones a bit, especially when I honing skill wasn't quite there. But that simply cannot justify the ~8 times price of 8K/10K/12K stones, as such small gain can easily reached on CrOx/0.1 micron diamond pasted strops. Also, will need to remember not to do too many laps on it. It took me months to find out the sweet spot was 7 or 8 laps.
No one can guarantee you that. It highly depends on your honing skills. I was from there, so the Shapton Pro Kuromaku 12K did not work out. Now I have 5 sets of Kings, Shaptons and Naniwas, and you guess what, the 8K, 10K, 12K ones are all working as expected, the difference between those are minimum, except the Shapton Pro Kuromaku 12K. You can pick any of Shapton RockStar 10K, Naniwa Super Stone 12K or Naniwa Gouken Arata 10K. They all work well to me, but for you, it's a journey of exploring, at the end of the day, it's you shaving with a razor honed by yourself after all.
Like I have said before, the 10k Rock Star is both a finer and harder stone then the so-called 12k from Naniwa. It will degrade the 10k shapton edge.
So, i don't see a reason why you would need to get a 12k afterwards.
The 10k is more then capable of taking a 6k edge and creating a shaving edge. If you want a sharper edge all you would need is 5 laps on some paste.
A harder stone will without a doubt create a sharper edge than a softer stone. This is true for natural stones and applies to synthetic stones too.
