Thoughts on swapping from naniwa to shapton glass

[Herrenberg]

The Shapton Glass stones are awesome, but I've not put a razor to anything over 2K. After that, it's JNat territory. But the 500-1K-2K sequence is the core of my "uh oh, lots of work needed on this one" sequence. The SG stones have a creamy quality that I like with razors; you never get a weird gritty skip and "oh, look, you damaged your edge."

Funny thing is that with the kamisoris I mostly shave with, which are quite resistant to the stones, the SG500 can seem unbearably slow if you have a divot out of the edge. But I have not found anything better that doesn't tear up the edge unduly. Nanohone 400, for example, is significantly faster, but you should see what the edge looks like under the microscope after it's been exposed to that one.

I know, I know, I should just do edge-trailing strokes on a stone like that. Someday. In the meantime, the SG500 tolerates my scrubbing.

 

[David]

The stone has to be blazing fast and super fine, and those stones are not all that common.

Sure they are, I have dozens of them.

 

[JPO]

I switched from the super stones to the Gouken serien 1, 4 and 8k. They are really a good option in my opinion. I also have the Glass stone seven 0.45 micron which almost never get used. It is really fast, but the Naniwa stones are just a pleasure to work with.

 

[Gamma]

I have glass stones and pros.
For razors...
I prefer the 1.5k Pro to the 1k glass and/or 1k pro.
The 4k glass, presently I have the HC but used to have the HR, or the 5k pro, follows the 1.5k Pro well.
I have coarser stones in both sets, I use them interchangeably.
I usually don't need to go further than 4k/5k on synths but if I did opt for that path, it gets difficult to outline due to choices.

The 8k pro follows the 4k HC and 5k Pro well.
4k HC to 6k HC nails the midrange down pat easily.
5k Pro to 6k HC is a mini jump.
The 6k HC to 8k Pro is a mini jump.
5k pro to 8k pro is a decent jump, works well.
But I might just follow the 5k Pro or 6k HC with the 10k Glass.
In the past, if I wanted 'full synth' I might go from 10k Glass to 16k Glass, then 30 k Glass.
Those last 2 are gone, and now I have the .85 um and .44 um G7 to replace them.
I don't usually use them, and the .44 um follows the 10k well, so I don't need the .85 um.
I also have a 12k SS but I don't remember the last time I used it.

 

[lightfoot]

I would love to try the Glass Stones but I just can’t get past the 5mm thickness when I look at the cost. But I guess if they’re a bit harder that might help offset the investment on the front end I suppose…

 

[Christian1212]

Just a review after I have had the stones for awhile. I absolutely love the 2k hr and 6k hc stones. I don't have to clean the surface as often and the feedback is nice IMO (prefer the hc feedback if choosing). I know this isn't a really big factor but I do love how slick looking they are as well haha.

For touch ups I hit the 6k and then the jnat without any problems. Used the 2k on 1 razor that went through a couple touch up rotations and going from the 2k to 6k was very easy. Used the 2k couple more times on other razors and it is a nice stone.

Keeping the 1k chosera for knives for any razors needing extra work done. I will be moving sometime next year so will be on the only using what I need set up. So stone wise I will have the chosera 1k, glass 2k, 6k, and my karasu jnat.

 

[Christian1212]

Extra note; for how much I plan to use the stones I am happy paying the extra amount for the glass. If I was always honing or sharpening maybe not. I will probably keep my 5k SS as well though for sharpening knives and not worry about flattening the glass stone everytime I use it.

 

[Herrenberg]

I would love to try the Glass Stones but I just can’t get past the 5mm thickness when I look at the cost. But I guess if they’re a bit harder that might help offset the investment on the front end I suppose…

They are quite hard and slow to wear. If you can get through an SG stone, ever, while honing razors on it, I for one will be very impressed.