My stones arrived today.
Naniwa Chosera 1k
Shapton Pros 5K, 8K, 12K
Atoma Diamond Plate 400grit
All from
Knives and Stones. Extremely happy with the range, price and, most of all, the customer service!
I figured this will be a good time for me to post some "how to" basics.
Chosera 1k - This is my preferred bevel setter, use this for setting a bevel.
What is setting a bevel? It is removing metal to grind in a new primary edge to prepare it for refining. The 1k is obviously an aggressive stone for straight razors but it's highly required and it is the most important stone in any honing set. 90% of your work is involved in setting the bevel, the rest is just removing scratches and polishing.
Shapton pro 5k - This is the best 5k stone I've ever tried. It's solid, fast and provides awesome feedback. This is where all of your clean up work gets done after the 1k, You are deleting the 1k scratch pattern, removing the toothiness of the edge in order to prepare it for a refinement. You can not do enough strokes on the 5k and it is impossible to overhone on it. It's my favourite in the whole progression, use until it feels like a glass surface, that's when you know it's no longer doing anything make sure you're very light on the pressure, at least on your final strokes. Still not cutting hairs? the bevel is not set, go back to the 1k and start over.
Shapton pro 8k - This is used to erase the 5k scratch pattern and refine the edge to a near mirror polish, although you can't to too many strokes here it won't take too many at all, 20-60 depending on each individual razor. This is where the edge is minimally shave ready. Use no pressure at on the 8k.
Shapton pro 12k - This is when you need to be very careful, extremely light pressure, weight of the razor or just enough to keep the blade on the stone. Here you can do too many, 15 - 25 strokes is more than enough for me, at this stage you can just strop and shave. You can strop on Chromium oxide or diamond spray 0.5um for some extra oomph to the edge but it's not required. Microchips visible after the 12k? You haven't done enough on the 5k. go back to the 5k and continue on from there.
Essentials of setting a bevel