Thread: Shapton stones differences?

Received a 1000 & a 4000 from the US.

There's 6mm thickness of the abrasive on top of the glass plate.

The supplier cldn't tell me the diff btwn the 2 series and the boxes & instructions don't mention which they are. Suck it and see.

Well, found the answer

HMS Enterprises, Inc : ShaptonStones.com

HC = High carbon series
HR = High Rockwell series

Well I was in housekeeping mode this arvo and got out all my Veritas plane blades for a sharpen. A mix of A2 and 01.

Used several stones: DMT fine and coarse, and Shapton 1000 and 4000 glasstones. The latter I had decided to keep in the kitchen for knives but I couldn't resist } Seems from posts above as they were from the US they were prob intended for HCS.

I did some lapping as well and have decided that just as oils ain't oils, flat ain't flat. I now suspect the DMTs. Veritas come with a flat guarantee and if that's correct the backs weren't matching the DMTs.

Anyway, I moved up through all 4 on the backs. The Shaptons impressed as quick cutting. The 1000 oddly produced more of a mirror finish than the 4000. The 4000 clogged more quickly with the A2s than the O1s. In fact with both, 5 or 6 swipes produced enough stiction to bring work to a halt before wiping the water and swarf off and reapplying some water allowed work to proceed.

After all that I did the 2ndary bevels and that went fast and the edges are excellent.

Interesting observation on the 4000 Shapton glass stone. When I moved from King to Shapton Pro this was one of the things I didn't miss about the Kings.

The King 4000 needed to be *wet* to do it's best work, and when flattening the back of anything there was just too much abrasive released from the surface to be effective. The Shapton Pro series are so much harder that the abrasive just isn't release, and the steel particles are simply swept away with the water.

In the end I used the 4000 King for polishing backs dry, rather than with water. Or, I'd wipe the blade with a wet cloth and straight onto the dry stone to polish. This worked far more effectively for me. I still use the Shapton stones dry for final polishing, but it isn't necessary like the Kings.

Add a little liquid soap to the water you use to lubricate the Shaptons. That will prevent stiction.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Originally Posted by derekcohen

Add a little liquid soap to the water you use to lubricate the Shaptons. That will prevent stiction.

Regards from Perth

Derek

That works

Cool; thanks for the tip.