Progression was yet again all Shapton up to 15k, then finished on 0.3µ Aluminum Oxide on hard rolled horse leather.

So here it is!

I’ve been testing this product since last summer when I got some samples of this product from Keith ‘de Grau. I hope most of you can forgive me for keeping this silent, but it was a request from the leather Master!

It’s leather… What’s the difference?

Oh if you only knew… Compression, grain, finish, etc… all play an important role in leather when it comes to stropping on it. It’s a great substrate, but it’s softer than paper on glass or balsa so it has a certain amount of give. How much depends of the leather you have. Regular bovine leather is a bit softer and does have a nice feedback. But for a super crisp v-bevel, this isn’t perfect. It will always round the edge a little bit. Not a big problem, but there are moments when you want things to be CRISP. Razors come to mind, but I like it on some knives too. This leather is amazingly stiff. It has almost no compression and I can’t feel hardly any difference between this and balsa.

Then there’s the grain. There’s some difference between the leathers. But between horse leather one would assume the grain is fairly similar. To the naked eye, that’s true, but if you look under the scope there are some noticeable differences.

Let’s look at regular horse first:

Here’s a 20x picture:

Regular horse 400X

Especially the 400x reveals some bumps and that’s normal for regular leather. It’s nice and smooth, but has a more pronounced grain.

Then there’s the hard rolled leather. It looks fairly similar at 20x, but notice the bigger even surfaces and less grain wrinkles.

But the 400x is really where the difference is noticeable. The grain is compressed (as expected) and you can see the hair follicles but that’s about it.

My conclusion

Overall, this leather beats pretty much everything including Balsa. It’s insanely firm, has a nice even grain and works with every compound I’ve tried (CBN, CrO, Boron Carbide, Diamond spray). Especially for razors it’s incredible. Nothing I have comes close to this stuff.

I’m very glad I can finally let the cat out of the bag. I’ve been using it for nearly 6 months and keeping my mouth shut was quite the chore, but now that it’s out in the open, you guys better get this stuff fast!

1. Save the spine some hone wear when you have to work out a chip or have to fix a frown.
2. Prevent scratches on the spine of the razor.

However, nobody seems to talk about another use for tape, and that’s strengthening the edge. For some razors this is the only way to prevent them from collapsing after 1 pass.

Traditional?

There are some honers that say tape is not traditional and they are right. In the “old days” they didn’t use and tape to strengthen the edge. They all held up fine when in use and they were honed often on the same hones we still use today. So why are we using it now then?

Let’s take a look at older hones. When you find an old Coticule for example, more often than not it will be dished. This will result in a convex edge of some sort that will be a lot stronger than the pure and crisp V-bevels we use now.

Now I won’t purposefully dish my stones because it’s helpful on some razors. I keep my stones flat because I also use them for knives and I like the crisper edge more myself.

When to use tape

In a lot of razors, tape won’t be necessary, but some really do need it in my opinion. Sure you can get by without, but micro chipping will appear and your edge will collapse during the shave.

Some stones (like the 16k Glass stone) also may need taped razors because they are so fast and aggressive that they might cut through the bevel. For this I’m borrowing Tom Blodgett’s pictures of a Klas Tornblom razor. You can see his article on these stones HERE

This is the razor honed on Glass stones with 1 layer of tape. I’m sure most of you will see that the edge is pretty clean, yet it didn’t hold up at all because the edge was too thin.

Tom added a second layer of tape, still to find out the edge wasn’t stable and would collapse at the end of the shave. So it did improve, but still it wasn’t good enough. So after he added 3 layers and this is the resulting edge:

Now that ting just looks odd right? Well yes and no. I’ll agree that 3 layers of tape just makes it look odd. If you look at the 3 bevels, you’ll notice why more tape was necessary:

The circled areas are the places where there would be chipping. You can see the deeper scratches and that’s where it would collapse.

After 3 layers, the edge of the edge doesn’t look that much cleaner, but it’s holding up this time resulting in a great shave. Here’s the edge after stropping:

Conclusion

In this case the micro chipping was because of the edge was too thin. Not because there were residual scratches.

I think it’s safe to assume, that with modern hones and modern honing techniques, sometimes tape is a necessity and not only there because of cosmetic reasons.

The only problem I had with this system is that the ura side will never be as well finished as the omote side because it doesn’t have enough strokes on it. That’s why I wondered how I could get them both finished equally.
So let’s start with the 8k stone. 8k is considered a finishing stone for most western razors, but in my opinion, it’s not enough for the Kamisori razors. I finish on a natural or the 30k Shapton pro. In most cases, I finish on my Nakayama Nasiji.

So what I did was using the 15k Shapton Pro as my synthetic finishing stone. So every time I was doing the ura side, I would use the 15k Shapton Pro. I only had to multiply the amount of strokes I did on the omote side. So for the 8k stone, I did 6 on the ura instead of 3. This way you keep the same profile.

A problem you can encounter is grit contamination, so you have to use a paper towel to clean off the blade each and every time you switch to the other stone. Of course you only have to do the math once. After the first honing session, you will only need the 8 and 15k stones to keep it in tip top order.

I’ve always found the Kamisori razors very easy to hone, but this improved the edge even more. I finished on my Nasiji with the regular 10/3 ratio.

I used a Swedish 5/8 Heljestrand razor to make it even harder because of the hard steel.

There are 2 main problems with this stone that you need to overcome:

Speed

Shaptons are fast. Faster than pretty much every synthetic and natural out there. And the glass stone is even faster than the pro series. This has its advantages, but at this level, it’s a disadvantage. Because the stone is so fast it’s hard to polish the grooves instead of replacing the 8k scratches completely. If you set a true 16k edge, this will be a harsh edge and you will see micro chipping and flaking at the very edge.

Binder

The binder in the Glass stones is softer and releases abrasive much faster than the Pro stones. This means they are faster, but they also generate slurry faster. Slurry can be handy at low grits to get things set up fast, but after 600 or 800 grit, it only causes more troubles. Especially on these hard Swedish razors. The slurry that forms keeps hitting the edge so that it chips out.

This is the edge that was honed before I called Tom. It had around 40 laps on the 16k before I took the picture.

At this point I had no idea what I did wrong, so I called Tom. He explained this and said I should go back to the 8k Pro and do 40 laps on it to clean everything up again. So that’s exactly what I did. I remembered my edge looked nice and clean at 8k, so I figured that it would look the same. In my experience you can’t overdo the 8k Pro stone. If you wish to do 100 laps, then that’s no problem. The 8k Pro will always look the cleanest because it hides scratches and blend them too. When you progress to the 16k, all the underlying flaws will pop up and the edge might not look as good.

Also, since this is a Swedish razor with very hard steel, the very edge of the edge will never be as clean as a softer American or British razor of the Shaptons.

Yes… the chip in the bottom part is horrible. I decided I wouldn’t go back to 2k to fix it. Hitting the Veho microscope with the edge 1 time will cause this, so I decided to let it be since I’m all thumbs and I would probably hit the edge again (luckily I didn’t)

After that I went back to the 16k. I cleaned it of so no slurry was on top and sprayed it with a bottle of water. I proceeded with VERY light laps. After 10 laps, this was the result:

The edge of the edge will clean up with some stropping. As you can see, there is no micro-chipping anymore.

After 5 laps on the Kanayama canvas + 20 on the leather:

I hope this helps a lot of the Glass stone owners out. Each stone needs a different approach. And until you figure it out, it can drive people mad. I’m glad Tom helped me out here and it gave me a smooth and comfortable shave.

The 2k Pro is an odd piece. It cuts close to any other 1k stone, yet leaving a smooth finish that already has a certain level of polish. For most softer steel knives, this is a good finisher. For harder knives, this is a perfect way pre polisher. The Shapton stones have an interesting grain pattern. The interesting bit is that the white is the abrasive and the green the matrix.

There’s a reason Shapton does not offer a 3k Pro stone. It’s because there is absolutely no need for one in their progression. The 2k is fine enough to lead the way for the 5k Pro. You can’t miss out on this stone. It’s a valuable part in my stone lineup and my results wouldn’t be the same without it!

There are a number of different substrates that are sold through CKTG and most of them can be used for numerous compounds, pastes, powders and sprays. I’ll try and briefly explain the advantages and disadvantages of each substrate. As always, these products are horses for courses and my favorite might not be yours. The macro shots used were kindly provided by Ken Schwartz, the microscope pictures were taken by me. The products are all made by Hand American, except the paper.

Bovine leather

Perhaps the most used substrate of all. It’s fairly cheap and works well with  bar compounds, powders, pastes and sprays. The grain holds the abrasive particles well and the slight cushioning is good for convex edges. If you want a pure straight V bevel, then this isn’t the substrate for you. Yes, the convexing is marginal and I for one like it, but some don’t.

Bovine leather on its own (without compounds) doesn’t really do much and isn’t an optimal finisher. If you want to finish on bare leather, I would advise horse because of the silicates in it. But more on that later.

Horse leather

This is my personal favorite for a number of reasons. One of them is the slightly stiffer nature of the leather. The leather isn’t as soft as bovine and doesn’t convex as much. If you do want your edge to be a bit convex, you can get away with a bit more pressure here. The second reason why I like this one better than bovine is that it can be used as a plain leather finisher.

Its feedback is better and the leather has more silicates that act as a compound on its own. This isn’t like CBN, or another compound that removes scratches. It blends the scratches of the finest compounds together making the edge slicker.

This is the back of Hand American horse leather:

Split leather

How this leather is processed is explained on the webpage of this product at CKTG. In short, they basically cut the top layer of the leather to expose the rougher layer underneath. Think of the layer as a cat’s tongue. Rough to the touch and slightly bumpy. This offers some advantages on its own. The grabby little “fingers” are excellent for deburring and give great feedback during deburring. I prefer this leather with sprays and more specifically sprays up to 0.25µ. The leather holds these sprays very well, and buries them into the grain. This will lead to a more polished edge and will cause the particles to not cut as deeply as on another substrate.

Balsa

This a fairly recent substrate. Keith de’Grau started with this substrate and it’s become one of the most popular substrates around. And rightfully so! The slight velvety feel of Keith’s balsa holds semi pastes perfectly and the grain of the wood will hold sprays as good as any other substrate. It’s the perfect substrate for people that are looking for a precise crisp V-bevel. It has almost no compression so it approximates a stone’s hardness. A 30k Shapton is hardly inexpensive, but a 30k balsa blank is pretty cheap. A 0.5µ spray or paste combined with a balsa blank can get you close to the same results with some patience and some care. You can’t use edge leading strokes however.

Paper

Another good option for perfect V-bevels. When glued to glass, it acts as a stone and works well with pretty much every compound. It is however a bit fiddly because paper curls and when you remove it from the glass it tends to roll up. You can glue it to neoprene too so you can have a softer backing for convex edges if you like that. Contamination is very easy too. You really need ziplock bags for this substrate. Ever since balsa came to the show, paper is used less and isn’t discussed as much as it used to be. It’s still a good substrate and it can work wonders on both knives and razors. On its own, it works as a polisher. Newspaper has been used for a long time as a strop and the ink in the paper works as a compound. Paper used for fine fountain pens (like Clairefontaine) work very well.

Mylar

There’s not much to say about this substrate as it’s more or less the same as paper. It’s flimsy, but flat. It has less of a grain though and therefore makes the compound cut deeper than paper. But when you scratch the mylar, you will scratch the finish. There is no room for error here.

Felt

One of the most used substrates for deburring and sprays. It’s best suitable for sprays, but I don’t like it for pastes or dry compounds. Also on the Edge Pro, it’s messy because of the hairs that fall off of the felt. When spraying compound on felt, you can get bumps because the liquid in the spray swells the surface. So spray once, let it dry, and then spray again.

Like split leather, it’s full of small holes that hide the compound making it smoother than some other substrates. The feedback is something you love or hate. For deburring, felt is the number one substrate and used most. CKTG has recently announced special deburring blocks made by Hand American.

Conclusion

Whatever substrate is your favorite, there’s a purpose for using them all. Luckily Mark stocks them all and has the highest quality available. We have Keith de’Grau to thank for that

Recent posts on various forums have always gone in the same direction. They always start with the question: “What do I need for honing razors?” Ninety percent of the replies will consist of “get a barbers hone” or “get a Coticule”. While both are a viable option for maintaining a razor, a thought popped in my head questioning this. Are these really the best options?

Being a Belgian I really should say the Coticule is the best option for maintaining razors… but I feel it is not. Sure it gives a smooth close shave that is preferred by many, but the learning curve is fairly steep and I can get better results with other stones too. So as a basic setup or for somebody who likes the “old school” feel of honing on a Coticule, this is great. But what about us guys who seek more in an edge and want it done fast and precise? Well there are a few synthetic options out there:

1.      Naniwa Superstone:

A fairly popular hone due to its relative cheap price and smooth edges it delivers. While the 10k and 12k Superstones deliver a clean and smooth edge, the lower grits are slow and dish fairly fast. The 10 and 12k are by no means fast, but they get an edge smooth and shave ready.

2.      Norton 4/8k

Perhaps the most used combination around. Nowadays there’s a tendency to get the Naniwa stones over the Nortons, but a few years ago these were the standard. I don’t like them for the same reasons as I don’t like the Naniwa’s, but these are even slower. The 8k is also too coarse for my liking and doesn’t deliver the same quality a different hone would.

3.      Naniwa Chosera

I absolutely love these stones for knives, but for razors the fun ends at 3k in my opinion. The 5k does not deliver the shine it should and it just doesn’t polish. The 10k has the same problem and the jump between 5 and 10k is too big for me. A popular solution is adding an 8k stone. I would choose the 8k Naniwa Snow white for this task. Why this stone is not part of the Chosera lineup is beyond me, but that’s an entirely different matter. Still the 10k is too harsh and is lacking fine polish where the 10k Superstone delivers a smoother finish

So what does deliver performance at each and every level? Please welcome the Shapton Pro stones to the stand!

A full line of stones meant to perform

1. 320 Pro

When restoring blades, most people suggest a DMT diamond plate for getting the work done fast. I agree it sets a bevel very fast, I disagree with the fact it does a good job at it. The scratches are deep and just tears up the edge. Even a well worn plate will leave scratches so deep you won’t get them out fast.

A better option would be the 320 Shapton Pro stone. It’s works fast, doesn’t dish fast like most coarse stones and leaves a much better finish than the diamond plates and sets everything up for a 1k stone.

2.  1k Pro

The Shapton 1k is an odd stone. It’s coarser than its Chosera or Superstone siblings, but it doesn’t matter. I would rate the Shapton at 800 grit, but still leaves a nice finish and if you use a 2 or 3k stone afterwards everything will be fine.

Spending time at lower grits is essential. Often people rush into the 5-8k range without getting the bevel cleaned up. This will result in an edge that’s chipped and a lot of honers will call it “overhoning”. In fact you underhoned at the lover grit levels.

3. 2k Pro

Now things are getting exciting. It’s not super smooth after the 2k, but there is definitely a level of polish already. This stone is essential for your final edge. Any scratches you didn’t remove at this stage, will haunt you at 15k and higher. It’s an absolute nightmare when you realize you have to go back to 2k after 2 hours of honing. So do it right the first time and you won’t go nuts at 15k. I spend triple the time on the 2k than I do on the 8 or 15k stones just to be absolutely sure. Get a 100x scope and make sure everything is cleaned up and the edge is a nice straight line.

4. 5k Pro

Remember when I said the 5k Chosera doesn’t quite polish the way I want? Well this hone solves all your problems. Even though the Shaptons don’t really polish, but replace scratches by finer ones, the edge shines at 5k. This is also the reason you need to go higher than 8k with the Shaptons to get a nice shaving edge. A lot of abrasive material combined with a matrix that doesn’t break down at the sight of steel makes for a hard and precise hone that scratches instead of blending scratches together. Again, you need to spend some extra time to make sure you get everything right. After this stone, the rest of the honing process is a breeze

5. 8k Pro

Now things are really getting interesting. The 8k is often considered “shave ready”. However, when talking about Shaptons it’s not true. Yes you can shave with it if you use a paste or spray after it, but it’s OK at best.

You will notice that the polish is getting cleaner and better. But wait… there are scratches?! Yes there will be scratches. Get used to it. The Shaptons cut, even at the highest levels they cut. But if you look under 100x or 400x you will notice the edge suddenly looks so clean that it’s hard to believe it won’t shave very well. Hang in there, we’re close to the finish line now.

6. 15k Pro

Eureka! When you are done with this stone you will finally be able to shave… That is if you have Cromium Oxide (CrO) in your honing supplies. The 15k Is brilliant. It’s smooth, fast and cleans everything up. After this stone nothing except a quick strop on CrO is needed to get the edge perfect for shaving. After this you can add the 30k stone. I have one, but at $600 it’s hardly a bargain. 0.5µ CBN followed by 0.5µ CrO will get you close to the same result. Close, not the same.

Micro chipping… Overhoning?

Now this is where the most controversy arises. A lot of people say the 15k will leave a frayed edge that suffers from overhoning. As stated before this is in fact “underhoning”. Well the only way to proof it is with pictures, so I used the progression I explained and went insane on the 15k. All pictures were taken at 400x.

Here’s the 15k edge after 60 laps:

The same edge after 90 laps:

It was going slow so I decided to take the next picture at 150 laps:

Still nothing was chipping the edge. So I decided to do 400 laps in total. But if you need 400 laps on the 15k, you really did something wrong in the previous stages. This was for demonstration purposes only.

Conclusion:

The Shapton system is the ONLY system that performs fantastic on each and every level. They are good at maintaining a razor and at restoring. They offer precise, reliable and consistent results that can be reproduced each and every time. So there is no guess work like you would have with naturals. They aren’t variable batch to batch and there are no fakes ones out there that I know of.

They don’t cause chipping or other mythical problems on razors either. They just do the job and do it perfectly each and every time.

You can get these stones from Jende Industries. Tom Blodgett is by far the most knowledgeable guy when it comes to Shaptons and he’s also a professional honer.

The first edge

When I start sharpening an EDC I go all out, and polish it as high as possible (if the steel allows). There is nothing more fun than making a shiny edge that just melts through everything. Depending on the steel I will polish up to 8 or 15k JIS, or 2000 ANSI if I use abrasive paper when sharpening a convex edge.

I tend to use the EP the most lately both for V and convex edges when precision matters. The belt sander is fast and easy, but the edges aren’t beautiful. There is always going to be a scratch above the bevel that will ruin the finish. On hard used EDC knives I couldn’t care less. But on gentleman folders like a William Henry or a classic slipjoint, I want perfection. So out come the Chosera and Shapton stones, CBN slurries and suspensions, CrO and Boron Carbide semi pastes and diamond sprays. When I’m done I can see myself clearly in the edge and I’m happy with it. It usually takes 20-45 minutes depending of the amount of work I need to do.

Maintenance

But I don’t have 45 min every day to get my EDC sharp. You want something than will clean up the edge and will get it hair popping sharp again. I have a few fantastic products for that:

• 2µ SiC semi paste (Hand American)

The Hand American semi paste is easy to use, works on all substrates I’ve tried and gives a nice polished shine, but adds a certain amount of bite to the edge at the same time. Sure the edge won’t pass the HHT, but that’s not what I want at this point. I need a working edge that lasts me a while before I need to go back to the stones or paper.

• 1µ Boron Carbide semi paste (Hand American)

When your edge has degraded just a bit, this is the product that will get it back to the top. It’s smooth, works on belts and strops. Works on every substrate and lasts a long time. Of all the Hand American pastes, this one is my favorite for knives.

• 2µ CBN Slurry (Precise Sharpening)

The same grit as the SiC, but in CBN. Longer lasting, cuts faster, and leaves a toothy edge. A fantastic product that gives a very aggressive edge. At 38$, it’s not very cheap, but if you consider what you get in return it’s actually a bargain.

• 4µ CBN suspension (Precise Sharpening)

The newest product I’ve tested. I won’t finish on this compound, but if I waited too long with stropping, this is the only product that will get it back in a few strokes. It’s amazing. Drying time on balsa is longer because it’s a suspension. On leather, there is no difference. After this I prefer the 2µ SiC to smooth it out or 1µ BC if I still want some bite.

• Conclusion:

All these products work fantastic. You have options in pretty much every grit size, but for touching up, these are the products I rely on every day.

You can follow it here: http://www.knifeforums.com/forums/showtopic.php?fid/48/tid/914169/pid/2386009/post/last/#LAST

This is by far the stupidest bet I’ve done. But it was fun to sharpen a knife with razor principles.
Progression: 320 Pro, 1k Chosera, 2k Pro, 5k Pro, 8k Pro, 15k Pro, 0.5 CBN, 0.5 CrO, 0.125 CBN

I must say that the sharpening session was harder than the shaving.