ascertaining waterstone grit

[John Frankl]

I purchased some waterstones in Korea. They are essentially like their Japanese counterparts (only half the price). Three of them are natural stones. They don't absorb water like the synthetics and seem to be of a very fine grit. How might I tell what grit?

John

 

[Medic1210]

If they are anything like arkansas stones, it is impossible to give an actual grit size. Arkansas stones are rated based on their softness. The softer stones are considered to be equal to a coarse grit, whereas the hard stones are considered to be equal to very fine grit. I would assume that the waterstones follow the same principle. Here is a link where I found this info.

HTH,

Mike

 

[Crayola]

The only way you can do this reasonably (i,e, other than sending pieces of your stones to a lab) is to sharpen a knife and look at the edge, comparing the finish to stones of known grit that you have.