Is it worth buying a Shapton 6000 Grit HR Glass Stone is you already have an Arkansas Black Stone?

[lp149]

I currently have a Arkansas Black polishing stone and was wondering if it was worth getting a 6000 grit Shapton glass polishing stone...

Will there be any noticeable difference in terms of razor sharpness, and will they be worth it?

I use my knives mainly for meat and sometimes vegetable cutting but seeking to achieve an ultra sharp edge, i.e. something that can cut through a mango peel without applying any pressure.

Cheers

 

[UncleBoots]

The Shapton Glass will be much faster than your Ark. Difficult to say more than that, because there is quite a range of possible hardnesses for Black Ark, as well as variation that depends on how the surface of the Ark is prepared.

Normally cutting skin like that is the domain of toothy edges, such as might be produced by a Washita. You don't need pressure to cut a mango skin with such an edge; you just need a slicing motion.

 

[garry3]

If the black is legit it will be capable of a working about twice as fine as the 6k glass.

 

[Artyh]

It will mainly depend on the quality of your Arkansas stone and the steel in the blades you want to sharpen. The glass stone would be superior for steels with lots of vanadium, like S30V or S35V, but would probably offer no advantage for 1095. If your knives ar getting sharp enough with the Black Arkansas stone, there is no need for the Shapton. I have Shapton Pro stones and a range of waterstones, and never use them. I use Norton Arkansas (black and translucent) stones when I sharpen normal high carbon tool steels, and a combo of DMT diamond stones and ceramic stones for high vanadium steels. The Norton ceramics and Spyderco ceramics work well as finishing stones for knives.