What to buy for first stone

[bgentry]

gentry,Whats the age of your fine India Norton stone? Because I've noticed that the fineness of that stone has changed thru the years.

I purchased it in 2000 and I don't think it was super old when I bought it, even though I bought it from a small store that did very little business. It's a dual grit 8x2x1 with medium "crystolon" on one side and "fine india" on the other. The fine side is tan/brown in color. I suspect it's 400 or less grit based on how it feels to the fingernail, how Norton now rates them, and my lack of results.

I find it very interesting that you have 3 different "fine india" stones at 3 very different grit levels. I've recently come across three people that all have very old gray synthetic stones from their grandfathers. All feel almost slick and soft, but bite the fingernail about like a 600-ish grit stone should. I assume they are aluminum oxide but I'd never seen AlO stones this fine before. I guess different makers have made different grades over the years. Very odd.

So, it maybe harder to get a hair shaving edge from a 400 grit stone. You could lapp it w/ a fine diamond and this would bring it up to about 600 grit and improve the edge it gives. The Spyderco ceramic is 600.Does this give you a shaving edge? DM

I don't have any diamond stones to lap with. I'm also surprised that lapping would change the effective grit of the stone. I'd guess that only lasts until it gets used enough to expose fresh particles of AlO right? I thought the Spyderco medium was closer to 800, but no matter: Yes, I can get a shaving sharp edge from it. Though I can get it finer with the Spyderco fine and a loaded strop.

Thanks for responding. I've been wondering about this nearly every time you recommend fine india.

Brian.

 

[David Martin]

Gentry, Woodcraft site lists the Spyderco brown stone in the navy blue box as med./600 grit.Lapping makes a bigger difference than you'd think.Yes, it only last until that layer is scraped off.But that takes some time with knife steels. Not so w/ diamond. Then it can easily be lapped again. Should you obtain a diamond stone try it on one side of a same grit stone.Then feel of the two sides.You'll feel a big difference on the stone and knife as well. Yes, mine are the older India stones of finer grit.DM