Sigma 13000

[miguel bernardo]

I know this is a slippery slope, that benefits are marginal and that i already have a perfectly fine set of stones up til a snow white 8000 that gives me good enough edges for my needs. And that having just turned 38 i should be in a position that good enough is good enough and stop with the various acquisitions syndromes. But somehow i keep thinking about a 12-13000 stone.
Since i learned (or at least i hope so :) ) to sharpen on superstones i like that mirror look. Unconsciously, it just means sharp. The snow white is a wonderful stone for me, quite tactile, good feedback, much quicker than my previous SS 8K and much nicer at removing the burr but lookwise it gives me a somehow cloudier edge (still a mirror, but not as shiny) - i mainly use diamonds, shapton 1000, chosera 2000 and the snow white 8K FWIW.

So, would the sigma 13000 would be a sensible buy ? would a naniwa 12000 suffice? don´t tell me forget about it or i might end up buying a japanese natural tone, and that would be pretty stupid as i know nothing about them and don´t have the chops. ah, forgot to tell - it was my birthday and i want to pamper me a little.

OK, sorry for all this indulgence and thanks in advance!

best,
Miguel.

[David Weaver]

The naniwa 12000 is more of a razor suitable stone. It's a bit fragile for tools, though it works and it makes a very bright polish.

The sigma 13k is a nice stone, but the practical gains over the snow white are zero, and with certainty if you just create yourself an MDF lap and buy some chrome-ox powder from a razor supply place and mix it with some oil to make a paste that you can apply easily.

Both the SP 13k and the naniwa 12000, though, create a very bright polish and sometimes that's nice on knives. If you just want to indulge, the 13k is the one of those two that I'd have for tools.

Natural stones are always tempting, but if just getting something very sharp to work wood is what you want, then they are quite often going to be no sharper than a 13k (pretty much with certainty for any stone fast enough to be useful), sometimes not sharper than a snow white, and definitely more expensive for what you get.

[Matthew N. Masail]

In relation to the 13K Sigma, I had one, and it was just O.k for me. I like to use a high grit stone like that because I feel it makes a more durable edge, and the 13K did leave a wicked edge, but it has loading and stiction problems and I didn't find it so nice to use, others will tell you otherwise though.


If you really want to indulge, I just received a 10K Gokumyo (1 micron stone), mine is still in it's box, but a friend of mine opened his and I got to play with it for a while. it has Zero stiction, very little loading and feels as if you as sharpening on oily silk. it cut ridiculously strong for a stone that fine and that hard. I'll be using it after a Cho 3k, if your coming from a snow-white, you could get the 15K Gokumyo, but they are pricey (the 20K especially).

[miguel bernardo]

thanks! indulge is the right word.