next grit stone or not?

[justin sherriff]

Thinking about if I should get a new stone or not. I have Shapton 1000 and 8000 and use a diamond plate to keep them flat.
Would a stone between 2000 or 5000 be the way to go? Or go for the 12000?

I do not fill that I need a intermittent stone but with out having one I am not sure what I am missing out on.

[Orlando Gonzalez]

You are going to get a wide variety of suggestions / recommendation. I think that the gap between the 1K and 8K is a bit too wide. The intermediate stone would be a good choice because it is easier to remove the scratch patterns left by the 1K stone with the intermediate stone than the 8K stone which is more of a finishing/polishing stone. The 2K is too close to the 1K for it to make a significant difference. The 12K is also a finishing stone so the 1K-8K-12K wouldn't be my choice but a 1K-5K/6K-8K would be.

[Jim Matthews]

This is the basic set Rob Cosman uses in all his videos.
I have a coarse "India" stone and Lily White Arkansas stone in about the same grits.

Seems to be enough.

Unmentioned if you have a flattening stone and/or strop.

Scratch pattern is considerable less important than edge shape and burr removal.

[mike stenson]

I've tried Robs method, it does work. It's just a small microbevel, and that the 12k can pull off without much issue.

You'll still need (want) intermediate stones to flatten (even Rob's videos will point that out). If you're polishing the entire bevel, yea.. it's easier with intermediate stones.

[Tom M King]

The more steps you have, the fewer the strokes needed on each step, to the point that the total number of strokes is less than larger jumps. This is easily seen in flattening backs, but it works the same on cutting edges.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Thinking about if I should get a new stone or not. I have Shapton 1000 and 8000 and use a diamond plate to keep them flat.
Would a stone between 2000 or 5000 be the way to go? Or go for the 12000?

I do not fill that I need a intermittent stone but with out having one I am not sure what I am missing out on.

Before I bother you with lots of crazy details, let me just say that I would probably purchase a 3K (maybe) or (more likely) a 4K Shapton Glass stone, which claims to be excellent or good for pretty much everything. This gives you a nice middle ground between the 1K and the 8K. So, my advise is to just purchase the 4K glass stone.

With that said, here is a bunch of potentially useless information.


I notice that you do not specify PRO or Glass, but you mention the 12,000 so I will assume that you mean the PRO stones. I expect that Glass stones to cut faster, especially on newer steel based on what I have read, but I am not sure that I can back that up with experience.

Note that the Glass stones are softer than the PRO stones (relatively speaking).


These are from my notes on the Shapton Pro stones starting at 1000 (did not want to bore you with stones prior to that and I will not bother with the 1500 either. I do not remember where I got the notes.

• The Orange #1000 is a very popular intermediate stone. Great for moderate stock removal. This stone is good to use prior to polishing. This stone is labeled Coarse/Medium, and is formulated for stainless steel (think kitchen knives).
• The Green #2000 stone is a very popular finer intermediate stone. It still has a reasonably fast stock removal rate yet starts to polish the edge. It will turn a clean burr. This stone is pivotal in the Shapton pro series. It is a dense stone that produces the first mirror finish. It sets the stage for the finer polishing stones while producing an excellent edge for most conventional knives and tools.
• The Wine #5000 stone is the first polishing stone. It can still remove some metal but is primary a polishing stone. It is more dense than most stones. This stone is pivotal in the Shapton pro series. It is a dense stone that produces the first mirror finish. It sets the stage for the finer polishing stones while producing an excellent edge for most conventional knives and tools. Some people (such as Derek Cohen) do not really care for this stone. I own one and have used it for years.
• The Melon #8000 is a very nice polishing stone. Shapton spent thousands of hours on research and development on this stone to make it perform up to their standard. It will leave a very fine polish with a microscopically fine scratch pattern. This stone takes the 5K to the next level. I find it “rubby”, but yet it always produces a wonderful finish and edge. (While I always recommend going from the medium to the 5K first before going to the 8K, this stone can also be used in a 2K-8K progression.) The comment on progression are not my observations.
• The Yellow #12000 / #15000 was originally designed for fine woodworking tools requiring an extremely fine edge. It will leave a bright mirror finish. It is a serious polishing stone. This stone takes everything even further. It is a “softer” stone and really puts a wonderful finish on an edge. (The Japanese version of this stone is the 12K. The only difference seems to be the packaging.

Note that "fine Tools" recommends 1K, 2K, 5K, 8K, then 30K. Notice that the 12K is not listed in the progression, but I would be more likely to get the 12K pro or, the 16K glass stone. I own a 16K glass stone and I love it. That said, my chart shows that the 16K glass stone is not the best for chisels or Japanese plane blades. That said, I use mine all the time with chisels, not sure why they list it as not the best for those. People who are "good" with a strop would probably say that you can get by with a strop rather than a 12K PRO or a 16K glass stone. I have better luck with my 16K stone than a strop.

https://shapton.co.jp/en/faq/