Shapton 30K, talk me out of it

[Marinus Loewensteijn]

Thanks again everyone for your input. To close the loop, you have talked me out of buying the 30K stone (at least for now anyway). Instead, I am using my Christmas gift money to buy a Lie Nielsen #164 low angle smooth plane. It's considerably cheaper and I suspect will be more useful!

When I read threads like this I cannot help but think that the sharpness gets at the level of a razor. Then I give thought to how many shavings on timber it will take before you would be unable to shave the hair on your arm, 2, 3, 5, 10? For me a quick grind on the Tormek, a few strokes on a Shapton 4000 and it is sharp enough to continue my work. It takes me perhaps less than one minute to sharpen.

Spending a money on a smoothing plane is imho a far better investment.