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Ceramic Stones

I've had 2 ceramic stones bought from Spyderco  back in the nineties. Now they make 3 different grits. I recently asked them about the grit of each stone, this is what they said.  Grit specifies the mesh used to separate the abrasive particles. But everyone uses a different standard & they don't compare well. Things really fall apart at the finer grits, since the US standard switches from Grit to Particle size in Microns.  The following are approximate grit ratings: these are their stones.  Medium - 20 microns/600 US grit/ 1000 Japanese grit .  Fine - 6 microns / 1200 US grit/ 2500 Japanese grit.  Ultrafine - 3microns / US 2000 grit / 4000 Japanese grit.  Spyderco makes flat stones,  slip stones of many different shapes, triangle set for knives. Plus you don't need to use any kind of lubricant on their stones. To clean the stones use comet & a wet non metallic scrubber. I've sharpened knives & carpenter chisels on them for years, they're still flat. Now I'm using them for my carving gouges. Every ones talking about the different grits/ microns, I thought this might help explain things. Spyderco also makes knives. Robert

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Thanks Robert,

It certainly can get confusing when people talk about "grit" and "mesh", and the diamond stones, ceramic stones, water stones do not fit equally across the board with numbers. And then there are the Arkansas stones that don't even refer to "grit" at all. The best thing to do is use the finest grit you can for the finished honing. You really shouldn't be able to feel any rough surface at all on that final stone. Anything where you can feel "sand" or grit, you can use for roughing, but definitely not for final honing. If it leaves scratch marks on the bevel, go finer!

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