Official Luthiers Forum!

I've been using these two for 1 1/2- 2 yrs, comparing with the my previous favorites in a variety of steels/ hardnesses:

Bester 1200: an excellent stone for turning a burr and creating a new edge. Very slightly softer than a Shapton Pro
1000, but cuts better over time, and more consistently. Can be flattened by rubbing two of them together, or with
a garden- variety flattening stone, eg Suehiro 300, or sandpaper if you're a masochist. This stone is big (8" by 3"
by 1") and wears very slowly.. i cracked a Japanese kanna blade doing ura- dashi, and not having a suitable grinder att used the Bester to cut it back by hand (over 6mm).. used .5mm of stone in the process, heh. Recommended,
available from EastToolWest, Hida, or JWW.

Shapton 2000 M15: very good synthetic medium/ fine stone, for taking out scratches from coarse stone and
preparing for final edge. Some say this isn't necessary- I strongly disagree. This stone cuts quite quickly in
carbon or high alloy steels, leaves a fine and consistent scratch pattern, and has very good feedback.
Best stone Shapton has ever made, imho. Still available from the sources listed above as far as I know.
I've had good experience with EastTool West (on eBay) and Hida. Highly recommended- get two. CW

Postscript: Regarding the Bester 1200 (or any Bester stone), I don't recommend using a diamond plate for
flattening it- the stones have significant carbide content, enough to quickly waste the binder, and soon enough
the diamond itself. I think highly of this stone because of its combination of speed (eg wasting the old
edge and turning a fresh burr) and *relative smoothness of cut*- tough to find in a foundation stone.
I used the Bester 1k long ago but it was too aggressive, leaving a big burr which was difficult to deal with.

Hi Carey - regarding flattening stones with a diamond stone I have been using a DMT Duo-sharp C/XC diamond stone to flatten my Norton 4000/8000 water stone - do you see any problems with doing this?

Thanks

Hi Hesh-

imo, that's one of of the advantages of the Nortons and Kings- with aluminum oxide as the cutting medium and
having a soft binder, the diamond plates work well for flattening- the stones just wear more quickly. It's perhaps
a wash in the the end (like existence, heh), but I like a firmer stone myself. Also a 15mm Shapton will last
longer and give a more defined edge than other stones, in general. It's mildly interesting that the M15 series has been
around the longest, yet is their best product- 1500, 2000, 5000- all very good, with the first two being exceptional.

Thanks for that Carey - all good stuff!

You bet... I like the Norton 4000 *a lot* , or did until they moved production to Mexico- beware,not the same stone!
i'm been trying a few finish stones for a good while- if there's anything I can generally recommend I will post it.

I want to give kudos to Dave Burnard re stone selection; a lower-key guy of significant knowledge doesn't exist.
Thanks, man.. (and i''m still using those Debados, hah!) CW