Shapton Ceramic Stones

[AHill]

Warren has a good point about oil stones. If your edge tools are O1 or some other vintage steel, an oil stone and a strop will get you just as good an edge as fancy water stones. Some of the more modern steels CAN be sharpened with an oil stone, but it takes a very long time to get a good edge compared with a more aggressive water stone. Sometimes, the quality of a surface isn't so much the stone being used, as it is the steel. The more modern steels have more and larger carbides, which will leave behind a less smooth surface than O1, where carbides are smaller and less densely distributed.

[cputnam]

Andy, the 1000 and 6000 need to be soaked. The 13000 is splash and go. They are excellent stones. I got mine from Stu about 5 years ago and the price has actually come down because of how the yen stacks up against the dollar. Last time I  checked, Stu was offering a pretty nice package deal. That said, the Shaptons are good too.

Dave, are you sure about that? I seem to remember Stu saying to try dry, splashed, and soaked to see what worked best for each individual. If I am correct, that would seem to remove the "NEED" from the statement. That said, I soak my 1000, heavy splash the 6000 and just a quick spray on the 13000.

[DaveParkis]

I seem to recall Stu telling me to definitely soak the 1000, try the 6000 both ways, and that the 13000 did not require soaking. I tried the 6k both ways and much prefer it fully soaked. I just assumed if it was that noticeable to me, it would be more so to everybody else

[AHill]

There's not a single waterstone that won't benefit from soaking prior to use. Soaking helps soften the binder a bit so that the abrasive can form a slurry in use. Just because you can splash it and use it doesn't mean you're getting the best performance out of your stone. Splashing the stone prior to use helps with getting the swarf into solution, but it'll take much longer to develop the slurry of abrasive and water. The Japanese instructions to Shaptons recommend a 6-10 minute soak prior to use - for all grits. (Some websites publish instructions that contradict these instructions - I don't know why.) Leaving a stone soaking 24/7 can be problematic for some stones, as the binders in some stones will break down with extended exposure to water. There are warnings that come with those stones. Shapton advises against extended soaking.