Right now, I have the 50 through 1k diamond paddles and the 1200/1600 ceramic paddles. The ceramic paddles have been a major disappointment from day 1, have already been replaced once, and now are coming loose a second time, so I’m done with them. For sharpening my woodworking tools, I recently started buying the full-sized Shapton Pros/Kuromaku and have been quite favorably impressed. I’d like to try some of the Shapton stones for the WEPS from Jende but the high price means I really need to pick the right setup on the first try. If I’m coming off the WEPS 1000 Diamond (supposedly 7.0u), the next step “up” would be the 5k Shaptons (at 2.9u). This step change in micron rating is a little large but a lot of people do make jumps that big. However, I’ve seen a number of places say that, due to the change in character of the scratches between different abrasives, making a lateral move is often better. Going instead to the Shapton 2k (at 7.4u) would be a tiny step back, which might make sense according to some.
So, if I’m coming off the 1k diamonds, is it best to order a 2k/5k pair or a 5k/8k pair of Shaptons to replace my 1.2k/1.6 ceramic paddles? The 2k/5k seems like a little waste of money because it duplicates what the 1k diamonds can do (scratch size wise) but at the same time I don’t want to get the 5k/8k pair and find out it takes hours of work to make the jump from the 1k diamonds to the 5k Shapton.
What do you guys think?
.
