Thread: Naniwa 12k Superstone

Well, I broke down and satisfied my ever growing HAD problem again with the Naniwa 12k Superstone from SRD. A great hone for the money. A great value compared to it's big brother the Chosera, which is much harder, and suitable for tools. The Naniwa 12k is a soft salmon colored stone attached to a plastic base. It will require lapping which takes minimal effort with a DMT D8XX, My weapon of choice for hones. It took about 10 mins give or take. I have an old Puma 90, rescaled, It's one of those blades that are just a problem. I've been debating on resetting the bevel as the shaves are, so, so. Instead, I used my BBW, Coti, w slurry and then did 15 passes on the Naniwa 12k. I stropped as usual and shaved.

I noticed a marked improvement to the blade. I would give this hone a Thumbs up. I will probably buy the entire line. The only weak point in the hone, is the cheap plastic base, However it still is a base. They didn't have to put one on at all, but they did, which makes it nice for honing. Some more expensive hones will have the wooden base, so I guess that's a plus too. Please understand that my ratings are based on two honing sessions. It's a 12k, so it's not that coarse, the feedback you get from it is great. It's has a bit of resistance compared to the other 12k stones I've used, more resistance than a coticule. Lynn has honed many a blade on it and lappped it each time, and say's it holds up to wear well, I'd believe Lynn...That's why a gave that area an N/A.....Thanks.....Rich

The following review is based on my experiences with the 1000 and 12000 grit stones in their line honing approximately 40 razors with them encorporated in the following sequence:

1. Norton 325 grit diamond hone
2. Naniwa 1000
3. Norton 4000
4. Norton 8000
5. Naniwa 12000
6. Nakayama Maruichi Stone

Both the 1000 and 12000 required lapping before use. Neither needs to be soaked before use, but I find the 12000 to be more thirsty and soaking helps this. These stones come set in a plastic base with rubber feet, making them very stable.

The 1000 Grit was very nice. It cuts reasonably fast and very evenly. It is not very porous and wears slowly, yet does not clog appreciably, even after a dozen razors. The feedback is a little muted for my liking, but I can live with it at this grit level. 1k hones can be found from a number of manufacturers, but this one is particularly well suited to razor honing.

The 12000 is probably the most effective hone in this grit range I have tried to date (I've tried a good half dozen hones in this range including the spyderco UF, Chinese 12k, Coticule, Escher and barber hones) It cuts fast and gives good feedback. It feels softer than one wood expect for a hone of this grit, but wears slowly. Forty razors later it has not needed lapping.
The scratch pattern under 500x magnification is fine and even. You could easily finish honing on the 12k and simply strop it to finish it off.

Honestly I'm not sure what else to say about these hones. I would recommend them to those who are looking for good solid set of hones or to anyone wanter to expand their collection. I still feel that the Norton 4k/8k would be a better deal than buying the seperate Naniwa equivalents, but below 4k and above 8k you're getting good performance.

I use the naniwa superstone 12K in my line up pretty much 90% of the time. For me it's worth every dime. Over a hundred hones later on the naniwa 12K and still loving it. My Shapton 16K, Escher or Karasu are the remaining stones I used the most.
But I frequently just finish with the naniwa superstone 12, a few swipes of cro-ox and a good leather stropping. It's the hone I've been recommending to many that ask or call me for my advise.
It's a very soft stone, dries out pretty fast and it will load up swarf pretty fast but not as quickly as the Shaptons. A few swipes on my GDLP and it's all fresh again. Highly recommended.

I have fewer than twenty stones so I am not much of a collector or expert. My most recent addition was the Naniwa 12k from SRD. It is witout a doubt my very favorite stone. Any future stone that would take its place is going to be one amazing stone. I can't wait for that one to show up.

Nani 12k is highly recommended as a finisher....... JERRY

What can I add? Not much.

I've been using the entire line now for about a month and a half. Honed about 50 razors on them so far.

Craftsmanship: Not sure exactly how to rate craftsmanship. The stone seems to be well put together, the glue has not come off, the base is nice. It puts the stone at a good height. Great for setting on a table, or you could also hand hold the stone. The plastic doesn't add any weight to the hone as far as I can tell. Probably best to table hone though. That said, the only down side to the craftsmanship is probably the cheap rubber dots. But they haven't come off my 12k yet so, I can't say anything bad about it other than they're cheap. But so is the plastic.

Wear resistance is what I expected. It neither wears like diamond, nor wears really quickly. It needs lapping every so often, but I would say that is normal. Can't complain at all.

Coarseness. I interpret coarseness to mean it is the correct coarseness for the grit/job. It gives a great polish on the edge. I would shave off of this stone. Thats not to say it doesn't get better, just that I would/could/have shaved off this stone and the shave was PDG.

Rate of Cut. I gave it a 10 because it cuts at the rate I would expect it to cut at. Not exactly sure how to rate a finishing stone's cutting ability. Can't say I would want it to cut either too quickly or too slowly. Well, lets put it this way, after 10-15 strokes, I am done on the 12k, most of the time. Thats pretty darn good IMHO.

Feedback. If the rating system had 11, I would give it to the Nani 12k. The feedback is amazing. Can't say how great the feedback is. I love it.

Not going to rate cost or collectability.

Efficacy. Going back to cutting ability, the low number of laps required just goes to show how efficient the stone is.

As a UK buyer I just bought mine from Steve at The Invisible Edge (great customer service by the way!).

This was my very first edge refresh, so take my comments as you wish.

The stone looked good fresh out of the box, but I wasnt sure what to do about the sticker which is stuck right in the middle of the stone. After a bit of anxiety, I decided that it makes no sense to hone over a plastic patch. So I fiddeled for a little bit and eventually managed to carefully remove the sticker.

After that, I placed some P400 wet and dry onto an unused glass table with a bit of water. I took a pencil and lightly marked the surface of the Naniwa. I gently rubbed the stone over the wet and dry paper, using just enough pressure to ensure full contact. It was clear that my stone was ever so sightly concave, as the pencil marks were removed from the sides before the middle. However, after just a couple of minutes of very gentle rubbing, the pencil marks were completely removed. I repeated the whole process another 2 times just to make sure (this was my frst time and I had a little anxiety about the process). Anyway, after both the second and third time, the pencil marks were off within just a few seconds, and i was completely reassured that I had done everything perfectly, and that my Naniwa was now perfectly lapped.

Incidently, after I wiped the stone and let it dry, it produced a perfect mirror shine when angled in the light. Impressive.

So I took my Wapi, in need of a light edge refresh, and carefull honed following all the advice obtained on this site. I lightly wet the stone, used slow, perfect strokes...let the weight of the blade do the work etc. The process was truely a lot easier than I had anticipated. After somewhere about 15-20 strokes I noticed that the blade felt like it was being subtley 'sucked' onto the stone. From the comments of others, I took this to mean that I was done.

I cleaned up the razor, stropped about 50 times, and then proceeded to shave. It successfully brought the edge back.

Overall, I am very happy with my purchase, and look forward to many years of good use.

I can't rate it as im a newb, but I found it easy to use and prep/lap and for a beginer thats a plus. as my finnish stone and a touch-up just followed the advice on the posts here on the forum and have got very smooth edges that make shaves smooth and comfortable atg passes

just got my 12k naniwa as a coticule honer and might i add i love the coticule. but i have to say the 12k as put a great finishing edge on my razor just as smooth but nice and sharp very impressed and highly recomend this hone is as smooth as any natural hone .

I use the 1k, 8k and 12k Naniwa's and appreciate them all very much. The 12k especially delivers great feedback and take lapping quickly with a DMT. I like the plastic base as it is very practicable considering the water. Good stone at a fair price. Although it is not necessary I follow the 12k with a translucent Arkansas. Naniwa's products are excellent in my book.

hmm .. interesting .. i haz 3k, 5k, and 8k SuperStones, bought orf da Bay of E recently, used [but stated lapped]

looks like a 12k may be in my future, cheers