The C12k is the net slang for the fine Chinese river slate that is somewhere between 8 - 12k. It is quarried from the Guangxi area in China. It is an extremely hard stone very much like slate but apparently not a slate. Mine took hours to lap and I used many sheets of w/d paper and far too much energy. Mine is a very fine finishing stone.
@Draco Noir, Initially. I didn't have a Jnat but the idea of progressive slurry appealed to me so I purchased a pair of generic 3/8k and a 10k synthetic waterstones. I'm always prepared to experiment, I cut a series of 4cm slices off the stones to use as slurry stones. I lapped both sides of the Guangxi, chose the finest finishing side and used the other side for creating progressive synthetic slurries on the C12k.
With a synthetic used as a straight hone the striations are basically straight to the edge of the edge whereas with the slurry the abrasive while uniform [ish] in grit size now creates a finer finish and it is much like the frosted glass look of the nagura on a Jnat. I'm not concerned what the actual grit size is just that it is progressively finer and works significantly quicker than either a synthetic alone or the C12k on its own.
From the 10k synthetic slurry I go to the Coticule with baby oil.
In terms of pretty the Jnat edge wins hands down and the Coticule edge to me looks a lot like it was hit with a grinder. The Coticule edge though is superbly keen and sharp while wonderfully smooth. Hope that explains it
Steve
@Draco Noir, Initially. I didn't have a Jnat but the idea of progressive slurry appealed to me so I purchased a pair of generic 3/8k and a 10k synthetic waterstones. I'm always prepared to experiment, I cut a series of 4cm slices off the stones to use as slurry stones. I lapped both sides of the Guangxi, chose the finest finishing side and used the other side for creating progressive synthetic slurries on the C12k.
With a synthetic used as a straight hone the striations are basically straight to the edge of the edge whereas with the slurry the abrasive while uniform [ish] in grit size now creates a finer finish and it is much like the frosted glass look of the nagura on a Jnat. I'm not concerned what the actual grit size is just that it is progressively finer and works significantly quicker than either a synthetic alone or the C12k on its own.
From the 10k synthetic slurry I go to the Coticule with baby oil.
In terms of pretty the Jnat edge wins hands down and the Coticule edge to me looks a lot like it was hit with a grinder. The Coticule edge though is superbly keen and sharp while wonderfully smooth. Hope that explains it
Steve
