Shapton Pro 1500: First impressions/comparison with pics

[daveb]

this is all just a big nerd thread and of course ymmv because a lot of it is feeling based

Fixed that for you Snake

 

[ModRQC]

That's great information for all who interested in the Pro 1.5k, thanks for sharing it! Interesting about the porosity, porosity and drying time. I wish it was more similar to the 2k in this regard.

Could one of you guys that have the stone maybe compare the tactile feel / hand feel of this stone to the Pro 1k, Pro 2k or Chosera 800 a bit more?

The 1.5 is really not a problem with drying. It does act a bit more like SP320, but any Shapton Pro still dries pretty fast, and watermarking isn't something that will lead to problems in my experience.

Porosity was a suggestion I made as to the behavior of the stone compared to its siblings. Softer, releases more abrasive, is a tremendous stone with some mud. Then again, I like mud on SPs. Never really bothered conditioning the SP320 - I think what that one really needs is just enough water not to clog, then it pretty much behaves as it should regarding to the activity involved. And for SP1K, never bothered because I think what works for it is how uncomplicated it is, and with little water you get a working slurry that's feeling great, and "softens" the feeling just enough to be more comfortable.

But for the SP1500, 2K, 5K, definitely raising some mud first is what I do. They're all still usable without doing so, and have some virtues there, but really, even where the 1.5 and 2K are much nicer feeling that SP1K as is, raising mud on them is paradise. As for the SP5K, raising mud is the difference between hating that stone, and learning to respect and love it. It's glassiness and lack of feedback are utterly transformed into creamy hard response and just that nice amount of tactility.

 

[ModRQC]

Thanks for taking the time to write this up.

Like others upthread, I already have the SP1000, and SP2000, (and several others) and wondering if it makes sense to add another. I do a lot of Germans for friends and might try it in that application.

It's not lost on me that the SP1000 and 2000 are $40ish each on Amazon, while the SP1500 is $75 so saving money by buying one stone vice two is not very compelling.

That's strange.

Don't Amazon these, then, but I don't understand, I got the SP1500 for a price in line with its grit as to the rest of the SP lineup. Either Amazon.ca or Paul's Finest in Canada had reasonable prices. SP1K and 2K might tend to be a tad less expensive than SP1500 generally, but not in any way close to being able to say I could get two for the price of the one.

 

[SolidSnake03]

The Shapton Pro 1.5k is $45 on the site that will not be named. I’m not advocating buying there but other places not Amazon have it more in line price wise

thanks for the fix Dave as you are entirely correct on that haha

agree on mud on the 1.5 and 2k for sure, I always make up a mud for those (when I had the 2k that is). Really helps in feeling. Admittedly I never held onto the 5k long enough to really experiment with mud on it but definitely sounds like it would have helped. I had it earlier in my sharpening and wasn’t as knowledge then in terms of mud, stone feeling etc... just that it was too glassy and sterile for me at the time.

 

[daveb]

I had it earlier in my sharpening and wasn’t as knowledge then in terms of mud, stone feeling etc... just that it was too glassy and sterile for me at the time.

I thought I was the only one that found that the stones get better as I get better.....

 

[ModRQC]

The Shapton Pro 1.5k is $45 on the site that will not be named. I’m not advocating buying there but other places not Amazon have it more in line price wise

thanks for the fix Dave as you are entirely correct on that haha

agree on mud on the 1.5 and 2k for sure, I always make up a mud for those (when I had the 2k that is). Really helps in feeling. Admittedly I never held onto the 5k long enough to really experiment with mud on it but definitely sounds like it would have helped. I had it earlier in my sharpening and wasn’t as knowledge then in terms of mud, stone feeling etc... just that it was too glassy and sterile for me at the time.

It was part of my very first stone lineup. I learned to use it as I used SP320 and SP1K.

As soon as I had the Rika, I didn't touch the SP5000 anymore for a couple of months at least. By then, I had experimented with different stones - the creamier NP800, the full muddy and dishy Cerax #320, the SP2000 that felt so much righter than SP1K or SP5K.

My experience with various stones just taught me a very simple basic: use from clean, see how it goes, then try with mud, especially when the stone feels rather poorly working from clean. I don't even look at a stone basic requirements anymore. I soak any stone, and those that bubble a lot, stay soaked for a longer period, with which I will experiment if the stone is really thirsty, but otherwise if water management is ok, then 20-30 minutes soak does it. S&Gs, once proven that soaking is useless, are abundantly rinsed before being put to work. The best of them, after the initial splash, I can work my deeds without any more water, and I like that. Then again, doable also with muddier and thirstier stone, it's always a matter of helping the stone getting a better feedback. Usually the better feedback corresponds well with the plateau of the stone - where it really exhibits its best behavior with minimal involvement.

Edit: what I luuuuuv with S&Gs is using from clean to get that dark slurry that follows the blade everywhere; then couple drops of water if needed, raise mud with the atoma being careful not to evacuate swarf, and mix the result with my finger spreading it all over. Even the creamy NP800 is much more sexier this way. Slows the stones some, but not so much, especially if working with pressure level. But to me, raising mud comes after getting the burr with pressure level; it's where I evade, have a little moment with the stone where burr and amount of passes doesn't matter anymore, until the very last couple of edge leading strokes to deburr. Some stones like to be cleaned by then, others slurry should be kept on even then.

 

[KingShapton]

Yeah I’m a big chosera fanboy when it comes to feeling. They rank up there with King for me in terms of my favorite feeling stones but that is highly highly subjective.

Subjectively, my favorites consist of the 2 sides of a coin ..

Shapton Pro and Glass on one side, King on the other. And that for different reasons / applications. Occasionally (for me) outstanding stones from other manufacturers move in between, but these are individual stones.

And I better not talk about natural stones now ...

But, as you have said so correctly, that is a very personal feeling and that is one of the nice things about this hobby.

 

[SolidSnake03]

Agree the personal tastes and aspects of it are so very interesting in a good way, makes it much much more fun. It’s interesting how our feelings on stones and stuff changed as well as skill increases and time progresses. I remember thinking anything by King wasn’t worth the time or the mess... but that was before I perma soaked them and learned to love the feedback and communication of those stones and tried the Hypers too. Now it’s a whole different story and I love my 1200 Deluxe. Planning to try the Hyper 1000 soft and the 2000 too sometime, like whenever the next mtc sale is haha.

point is, it’s interesting how feelings change with time and skill and how new things adjust and realign our perspective. The Nanohone stones may make me change my feelings on the pro and glass stones, or they may make me feel more strongly how good a value those Shaptons are, time will tell

 

[stringer]

I have the SP1000 and the SP1500. I have a SG2000 but I have never used the SP2000 so I can't comment on that. In my experience the SP1000 is quite a bit softer than the SP1500 and way softer than the SG2000. It cuts a bit faster and it dishes faster. The SP1000 scratch pattern is less consistent than the 1500 and quite a bit more coarse looking. The SP1000 would be my preference for softer stainless because it doesn't glaze as easy and cuts faster. I primarily use my 1000 as a stone for doing work on coworkers cheap knives that don't need chip repair, thinning, or reprofiling. After that I go to a Naniwa Super Stone 2K and I'm done.

The SP1500 I use primarily as a razor bevel cutter. I have been experimenting with it a little for single/wide/convex bevel carbon knives. But I can't comment much except that it polishes evenly with out getting as much of that contrast killing shine that comes from the finer shapton offerings.

With razors, you are moving so much less material that I don't care that the 1500 is a bit slower or glazes more easily. It's more important that it dishes slower and that it polishes the bevels better than the 1000 without giving up too much speed. From there I go to naturals usually coticule and then ark or jasper. The more inconsistent scratch pattern of the 1K is not ideal for razors. The 1K is quicker to set the bevel but then it takes more work to polish and finish it up nicely.

TLDR - I like the SP1000 for sharpening stainless or stainless clad that doesn't need major work.

The SP1500 I like for cutting bevels on straight razors.

 

[ModRQC]

UPDATE

Just a quick word about using the SP1K in a full progression for my Shi.Han, and raising mud like I do with the SP1500-2K-5K.

Raising mud, sharpening some:

Bit of finger mixing the resulting mud with water for some more polishing of the edge - just throwing concepts to the stone as I'm trying this, because I already knew I wouldn't be coming back to this stage for this stone...

As I willingly raised mud on this stone, I remembered I had tried this back when I was still relatively noob with stones - in the beginning of me discovering the use of mud with SP2K and 5K, like mid-summer 2020. I remembered why I never did it again until now, and why I had forgotten to remember: raising mud on that stone is rather painful for little amounts you get, it does give the stone some additional tactility, but at the cost of that mud having the stone dry way faster, and cut somewhat slower. It doesn't suit it enough neither that you'll want to lose yourself into sharpening on feeling. It's just adding a lot of pain to the use of a stone that is perhaps the most straightforward, simple, efficient stone I ever encountered.

First pic, you can see how little mud, and how it just wants to clump already, first sign of drying...
Second pic, dried out zones, a bit of clumped mud at places.
And despite the healthy amount of water given on the third pic...
Still drying out as I just finished what amounts to stropping more than sharpening, taking me like 1 minute.

TL;DR raising mud on SP1K, the deed of itself; will take as much time as completing a burr; managing the stone then with that mud, just the moves involved in what I did here... the stone would be clean and put to dry, next stone in prog already under sharpening, when using SP1K from clean.

Edge barely more lively, still not one I'd want to export into the kitchen... and anyway, it's just a given that SP1K is a natural born progression stone: it's goddamn fast and effective if the knife is dull, and edge will be usable, but no one serious about sharpening use this stone alone.

Shapton should slap a half 1K to a half 2K for a killer on the go combo knife reviver. Seems pointless for a combo grit prog, but with the intent of reviving a lot of different states of edges in say, a pro kitchen, and in aim of adding as little to the knife bag as possible, I'm guessing this combo would win over a LOT of folks.

 

[aikon2020]

In general I use 1k and then 5 or 6k. Sometimes ending on 3k just because I want more toothiness sometimes.

Is SP1.5K and 5K a good set to be all end all and that's it? Or is the 1k and 5k a better combo?

 

[KingShapton]

Sorry, double post

 

[KingShapton]

Is SP1.5K and 5K a good set to be all end all and that's it? Or is the 1k and 5k a better combo?

In my own experience, with the Shapton Pro it is particularly worthwhile to go from 1k (or 1.5k) to 2k and only then to 5k.

Of course you can also go directly from 1k or 1.5k to 5k, also with the Shapton Pro's, but with the 2k in between the results after the 5k are much better, really much better.

I'm only talking about the Shapton Pros, with other stones it looks different!

 

[aikon2020]

Thanks for taking the time to write this up.

Like others upthread, I already have the SP1000, and SP2000, (and several others) and wondering if it makes sense to add another. I do a lot of Germans for friends and might try it in that application.

It's not lost on me that the SP1000 and 2000 are $40ish each on Amazon, while the SP1500 is $75 so saving money by buying one stone vice two is not very compelling.

Thats why I thought that 1.5k maybe is a better stone than 1k in combination with 5k to lesser the jump a bit

 

[ModRQC]

Thats why I thought that 1.5k maybe is a better stone than 1k in combination with 5k to lesser the jump a bit

SP1K - SP5K would be a better jump than 1.5 - 5 IMO. As @KingShapton says SP2K even better, but as edge goes SP1K resembles more what SP5K aims to do. Or more aptly SP1K is an edge without much character hence keen to take whatever character came before and comes after.

Get SP2K before getting SP1.5 - really an essential SP stone where you can finish any kitchen edge, or go up. I to this day also still believe SP2K to have extraordinary edge deburring and cleaning powers that makes it a killer stone to touch up too.

 

[inferno]

i think the shapton pro 2k is one of the best stones i've ever tried. but so is the naniwa pro 2k. both killer stones imo.