Several of my finer Shapton stones have regularly spaced streaks going across their faces. I’ve included photos of my 4000 and 8000 grits. When I’m honing across the streaks, I can feel a difference in friction / resistance. Is this a normal part of how Shapton fabricates its stones? Or is this a defect?
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I have used Shapton Stones for years and never experienced this. Does it go away when you flatten the stones? Are you storing something on top of the stones? See rectangular marks at top and bottom.
I checked and the lines correspond to ridges in the Shapton plastic storage cases. Looks like I need to clean the cases better and flatten the stones even more aggressively. Thanks for the reply.
I suspect, from the pictures and your description, that either your stone or the plastic case are wet when you store the stone. Water remaining on the stone when you store it will cause softening. I simply give a final squirt of water to the stone when done sharpening to wash off any residual metallic swarf, then dry with a clean rag before putting it to bed it in the dry plastic case.
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