This guy explains Shapton Pro vs Shapton Glass. VERY HELPFUL TO ME.

Wowbagger

Wowbagger

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That about covers it.
Fell asleep on the couch; woke up in the wee hours; what to do ? Wy watch YouTube sharpening videos right ?
Anyway I have always just ignored the glass stones other than what I HAD to buy if I wanted Shapton for my Edge Pro. Jason and others have tried to educate me that they are very different stones; I am just beginning to pay attention. I always thought they were just a rip off because they were so thin and aimed at the amateur market who doesn't sharpen much and wants the good Shapton performance for less money or some stuff. Any way that was what was in my head.

I think this channel is a good eye opener.
and I agree the 120 Pro is a great stone. I might get a Glass 320 one of these days.
Enjoy.

PS: until now I figured the ONLY full size Shapton Glass stone I would ever buy would be a 30,000. $300 and something vs $600 and something. There's that cost savings I spoke of.
I never bought a 30,000 though . . . I mean who really NEEEEDS that right ? Just a toy to fool around with.

320 though . . . with low wear, great feed back and producing seriously usable edges right off that one stone . . . I could go there.
 
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The SG320 is good like he says and you can get some very good edges right from the stone. This is pretty much true with all the Shapton Glass stones though. The SG120 is a bit of an odd duck but I find surface prep of this stone to be critical to its use. The 120 to 320 Glass are all recommended to be lapped with Silicon Carbide powder and I would be guessing thats more for surface texture than anything.

I think he confuses some things though, he continually mentions steel hardness but does not note steel type or alloy content. This is important because these stones are formulated for different steels and alloy contents so simply stating hardness of knives sharpened does not give you a proper gauge of stone performance.

The Shapton Pro stones are Harder and release abrasive slower, they are formulated for more basic alloy blends of stainless and carbon steel. The Pro line is special in that each stone is formulated for a specific task which you can read about here https://jendeindustries.wordpress.c...oduction-to-the-shapton-pro-and-glass-series/

The Glass series is considered Softer and releases abrasive faster allowing them to cut faster. This is where the density difference comes in, the Glass stones are more dense than the pro stones making them seem harder yet still called "softer" because they wear quicker. Its something that confused the crap out of me until I experienced both sets.

The Glass stones don't have the same specific stone to steel formulation as the Pro's, they are simply made to be able to sharpen very hard and highly alloyed steels. These stones were originally made for the specific purpose of sharpening high end wood working chisels and that is why they are hard and promote flatness so much in the advertising. I've used my Glass stones a few times on chisels and they really do become different stones, they just work so well on everything else they have become adapted to sharpening many different cutting tools. (The chart lower down in the link provided shows the recommended uses for the Glass stones. Truthfully, I don't know what to make of it. Also, don't pay attention to the JP Gray stones, no longer being made AFAIK.)
 
I don't have the 320 but I have the 500 and it is by far the nicest coarse stone I ever used. I'm seriously considering switching to an all glass set. Compared to a lot of other water stone they produce such precise and flat bevel. Some don't like the feel, I just love it, hard and precise. You remove metal exactly where pressure is applied.
 
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