Any suggestions for my first hones?

[nlpotts]

I have (thanks to the members here at B&B) gotten the desire to take up straights. I have two that I use on a semi-regular basis. Gotten decent with them. I have 3 others that I would like to give a go, but I want to hone them myself. One is a wedge, one hollow, and one a wedge/hollow hybrid (simmons hardware no. 8 special). So I want to hone them myself, which means I first need a set of hones to fit the bill. There are really only two conditions.
1. I want to keep it semi-reasonable for the cost.
2. I want to stick with natural stones.
I know there are drawback to starting off with natural hones. Like the inconsistency in the stone itself, but I am willing to accept that to stick with natural stones. And I also know that at first I will probably have to work harder due to steps in the progression of stone that may have to be bypassed due to funds. I have looked at the set of Arkansas stones from http://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/Arkansas-Stones-C96.aspx. In particular a soft, hard and translucent Arkansas. But, these are only my nieve views. I was hoping to draw from your wealth of knowledge and experience. I am willing to take the time to learn, but if you want help lessen the pain of the learning curve, that would be great.

 

[jodypress]

I've not got any experience of Arkansas stones but can give you my opinion from when I was a noobie with the stones a year ago. I too felt I wanted to go down the natural route and bought a Coticule bout. Lovely stone and I tried different methods (unicot etc) and I just never got the hang of it. I realised that to set a bevel I'd need a 1k. So I bought a King 1k/6k and had some success but I wasn't convinced with the Coti.
Earlier this year I picked up a set of Naniwa SS. A 1k, 3k/8k combo and a 12k. Wow what a difference. Learning on a synthetic stone is so much easier. You have a good level of consistency to learn from and I feel ready to try out my coti again someday.

 

[MarkO]

Get yourself a coticule a 125mm x 40mm are sold at a affordable price and if your willing to read and watch vids you'll pick it up quick enough.

Mark

 

[buca3152]

Naturals are great but unless you have a mentor to show you or are not in a rush, synthetics to learn on are much easier. Advice can be given easier on a forum as synthetics are consistent. Chosera 1k(you will love the stone, everyone does) and a Norton 4/8 combo. This will allow you to hone just about anything. When you learn the Norton and have the skills and hands for it, sell the Norton (you may lose like $15 on the whole deal) and get a coti. Once you get that down, you may wish to experiment with the various naturals. Good luck. This is a great place to learn as the members here are very helpful. BST and hobbyist forum has deals occasionally on hones so you may hit a home run. Keep us posted on your progress!

 

[Steve56]

Numbers one and two are in a way at odds with each other. Good natural stones tend to run on the high side compared to synthetics. As noted, there can be more of a learning curve involved, especially with a grit-limited stone like a coticule where technique makes up for the grit difference between it and a finer grit hone.

i believe most of us use synthetics for bevel setting and many through mid grits before moving to natural finishers. I've recently switched to a Hakka (natural) for a mid-grit hone, but you could get a synthetic of the same grit for much, much less.

So my advice for starting out is to start off with synthetics through your mid grits, say 5k and below, then switch to a natural finisher. A coticule works, but not all are the finest finishers (as is true of other naturals). I'd give Alex at Japan Blade or Maksim at JNS a call and tell them what you're doing and see what they recommend in a price range you're comfortable with. The Japanese finishers are to me, easier to use than flogging a coticule for a final finish, though the techniques are similar. It's just easier if the finisher is finer and cuts well.

Don't forget a flattening mechanism (Atoma plate, sandpaper and glass, DMT, etc) and might as well get a nagura while you're at it.

Cheers, Steve

 

[nlpotts]

Learning on a synthetic stone is so much easier.

While I know this is odd, this is exactly what I am trying to avoid. I want the challenge, I want to see what I can do. I tend to, when things are easy, get very bored very quickly and drop it all together. Example of this, I am taking a few classes right now I have a high A, low A and a C. I really don't care about the classes that have the A's. I actually want to drop them. Especially the high A. But the class with the C, I'm loving it. Plus, let's be honest. If I really wanted to take the easy route, would I be using a straight? But I do appreciate all of your advice and the time you have taken to read and reply to my post.

 

[Brooksie967]

Swap the norton 4/8 for the naniwa 3k/8k combo if you choose to go synthetic.