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Are these stones worth the risk?

I know it's hard to tell just by looking at some pictures if the stones are good or not, but the seller is trying to get rid of them really cheap and i'm asking for a second opinion. Obviously, the razor is worthless and it's not even fit for honing practice.

190908793_3973758182670972_1591955560511667334_n.jpg
 
If pic 2 and 3 are different sides of the same stone that one is probably a Coticule.
4th and 5th different sides of the same stone - don't know but the purple side looks like a BBW black maybe slate backing but not sure.
Last one looks like an Arkansas for course work.
Any side photos and sizes?
 
If pic 2 and 3 are different sides of the same stone that one is probably a Coticule.
4th and 5th different sides of the same stone - don't know but the purple side looks like a BBW black maybe slate backing but not sure.
Last one looks like an Arkansas for course work.
Any side photos and sizes?

I will ask him.


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That stone looks completely different from the ones above and larger.
Photos are just not very good for identification unless they are very clear with different angles.
 

Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
Well, if the worst ripoff you ever get on stones is $25 you are doing pretty good. I am sort of wondering if the two on the left aren't coticules. If you have it to spare, I wouldn't blame you if you went for it. You will get your money's worth in entertainment value at least. You will spend hours just lapping those rocks and giving them a go. Right, the razor isn't worth anything but yeah you can rub it on a rock and study scratches, at least. Meh. I would go for it. I have always liked cheap.
 
Well, if the worst ripoff you ever get on stones is $25 you are doing pretty good. I am sort of wondering if the two on the left aren't coticules. If you have it to spare, I wouldn't blame you if you went for it. You will get your money's worth in entertainment value at least. You will spend hours just lapping those rocks and giving them a go. Right, the razor isn't worth anything but yeah you can rub it on a rock and study scratches, at least. Meh. I would go for it. I have always liked cheap.


What do you think about the big one with the two sides? The seller also said that the middle stone also has two sides, so how bad could those stones be for 25$? My guess is that he found them with the razor somewhere and he's trying to get rid of them and I doubt he knows anything about stones either.
 
My 2 cents,, i say no
Recommend buying from rep recommended vendor or seller

Stones could damaged a razor especially if not made for razors and especially if not flat smooth for honing

Nothing in pics peep my interest

I have 2 jnats that have their own description pages on web and purchased from amazing vendors and are verifiable stones and work flawlessly

Worth paying and getting a good stone
 
My 2 cents,, i say no
Recommend buying from rep recommended vendor or seller

Stones could damaged a razor especially if not made for razors and especially if not flat smooth for honing

Nothing in pics peep my interest

I have 2 jnats that have their own description pages on web and purchased from amazing vendors and are verifiable stones and work flawlessly

Worth paying and getting a good stone


Is there any way I can test a random stone if it's good enough for straight razors?
 
Is there any way I can test a random stone if it's good enough for straight razors?
Yes. Use it. Observe the scratch patterns. How fast or slow it cuts. Some stones can tear an edge up. My routine on a new stone is to do 100 half strokes on an expendible razor and see. Feel for resistance and how scratchy it feels. Look at the edge. If you develop an even scratch pattern then you look at the edge and see where in the progression the stone fits. If it's very fine we'll the stone is very fine. If the lines are coarse then it's a lower grit. It isn't rocket science. Testing them against known synthetics will give you a more accurate understanding of what the stone can do. Many stones are.made for tools. Most stones aren't made for razors as most tools.dont require that refined an edge. Push cutting is vegetable chopping and shaving. You need a refined edge to do that. Toothy edge tools generally excel at slicing tasks.
 
Thats were rep dealers and recommended vendors come in at as vendors i used have knowledge of stones and test them prior to sell,,,,
Im still new but i would only buy from rep dealers or trusted members
 
Oh!

I was looking at the question 'are these stones worth it?' in a general sense and was thinking that if you didn't have many stones these would be worth $25 shipped, but I was thinking more along the lines of knife sharpening.

If you're specifically looking for stones for straight razors, these look like a really bad bet to me.
 

Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
My 2 cents,, i say no
Recommend buying from rep recommended vendor or seller

Stones could damaged a razor especially if not made for razors and especially if not flat smooth for honing

Nothing in pics peep my interest

I have 2 jnats that have their own description pages on web and purchased from amazing vendors and are verifiable stones and work flawlessly

Worth paying and getting a good stone
Damage the razor? If the stones are lapped and used judiciously I don't see any harm coming from them. Anyway he has a perfect guinea pig in the worn out beater razor that comes with them. $25. If I had time on my hands I would jump right in there and snag that myself. Or maybe not. I got enough rocks that I don't use already. But still, $25. I have spent more than that on a lot of useless or even harmful stuff.
 
Here is my opinion, at 25 bucks if they dont pan out you can at least use them for kitchen knife duty or sharpeing a hatchet/axe. I have purchased 1 or 2 mystery stones and one is relegated for axe/hatchet duty (and works awsome I might add) and another one works great on my henckles kitchen knives.

Larry
 
What risk?
That they don't perform as well as $25 worth of stone should?
If you wanna play, a $25 dollar entrance fee is chump change.
I've bought stones to 'check out' for more than that and some of them got tossed. Written off as a learning experience.
But if I needed a hone, because i didn't have one, I would not buy a pig in a poke.
Everything is relative to something else.

The real question is, what are you looking to get out of the investment?
"Is this worth it" depends on the person who's buying and what sort of value they put on all of it. I look at that pile of stuff and don't get motivated. But I'm me, and someone else is not me. Another person might see gold in them thar hills. To me, if I wanted what any of those stone might be, I'd choose way less involved and more secure/certain ways of getting/finding what I am looking for.

Can an unknown stone wind up damaging a razor?
Maybe, yeah, possibly - but I think more people have damaged more razors than any stones ever have so that's the first thing.
Second thing is, even known stones can damage a blade; Thuringian hones with toxic inclusions are uncommon, but not unheard of. Many naturals bear the burden of some sort of liability occurring throughout their respective lineages.
So, I'd suggest not putting a mint 8/8 1940 Fritz B Dovo on any of them until they're sorted out. Generally speaking, I test unknown stones by sharpening tools or knives first. Cleaning a stone and lapping it usually helps sort things out too, to some degree.
 
Most razors are carbon steel and are softer than many knives. Not all as some are harder steel. And have different composition. The difference between sharpening a relatively soft carbon steel razor and k390 or m4 among.others is tremendous. If your sharpening your edc which is made of the harder steels, you may be out of luck as the vanadium in the steel may be harder than the stones you have here. I've seen guys use a brick or.cinder.block to put a working edge on a.carbon steel knife. Not recommended btw. But you won't be able to do.that with many steels found in modern pocket knives.
 
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