I have been looking for a hone. I am brand new and have a pro sharpened razor and looking for something for touchups and routine blade sharpening/maintenance. I have heard good things about the chinese 12K stones. Woodcraft.com has them for $20 (shipped). Can anyone give me an idea if this is a good deal? Thanks.
Good buy on hone?
- Thread starter Bevo
- Start date
Bart and Paul gave a bunch of us neophytes an excellent set of information on hones in this thread.
They can be had on eBay pre-lapped, chamfered, with a slurry stone, and shipped for $22.99. It takes a little while to come in though, so patience comes with the price.
I think the C12k gives a great edge, but the tradeoff is that it is very slow. When I used to use mine, I did 100 laps. More laps is no big deal, if you have time and if you have a good honing stroke. If you do not have a good honing stroke, more laps = more chances for something to go wrong. On the upside, more strokes gives you more practice with your stroke too.
Personally, I think the Ch12k is a great beginner stone. Cheap, but gives a good edge, and if you lap it once you're set for life.
For the price you can't beat it. I really learned a lot using mine, and I just found out today that going off the 12k to 8 laps on a balsa CrOx strop, I can get an edge that's a reasonable facsimile of richmondesi's Shapton 30k (ok not quite that awesome but still pretty darn good). That's $50 total, vs the cost of that 30k which is about $300 IIRC.
