Please help me choose!

[Bramm]

Hi All, I'm Bram and I recently took up the hobby again since about 10 year ago. As you can see in the picture I like natural hones. I use the course dmt for big corrections during restoration. I like the chocera 1k and than usually go to a coticule on slurry and choose one of the finishers. This works... Sometimes... It a bit of a hit and miss kind of thing and I have been involving to many variables to get consistent. So I think I would benefit from a 3k and 8 or up k synthetic. I've been trying to make a decision on that for the past couple of weeks but I keep on doubting because of the amount of choice, I know I want a splash and go kind of stone. What would you do?

And being kind of a bargain hunter, I see some very wallet friendly Skerper glass stones, are they any good?

 

[Legion]

I like Shapton Glass stones for splash and go.

 

[Wid]

One of the most versatile synthetic stones I have is the Suehiro 10K. I’ve went from the Chosera 1K to it with slurry and had good results. I do however like to go to the Naniwa 5K Pro better as a stepping stone to the Suehiro.

Unless I was wanting a 3 and 5K I’d stick with the coticule with slurry for all the low/middle work.

 

[Wid]

There’s a nice set of synthetics on BST right now.

 

[helicopter]

My vote is Shapton Rockstar 3k and 10k. 3k and 8k would also be great. Avoid the 16k.

 

[Bramm]

There’s a nice set of synthetics on BST right now.

What is BST ?

I do read a lot of good stories about the Suehiro 10K, if it would be half the price and wouldn't require intercontinental shipping I think I would go for it.

I was thinking towards the shapton glass 3k and the naniwa snow White 8k. Do you shave directly of the Rockstar 10 k ?

 

[silverlifter]

What is BST ?

Buy- Sell- Trade

This forum is to Buy, Sell and trade gear in a non commercial way to fellow enthusiasts.

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[JPO]

Do you shave directly of the Rockstar 10 k ?

I shave really well off the Rock star 10k. The Suehiro 10K does have more range, but the end result is more or less the same.
The Suehiro 10K is really nice, but you can get a few Rock Star stones for the same price.

 

[helicopter]

What is BST ?

I do read a lot of good stories about the Suehiro 10K, if it would be half the price and wouldn't require intercontinental shipping I think I would go for it.

I was thinking towards the shapton glass 3k and the naniwa snow White 8k. Do you shave directly of the Rockstar 10 k ?

I am a novice, but have gotten my best shaving edges off Rockstar 8k and 10k. I couldn't get an acceptable edge off the 16k, and I returned it.

I think i recall Shapton only recommends their 1k, 3k, and 10k for straights, since some of the other stones can have gritty clumps of abrasives.

 

[Tomo]

There is an art to using Coticules. Some people have the right touch for them and others don’t. For me they have been hit and miss (mostly miss). A synthetic progression on the other hand is very predictable. It’s the foundation of a good honing set up. With what you have I second the 3k and 10k Rockstars. 1k, 3k, 10k will take you all the way from bevel set to finish. The 10k Rockstar is a nice shaving edge. From there you can easily jump to any natural finisher if you choose to do so. The Charnley Forest is one of my favorites.

 

[GreazyThumbs]

I have had good success with the Naninwa Super Stones, you can give them a good look.

 

[H Brad Boonshaft]

First don’t gamble with an unproven stone maker.

Do you plan to hone off a Natural?

If so, you do not need a super synthetic finisher, you can get away with a $20 King 6k and finish on a natural. A Shapton 5k is $65.

 

[helicopter]

What is BST ?

I do read a lot of good stories about the Suehiro 10K, if it would be half the price and wouldn't require intercontinental shipping I think I would go for it.

I was thinking towards the shapton glass 3k and the naniwa snow White 8k. Do you shave directly of the Rockstar 10 k ?

If you are paying in Dollars, intercontinental shipping is the way to go for the best pricing on most Japanese goods and a lot of European goods. Retail prices haven't caught up with the strong Dollar. I have gotten great prices on Rockstars from Amazon Japan.

 

[Bramm]

Thanks for all the replies

I'm located in Europe, the Netherlands. Of course at some point I want to go back to naturals. But I think it's best to first get consistent on the synthetics so I can start to properly evaluate my natural stones.

For instance, you can see this very nice looking Charnley forest hone in the bunch, I know it should be quite capable but I haven't managed te get a decent shave from it, probably because I messed up well before going to this stone

 

[Legion]

Thanks for all the replies

I'm located in Europe, the Netherlands. Of course at some point I want to go back to naturals. But I think it's best to first get consistent on the synthetics so I can start to properly evaluate my natural stones.

For instance, you can see this very nice looking Charnley forest hone in the bunch, I know it should be quite capable but I haven't managed te get a decent shave from it, probably because I messed up well before going to this stone

Sounds like there is a consensus, of sorts, on the rockstar 10k. Perhaps start with that, learn it. Get good shaves with it, and then when the opportunity, budget, etc arrises, pick up and play with various naturals to see if you can improve on it.

If you have a fail, back to the 10k and try another. That 10k stone could be a nice factory reset, so you can consistently test other things after it.

 

[Saloogie]

First don’t gamble with an unproven stone maker.

Do you plan to hone off a Natural?

If so, you do not need a super synthetic finisher, you can get away with a $20 King 6k and finish on a natural. A Shapton 5k is $65.

I second the King 6k. It's probably the cheapest synthetic around and I can get a nice shaveable edge from it. From there I can move onto a natural stone to see if it improves the edge, but if not, it makes a nice edge on its own.

 

[kamp]

I also live in the Netherlands and if you like @Bramm you can contact me I can help you with either honing or i also have a 2 Naniwa super stones which might fit you a combination 3/10 and a 5k which i can sell for a good price because i upgraded to a Pro and Gouken serie.

If you are intrested in either send me a DM

 

[kcb5150]

Don't buy cheap no name synths... Buy once, cry once.. Honestly, buy a 3k second hand and don't cry at all...

 

[Bramm]

Don't buy cheap no name synths... Buy once, cry once.. Honestly, buy a 3k second hand and don't cry at all...

This seems like the most general consensus. I have to say that a 20 bucks (currently discounted) 3k splash and go hone is kind of hard not to buy...

 

[Bramm]

Sounds like there is a consensus, of sorts, on the rockstar 10k. Perhaps start with that, learn it. Get good shaves with it, and then when the opportunity, budget, etc arrises, pick up and play with various naturals to see if you can improve on it.

If you have a fail, back to the 10k and try another. That 10k stone could be a nice factory reset, so you can consistently test other things after it.

I see the consensus here as well, so I've been deling back in the forum and I see indeed a lot of people that settled on the Rockstar 10k, but I read less enthusiasm than with the snow white...


I got the feeling that there are very few bad choices when I'm sticking to the main known brands and that a naniwa or shapton in the 8-10 k range should be fine