Show Us Your Combis

[cotedupy]

It is an oft-quoted fact that if you take two excellent whetstones and glue them together; then the resulting combination stone isn't just twice as cool, it's actually 4x the level of awesome. And naturally occurring combis are just off the scale.

Synthetic, natural, half n half, or homemade, let's see 'em all...

 

[cotedupy]

The very first whetstone I ever bought was a combi, and she was dreamy. This is the only picture I still have of her, the utterly excellent Cerax 1k/3k:

These next two are very strong contenders for the greatest whetstone ever made, the Norton Crystolon and India Coarse n Fines:

Until they came up with something arguably even better, by glue-ing a Coarse India to a Washita instead:

Taking that idea and running with it - here is a Washita x Coarse SiC:

 

[cotedupy]

OG:

 

[cotedupy]

It is said in Scotland that a single sharpening stone can actually die of loneliness.

Here is a far happier To'S x WoA Dual Hone:

And a blue Tam that I stuck onto a piece of BBW:

 

[cotedupy]

Made possible of course, by something I use perhaps more than anything else - the mighty Atoma 140 x 400 combi:

 

[Legion]

How about a little LPB action?

 

[Legion]

I haven’t actually glued it yet, but I was considering this Washita/trans Ark double bill.

 

[cotedupy]

I haven’t actually glued it yet, but I was considering this Washita/trans Ark double bill.

View attachment 1493183

If I had a spare trans ark I’d be doing this in a heartbeat. Superb one-stop-shop razor hone I imagine.

 

[cotedupy]

Apart from the Belgians this is the only stone I have that I’d call a natural combi. An old Turkish that happened to be cut along two distinct layers, the lighter side being a little softer and coarser than the dark.

 

[rbscebu]

I'm not a great fan of combies although I do have and use some (synthetics). My problem is that I worry about cross contamination of the grits between each side.

 

[Legion]

I'm not a great fan of combies although I do have and use some (synthetics). My problem is that I worry about cross contamination of the grits between each side.

Stones don’t really work that way, especially natural ones. If a stone was to release particles enough to travel down to the other side, they would quickly get removed from the surface of the other stone, along with the swarf.

If a stone was to retain slurry from another stone, it would tend to be from a finer stone, so no worries.

 

[kcb5150]

11.5x2.5 Norton combo fine no India smoke black hard Arkansas.

 

[cotedupy]

I'm not a great fan of combies although I do have and use some (synthetics). My problem is that I worry about cross contamination of the grits between each side.

As David said - this shouldn't really be a concern, it's not really any different than using any two stones in a progression.

Embrace the combi love!

11.5x2.5 Norton combo fine no India smoke black hard Arkansas.

Well that's cool isn't it. Must have been a custom order for someone do you reckon...?

 

[kcb5150]

I think it used to be a special order on the price list

 

[kcb5150]

9x3 scotch dual. One side snakestone style tam, other a gorgeous dalmore

9x3 dual one side white tam, and back is dalmore.

Group shot with another dual. Small dual idk what they would have classes the back as but it is like the dark material you can get on a natural combo tam

 

[David]

11.5x2.5 Norton combo fine no India smoke black hard Arkansas. View attachment 1493216View attachment 1493217View attachment 1493218

The knife tamer. Loves those things. Never managed to get my hands on one.

 

[2bit_collie]

9x3 scotch dual. One side snakestone style tam, other a gorgeous dalmore
View attachment 1493246View attachment 1493247View attachment 1493248

9x3 dual one side white tam, and back is dalmore. View attachment 1493249View attachment 1493250View attachment 1493251
Group shot with another dual. Small dual idk what they would have classes the back as but it is like the dark material you can get on a natural combo tamView attachment 1493252View attachment 1493253

Some beautiful stones there!

 

[captaincaed]

11.5x2.5 Norton combo fine no India smoke black hard Arkansas. View attachment 1493216View attachment 1493217View attachment 1493218

What a beast!

 

[Alum of Potash]

I've moved in the direction of lapping my Arkansas stones differently on each face, so that sort of precludes their being used as combo stones. That said, there are some lovely pictures on this thread. I have quite a few combo stones, but nothing as nice at what's been posted. Here are a couple of shots of two combo stones in my travel set-up that I really like.

The first is a Suehiro 1000/3000 combo, 40mm x 130mm. And the second is a no. 7 bout natural combo, a little bit smaller overall than the Suehiro combo. I really like this line of Suehiro combos (made in larger formats as well); they're also quite inexpensive for what they deliver. Interesting too is that the coloration is different than the Cerax that @cotedupy shows. I have seen other "Cerax" 1000/3000 colored light blue like my Suehiros. The natural bout combo has a BBW side and "nouvelle vein" coticule side. Really nice results with this one, although the coticule side feels as though one were honing on a scrub board! (Other players as shown are a coarse DMT for lapping, a fine DMT for chips and reshaping, and a small piece of Welsh purple slate used with oil for a little bit of final finishing off the coticule as needed.)

 

[Sando]

I picked up this Shapton combo from Gamma several years ago. She’s a workhorse. I use the 1k as needed but prefer the 1.5k feedback.