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Stone source??

i just dropped my 1k norton stone and busted it. Where are you guys buying your stones? I see all kinds of brands out there. What do you guys recommend? Thanks.
 
I may be the only guy who loves my king 1k. Actually, why would anybody else love my stone? Haha. Anyhow I can only compare king and naniwa draditional 1k. It may be that I am just more familiar with the king. I've hone around 100 straights on the king and ten on the naniwa. I believe the naniwa super stones are preferred. Good luck
 
I may be the only guy who loves my king 1k. Actually, why would anybody else love my stone? Haha. Anyhow I can only compare king and naniwa draditional 1k. It may be that I am just more familiar with the king. I've hone around 100 straights on the king and ten on the naniwa. I believe the naniwa super stones are preferred. Good luck
I’ve seen Kings online. How wide are they? Thanks
 
2 1/2 x 7 I think. For the money I think it's worth a try. It does tend to take awhile to set the bevel on some razors. So the slow cutting also doesnt eat away the spine too quickly. After the king I use natural stones .
 
I have the nani 1k. Yes it works good but is a little soft, on the slower side for a 1k and will plug a little faster.
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
IMO you can’t beat a shapton kurumaku 1.5k

I don't have that stone, but I have a couple of other of these Japanese Pro Shapton stones (as opposed to Shapton US version of the Pro stone) and like them a lot.

My 1K stone is the excellent Chosera. It seems like a great stone to me, but I'm a newbie to honing and my opinion is not very informed. It just seemed to me that getting the best 1K stone I could find was prudent as setting the bevel is the basis of everything. The Chosera 1K has a million fans for good reason I'd suspect.

I am considering another stone, a coarser stone for eBay repairs, etc., perhaps a coarse Shapton Japanese Pro. These stones are priced right on Amazon, link, but prices change so you have to shop around. If I were buying again I would consider their 1.5K stone because I know their stones are very good and their prices are perhaps the best for the quality of stone you're getting at least from how it looks to me from my reading and my limited experience.

I recently bought a new stone on eBay for under a hundred dollars, a stone I've seen many places for about $150. Reputable dealer, too. Point is you have to shop around a good bit to make sure of getting a good price.

Good luck with your quest.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 
Hi all.
I've been sharpening knifes for a while and started a couple a weeks ago with straight razors.
I have a atoma 140 diamond plate for flattening stones and even coarser knife work.
I also have Naniwas proffessional/Chosera stones 600 grit and 1000 which are wonderful, they can handle both carbon and stainless steel up to atleast 65 hrc. I also have Shapton pro that are similar stones in performance as the naniwa in grits 240, 5.000, 8.000, 12.000. I strongly recomend either brand, they haven't let me down yet whatever i have thrown at them. If i was to buy a new setup today i would also consider the shapton glass stones that is splash and goes and easy to handle. I got a suehiro cerax 1000 the 2020 that is a little bit bigger than the standard version and i use it more for bevelsetting on razors. It produces more slurry and dish alot easier so it needs flattening. I like harder stones but the cerax is nice to work with, it is fast cutting and gives i nice finish and more consistent scratchmarks, but it needs soaking atleast 30-40 minutes. I recently bought a cretan hone that i'm experimenting with, so far it could replace all stones i have from 5.000 to 12.000 grit.
If you just want a stone around 1.000 grit consider the naniwa professional 800 it is the same stone that was sold under the chosera name, it is a good stone that gives very fast cutting speed and almost the same finish as 1.000 grit stones. It is a fantastic stone that i have tried.
 
Hi all.
I've been sharpening knifes for a while and started a couple a weeks ago with straight razors.
I have a atoma 140 diamond plate for flattening stones and even coarser knife work.
I also have Naniwas proffessional/Chosera stones 600 grit and 1000 which are wonderful, they can handle both carbon and stainless steel up to atleast 65 hrc. I also have Shapton pro that are similar stones in performance as the naniwa in grits 240, 5.000, 8.000, 12.000. I strongly recomend either brand, they haven't let me down yet whatever i have thrown at them. If i was to buy a new setup today i would also consider the shapton glass stones that is splash and goes and easy to handle. I got a suehiro cerax 1000 the 2020 that is a little bit bigger than the standard version and i use it more for bevelsetting on razors. It produces more slurry and dish alot easier so it needs flattening. I like harder stones but the cerax is nice to work with, it is fast cutting and gives i nice finish and more consistent scratchmarks, but it needs soaking atleast 30-40 minutes. I recently bought a cretan hone that i'm experimenting with, so far it could replace all stones i have from 5.000 to 12.000 grit.
If you just want a stone around 1.000 grit consider the naniwa professional 800 it is the same stone that was sold under the chosera name, it is a good stone that gives very fast cutting speed and almost the same finish as 1.000 grit stones. It is a fantastic stone that i have tried.
Do you set your bevel with a 1000? What is your process to get a blade shave ready? I’m new to all this shave talk. I’ve homed my own razors for years or had the old man at the barber shop hone them. Most of the money blades I have I restored. I’m looking at all these stone options and I’m liking the process everyone is talking about.
 
Do you set your bevel with a 1000? What is your process to get a blade shave ready? I’m new to all this shave talk. I’ve homed my own razors for years or had the old man at the barber shop hone them. Most of the money blades I have I restored. I’m looking at all these stone options and I’m liking the process everyone is talking about.

Hi.
To set a bevel and remove nicks in the blade i usualy use a rugher stone, i can go down to the 140 atoma with knifes, with a razor i would first try the 240 shapton pro and then move up. but that depends on how big job the object needs. I don't want to put myself in a situation where i create a bigger work for myself than needed. If it is just minor geometry fixes i would not drop to rougher grits than 600 grit. Another factor to think of is the type of steel you are going to work with, carbon or stainless, some stainless can be hard to work with especially with a softer stone.

What other stones do you have at home and what is the intended use?

//Mackis
 
@rodgaines I have a Norton 1k I'll send you if you're CONUS. If you really like the Norton PM me and I'll send it your way.
I prefer a soft Ark for bevel setting. Thing is IMHO you need to try them all and see what you like. I've tried 1.2k DMT, 1.5 Shapton, 1k Norton, but the Ark is what suits me; others swear by some of the aforementioned stones. I haven't tried a Chosera 1k so I may not know what I'm missing. As far as where to get Dan's whetstones, Sharpening Supplies, hope this helps.
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
Do you set your bevel with a 1000? What is your process to get a blade shave ready? I’m new to all this shave talk. I’ve homed my own razors for years or had the old man at the barber shop hone them. Most of the money blades I have I restored. I’m looking at all these stone options and I’m liking the process everyone is talking about.

Yours is a huge question. Please understand there are a million ways to skin the cat. Also understand I'm a beginner at honing and am mostly only able to share what I've learned by watching a lot of videos and by reading a lot + the little experience I have gained honing. I keep a journal of my experiments as I attempt to get the perfect shave; my latest efforts have been pretty good, link, but my journey continues.

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I use a Chosera 1K to set the burr using the burr method. I think this is the way to go but if I had a coarser stone I'd sometimes use it first. Still, a nice 1K will get it done and the Chosera is very nice. Setting the bevel is absolutely the key to the whole thing. If the bevel is not set right nothing else matters.

Please read this post on the burr method.

Once the bevel is set properly everything else is about refining and polishing the blade's edge by going through a progression of ever finer stones.

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Synthetic stones are rated by their grits. The higher the grit number the finer the stone (finer means less coarse). Unfortunately, there are no universally useful, across the board from stone to stone and manufacturer to manufacturer rating standards for the grits of synthetic stones.

Natural stones are not officially rated by grits but many people sort of superimpose grit ratings (which are their best guess) on the natural stones. Some natural stones are coarser than others. Some are fine finishing stones. Some will do the job from bevel setting to finishing depending on how they're used and what the slurry stone is, etc.

Everyone knows you can't have too many stones. That's sort of a truism and also sort of a joke. Some people are minimalists. Some are stone collectors. Many, like me, mostly just want to have the sharpest and most comfortable edge possible and thus look for the kit to make that happen. Some, like me, mix synthetics and naturals. Some, don't.

My set currently includes this equipment.
  • Double-Time Flattening Stone
  • 1K (Naniwa New Chosera)
  • 3K (Naniwa S2 Super Stone)
  • 5K (Shapton Kuromaku Ceramic Waterstone)
  • 8K (Steelex Deluxe Japanese Ceramic Waterstone)
  • 12K (Shapton Kuromaku Ceramic Waterstone)
  • Arkansas Hard Black finishing stone
  • Zulu Grey finishing stone
  • Universal Stone Holder (which I do not use).
I have a Norton Translucent Arkansas in transit proving that most people, including me, are never satisfied.

You'll see I have a mixed bag of brands, etc. This may or may not be the way to go. I have not yet used the Zulu Grey.

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However, there are minimalists who will tell you they set the bevel on a 1K stone and then do everything else on a natural stone such as the Zulu Grey. Others have the Hard Black Arkansas as a finishing stone and a couple of progressive coarser (or less dense or less hard) Arks to use between the bevel setter and the finisher.

There are a huge number of options in the progression. I just want a sharp comfortable edge, and don't much care what it takes to get it as long as I get it.

How do you use the stones? There are many methods. Some are variations on a theme. Some variations and methods seem like they conflict with others. It's all very confusing. However, it's all about rubbing steel on rocks until the steel is sharp! That's the bottom line.

I'll give you a couple of places to look for information. You'll get more and more confused (and also more and more informed) as you explore the information. I'm not trying to discourage the study of information, but it all makes much more sense when you have some experience honing.

Here are a million excellent honing videos by one of the members who is an expert. Not knocking them because they're great stuff, but good luck wading through it all. Nevertheless, it's worth watching every single one of these videos over time I think. Maybe not today, but ultimately. For now, just take a glance at what's there. Link.

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Cutting to the chase and getting a good handle on the basics is hard to do (and I mean the basics beyond bevel setting which I've already covered; plus, bevel setting is the basis of it all and never forget that). I'm going to share here a series of videos which made it all sort of come together for me.

This series of videos is worth watching early in the game is you want to know how to hone. Link. To me, it seems a bit dated as the stones used are not terribly modern nor are the finishing stones as fine as what most of us use now. It's worth watching because he shows how to go through the progressions. It's worth watching because he demonstrates very well how to hold the stone in your hand. It's worth your time to learn from him how to hold the razor while you're honing it. All in all, it's very informative, and basic enough, and accurate enough.

In my opinion, if you learn the burr method and the stuff the series linked above you can get a good handle on how to hone.

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Still, there are a million other ways to go about things. Yet you only need one way that works for you. You have to find that yourself of course.

If you want a whole other view of all this, and a different method, and a ton of science you might explore this link. I believe his methods are regarded as somewhat controversial and I don't understand everything he says but it's an interesting way to spend some time if you're inclined.

That's the problem: There are a huge number of ways to go about this. You only need to find one that works for you.

Once again, this is not intended to be the definitive honing post. I'm not an expert at any part of honing, but I've tried to share with you some of what helped me get to the point I could shave with straight razors I've honed myself.

I found vintage razors on eBay and elsewhere which were supposedly shave ready and discovered they weren't sharp enough to really work for me. I found it tedious and difficult to learn honing well enough to end up with a decently sharp razor, too, but ultimately I succeeded well enough to get a decent straight razor shave.

I've much more to learn.

Honing is a huge rabbit hole, but it's interesting. Can you do without it? Yes.

I hope this helps a little bit, but it may be too much or confusing in which case I totally blew it.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 
Naniwa S1 or S2 besides one is thicker? Is there a preference for using with a straight edge blade?
Or not? & or a chosera or superstone? One better for straight or are these personal choices? Okay evidently chosera professional level.
 
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I think mostly personal choices. I prefer chosera or as they are called now -professional series. The superstones tend to load quicker when i used them in knifesharpening, they are not as fast. The mediumgrit (1.000) behaves more as a 2-3000 stone in both polish and ability to grind of material.
I have not tried them on razors, in some cases slow is not always bad.

//Mackis
 
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