Quote Originally Posted by thebigspendur View Post
I don't think its as easy as it sounds.

As I recall the main hone producer in the U.S (I don't recall the name, they were located in Iowa) produced most of the hones sold under all kinds of razor manufacturer names and there was one woman there who mixed the ingredients and only she had the recipe and when she died suddenly they were never able to replicate the quality of the hones even though they knew the raw ingredients.
I think those were the frictionite 00 or XX

The Lee book is great. At the time of its publication, Japanese water stones were just beginning to come onto the Western scene. The theory and experiments presented in the book are still a great starting point, and it should be required reading for all sharpeners to the first few chapters and the appendices of the book.

(If enough people- 10 minimum -want to get together for the book, PM me, and I'll do a group buy from the publisher.)