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Saw these on ebay and thought to ask the members if they are any good before I part with my hard earned dollars.
Link supplied should take you to it
set of 2 razor hones,8000+12000 grit (eBay item 360365614597 end time 08-Jul-11 21:59:29 AEST) : Collectables
Any feedback is welcome
Thanks in advance
Rick
The grey one is a so called natural Chinese 12 K that has been discussed here a lot. The other one is a man made stone by a manufacturer I never heard of.
Chinese 12K (Which I am repeatedly told is usually less fine than its name suggests) is a well known stone, which lacks consistency amongst its samples. Some are great finishers, some satisfactory, some less than satisfactory for some, being very subjective.
I do not know of that particular synthetic 8K. Chances are it works, but why risk it? If you're new to honing, note that if no one knows of the stone you are using, it will be very hard to advise you as to its use, number of laps etc, and even harder to distinguish (should you run into problems) if it is you're technique or the hone. With artificial stones it is recommended you stick to what is known, ie. Norton's, Naniwas, Shaptons and even Kings.
I just got my King hones in and they cost is about comparable. I could have saved a few bucks and gone with combo stones but I ended up with a 1k, a 4k, and a 6k for about $70. I figure that some day I'll save up for Naniwas or some such but a lot of people seem to like the King 1k as a bevel setter which is why I went with solid stones. I could have done combos for $40-50.
I bought a similar set from he same seller. He's good, everything arrived quickly and well packed.
The 8k wasn't great (I don't know if it's the same as the one mentioned above), but it was white. I use it for my kitchen knives now, it does the trick. The chinese hone was good, it put a nice final edge on my razors. It came well lapped & chamfered. I recently got my hands on a chinese hone from woodcraft, which I found to be a bit smoother, which confirms what Scipio is saying about consistency.
The white hone is a Taidea 8K.
If you are looking to get into honing, the best thing in town are the Nortons. If you are looking for something to "touch up" a lacking blade, get a barbers hone or something like the Shapton 12k or 16 k
I recently ordered a Chinese hone from this supplier, but haven't received it. He is in Poland, which means moderate postage and no worries about import duty or delays from anybody in the European Community. He seems very efficient, and made an unasked refund when he found my payment more than covered the postage. It wasn't much, but straws show which way the wind blows.
I have the 5K, 8K white synthetic hone and the chinese 12K. I can tell you that I learn on those and got good edges. They cut really fast... The C12K is great(at least the one I have) finisher.
i got my ch 12k from him, a indifferent finisher for me, though it was a very speedy delivery.