Thread: Suggestions

Originally Posted by mike1011

I bought one of these a while back just to see what they were like Eden Quality Combi Waterstone grain 2000 / 5000 | knivesandtools.co.uk I wanted to compare it to the naniwa stones. The one you posted looks remarkably similar.

To put it bluntly they are junk and a complete waste of money, they may appear cheep but not when you realise you will have to stick it in a draw and buy a decent stone. I bought mine to try on knives, no way I would even contemplate letting a razor touch one !! If you want reasons here they are

1) They are soft, I mean really really soft. I have bought lots of stones and these things are the softest I have ever come across by a long long way. I tried sharpening a knife and had to lap the thing 3 times due to the very visable dishing. (I only used it once)

2) The stated grit size doesn't feel anything like what it should.

3) Due to how soft they are they won't last long and require constant lapping.

The decision is of cause up to you but I would spend more and get a decent stone that does the job. In all honesty I have not come across a "cheep" stone that was worth the money and these things are the worst I've ever seen. I have never understood why people are happy to spend hundreds on knives/razors then buy cheep nasty stones to maintain them!

Sorry if it sounds harsh but I'm trying to save you money. Buy a decent stone or stones from the get go because if you go down the cheep and nasty road you will realise you wasted your money and have to buy a good stone anyway

My experience is really with knives but I highly recommend the naniwa super stones. They are the. best price to performance stones I have ever used.

To be honest I also got suspicious, But I think I have discovered a way to find good stuff on ebay, I just look for 3000/4000/8000 gritstones and some of them have the "ebay guaranteed" symbols, this stuff are virtually always high quality brands,
I just discovered 2 more good brands: Wüsthof, Kasumi, Wakoli (kind of not sure)
So I think I will gather a list of "good" brans before I buy anything else

I'd be grateful to if someone shed some light on this, ebay says if it is not the not "right product" they return your money. I presume they would not have this for cheap garbage obviously...

EDIT:
I decided to buy this one: http://www.ebay.de/itm/WUSTHOF-Schle...item3cde5a034b

The brand is Wüsthof, anzbody heard of it?
According to wikipedia: Wüsthof is a knife-maker based in Solingen, Germany, noted for its high quality products.

For 59 euros (80$) do you think it is a good bargain?

Originally Posted by heyjude

The brand is Wüsthof, anzbody heard of it?
According to wikipedia: Wüsthof is a knife-maker based in Solingen, Germany, noted for its high quality products.

For 59 euros (80$) do you think it is a good bargain?

Yes I am very familiar with wusthof knives, I own several of their "ikon classic" knives and they are indeed a quality kitchen knife (though they do make a budget line which IMO are not all that great). I would say they are my favoriite of the western kitchen knives.

The stone is OK, not great but leaps ahead of the other one you posted. I have a courser version that I used for a while sharpening kitchen knives. The only thing I would say is that it isn't very wide, not wide enough to accommodate the full width of a razor. They are intended more for knife sharpening.

Personaly if I was in the market for a combi stone I would spend just a bit more and get this Naniwa Super Stone 3000 / 10000 grit combi | knivesandtools.co.uk or the Norton stone mentioned.

Are 10000 interusable with 8000? Like 3000 to 4000?

Then I might consider Naniwa,
However I also stumbled upon other Japanese brands named "Fudo" and "Wakoli" and "Kasumi Fudo Kombistein Körnung 3000/8000 Abziehstein Schleifstein | eBay

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Wakoli-Wasser...item1c32c0b4d7

http://www.ebay.de/itm/F-S-Brand-New...item1c40351d8a


For some reason Kasumi looks legit, Wakoli not so.
Ever heard of these?

What do you think of these brands?


As of now, I am considering Naniwa you mentioned, Wusthoff or maybe Fudo/Wakoli

Originally Posted by heyjude

Are 10000 inarechangable with 8000? Like 3000 to 4000?

Then I might consider Naniwa,
However I also stumbled upon another Japanese brand named "Fudo". Fudo Kombistein Körnung 3000/8000 Abziehstein Schleifstein | eBay

What do you think of this brand?


As of now, I am considering Naniwa you mentioned, Wusthoff or maybe Fudo

I'm not quite sure what you mean by inerchangable and as far as razor honing itself goes there are much more experienced razor honers here who I'm sure will help (my experience. Is with knives). If you mean though can you go up through the grits 3k to 8k to 10k yes you can.

The fudo stone I've never used, looks allot like the other cheep one, its not wide enough for the full width of the razor. You know my thoughts on these type of cheep stones

That is indeed the Norton stone. It isn't a bad stone but it isn't in the same league as the nanawia super stones. Synthetic stone technology has moved on since they were top dog. Superstones are also not top dog in the synthetic stone game anymore, the chisora stones now take that spot(IMO) but are very expensive and I think the superstones offer the best value for money

At the end of the day "you pays your money and you takes your choice" personally I've bought lots of stones over the years and from my experience you get what you pay for.

My view and reccomendation would be the naniwa superstones , I think they offer the best value for money and are nice full sized stone that are a pleasure to work on. The only negative thing I have to say about them is that they are easy to gouge if your technique is poor.

The choice as they say is yours

Sorry, I got a little confused Which stone did you just refer to as "indeed the norton stone"? Was it Kasumi?

Now I am kind of stuck between Kasumi and Naniwa.



By interchangeable I mean if I can use 10000 as I would for 8000 for "finishing" the honing

Originally Posted by heyjude

Sorry, I got a little confused Which stone did you just refer to as "indeed the norton stone"? Was it Kasumi?

Now I am kind of stuck between Kasumi and Naniwa.



By interchangeable I mean if I can use 10000 as I would for 8000 for "finishing" the honing

I'm confused have you edited your post as I don't see the link to the Norton anymore ?

The kasumi looks OK, its the right size but I have never used one branded by them. Its certainly not particularly cheep which indicates its either a rip off or its priced to reflect its quality. Only way to be sure would be to buy it !

The naniwa from edenwebshops is a known quantity, while I have not bought the combi stone in the link below (I've opted for individual stones fr each of my grits) I have bought stones and knives from them before and they are top quality goods (barring the cheep rubbish stone I mentioned before but I can't blame tgem , it is as described)

I keep saying it but you won't be dissapointed with this Naniwa Super Stone 3000 / 10000 grit combi | knivesandtools.co.uk it converts to €71 which I think is a bargain. For the record I have no affiliation with Eden I just use them to buy stuff from

As far as finish goes 10k will give a slightly more refined edge than an 8k but my experience up to now has been with knives. I have honed a couple of razors now and got them to shave but to be honest there are people here who are much much more knowladgable than me when it comes to razor honing and I think you would be better asking them. My understanding is that 12k and over is considered a finishing hone but I have read on here people are honing up to 8k then finishing with pasted strops, weather or not that is good or bad I can't say but if it can be done with an 8k stone it most certainly can be done with a 10k one.

I think you have exhausted all the possible stones now and its time to "pays your money and takes your choice" hehe

Originally Posted by mike1011

I'm confused have you edited your post as I don't see the link to the Norton anymore ?

The kasumi looks OK, its the right size but I have never used one branded by them. Its certainly not particularly cheep which indicates its either a rip off or its priced to reflect its quality. Only way to be sure would be to buy it !

The naniwa from edenwebshops is a known quantity, while I have not bought the combi stone in the link below (I've opted for individual stones fr each of my grits) I have bought stones and knives from them before and they are top quality goods (barring the cheep rubbish stone I mentioned before but I can't blame tgem , it is as described)

I keep saying it but you won't be dissapointed with this Naniwa Super Stone 3000 / 10000 grit combi | knivesandtools.co.uk it converts to €71 which I think is a bargain. For the record I have no affiliation with Eden I just use them to buy stuff from

As far as finish goes 10k will give a slightly more refined edge than an 8k but my experience up to now has been with knives. I have honed a couple of razors now and got them to shave but to be honest there are people here who are much much more knowladgable than me when it comes to razor honing and I think you would be better asking them. My understanding is that 12k and over is considered a finishing hone but I have read on here people are honing up to 8k then finishing with pasted strops, weather or not that is good or bad I can't say but if it can be done with an 8k stone it most certainly can be done with a 10k one.

I think you have exhausted all the possible stones now and its time to "pays your money and takes your choice" hehe

I edited Norton out, because I realized I had to pay for shipping + there are 20$ custom charges and other crap, with that money I would rather choose a Japanese stone and that's what I'm doing

I got a little confused since in the German version of the knivesandtools that stone is 82 euros. But when I converted the money in the UK site like you did it was 71, then I guess I will get it from the UK one.

Thanks again, Naniwa it is

You won't be dissapointed with naniwa superstone

Hello again
After my very-long search for stones, I have assembled some more brands of stones to compare.
And the first thing I do is to look for people's review on SRP;

I have discovered one more potentially decent brand, but would like to confirm. It is a stone named

1)Toishi-Ohishi.
MAGMA fine woodworking
And I found only one thread confirming that it is "excellent" http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...er-stones.html

2) Japanese brand KING, seems moderately priced http://www.amazon.com/King-47506-100.../dp/B001DT1X9O


Anyone care to weigh in?

Thanks a lot

Toishi-Ohishi's are pretty nice stones. I've got several of them in lower grit sizes. They are a little on the thirsty side, but nice.
The King stones are soft stones. Some people love them, I personally don't because they are too soft for me.

Here's my recipe for honing Dovo Steel
50 travels with light pressure on a Norton 1k to set the bevel
35 travels with light pressure on a Norton 4k to sharpen
35 travels with no pressure on a Norton 4k to sharpen
10 travels with no pressure on a Norton 8k to polish
10 travels with no pressure on a Naniwa 12k to polish
10 strops on chromium dioxide pasted leather for carbon steel or 0.5 micron diamond pasted balsa for stainless steel
10 strops on linen
50 strops on leather

If someone requests the blade to be even sharper, I'll use 0.25 micron diamond paste, and then 0.1 micron diamond paste strops.
For a razor, the chromium dioxide seems about right to most people. Much sharper than that and the razor will nick your skin really easy.