Thread: Honing stone

I recently purchased a Norton 4k/8k stone, and was wondering the following: Is it okay to use the stone for anything else, say my pocket knives, or am I violating some unwritten sanctity by using it for anything other than the razor? Just curious...

It's not a secret rule, but others have tried it and got tired of lapping it every time they wanted to hone a razor.

Razors need an incredibly flat hone, but knives tend to dish it out very quickly because the honing angle is so steep. Japanese use these types of hones for their sushi knives, but those knives have a different design than pocket knives or chef's knives.

If you really want that kind of edge on your knives, I'd recommend a large Hard Arkansas stone and a pasted strop. My Hard Arkansas is 2.75x1.5x10, and my knife strop is a roughout strop from Hand American with one side pasted in Flexcut Gold (which I think is about 4k) and the other side pasted in Boron Carbide (which I think is about 13k). These will put a spooky edge on a knife in a hurry, and you can refresh the blade with a dozen laps on each side of the strop.

Don't waste that expensive stone on your swiss army knife. A cheaper 1000 grit will give you what you need for those.

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