Thread: Honing on a budget in Europe

I've been working on honing on and off for a while now, but I have a feeling some of the issues is my stones. I want to buy a easy set up that doesn't cost too much and would be available in europe. It would be very nice to find a one stop shop and links would be very much appreciated!

If you budget is tight you can look at a 1k stone to set the bevel then a series of paste from 9 micron to 1 micron. Then you can make a couple home made strops to put the paste on. From that you will be all set

My understanding is the the Naniwa Super Stones are fairly easy to get in the EU you would have to do some Google Fu but if that is true then the 3k/8K might be the best bang for the buck..
Also it might be a good idea to see if the Henckels set is available easily to you the 250/1k and 3k/8k are just a slightly different version of the Naniwa SS

Also Kings are readily available.

Everything is available in Europe via internet dear Gissy.
The only consideration is the price/quality ratio.

Here are some links. Most of them, if not all of them, ship in Europe.


Best Sharpening Stones

Japanese Waterstones - Toishi

JapaneseNaturalStones.com

Naniwa Super Stone

Japanese Waterstones: Naniwa Super Stones

Banksteine | DICTUM GmbH - Mehr als Werkzeug

Japanese Natural Stones Toishi

Zulu Grey

Originally Posted by Slur

Everything is available in Europe via internet dear Gissy.
The only consideration is the price/quality ratio.

Here are some links. Most of them, if not all of them, ship in Europe.


Best Sharpening Stones

Japanese Waterstones - Toishi

JapaneseNaturalStones.com

Naniwa Super Stone

Japanese Waterstones: Naniwa Super Stones

Banksteine | DICTUM GmbH - Mehr als Werkzeug

Japanese Natural Stones Toishi

Zulu Grey

Cost of shipping from the USA is often prohibitive, so that has to be borne in mind, and you may get stung for VAT/handling charges on import - insured international shipping from the US is horribly expensive compared to most countries.

But I would recommend Dieter Schmid Fine Tools (that Japanese Waterstones: Naniwa Super Stones link), who are in Germany. I got my Naniwa stones from them and they were the cheapest I could find to the UK, with reasonable postage and efficient tracked delivery - their stones are 20mm and do not have bases, which suits me but your requirements might be different.

You may be right Oscroft, but wetstones is something you buy once and use it for years before consuming it.
It is not like buying shaving cream, or soap, or aftershave lotion.


So, according to my opinion, a straight shaver hobbyist should buy the best he can afford when it comes to wet stones.

I personally bought my first stones from US and I didn't regret it at all.

Originally Posted by Slur

You may be right Oscroft, but wetstones is something you buy once and use it for years before consuming it.
It is not like buying shaving cream, or soap, or aftershave lotion.

So, according to my opinion, a straight shaver hobbyist should buy the best he can afford when it comes to wet stones.

I personally bought my first stones from US and I didn't regret it at all.

But there is rarely an objective "best", and local cost differences between different brands can (and I think should) affect the decision - the "best you can afford", especially when you're on a budget, can be different depending on where you live and where you buy from.

And in most cases you're likely to get the same things cheaper if you choose a seller in Europe rather than just "on the Internet". For most popular products there's likely to be a seller in Europe who is significantly cheaper overall than buying from a US seller and adding expensive shipping plus import VAT/handling, though it can take some searching to find them.