Thread: Well, the chosera has arrived! My initial thoughts...

I received my Chosera 1k today! I unboxed it and got it lapped and chamfered the edges fairly quickly with no issues. I have been sitting on a couple razors waiting for the stone to arrive so I got them taped and put steel to stone. I REALLY REALLY like the feel of the Chosera. It felt smooth, gave great feedback, and cut pretty quickly. I really like that the water pools on top (vice my other 1k which is ridiculously porous). I tried the slurry stone that came with it also with good results. Pushing the slurry around without having to spray after every couple strokes was nice. End result...A Griffon Carbo Magnetic and the solingen razor from the antique store are sporting nice, even, arm hair shaving bevels after a truly enjoyable honing session!!

So, with a whopping 2 bevels set with the Chosera, I thank everyone that suggested this stone! I am looking forward to really getting to use it and learning how to get the most out of it. It is easy to see why this stone is so highly recommended!!

Chris

My suggestion is for you to retape the razors you think have a bevel set and black the edge with a Sharpie Marker. Then with a freshly lapped low grit stone, do three very flat strokes on that hone. Then check the edge under lighted magnification (loupe) to see if there is any evidence of the Sharpie ink on the edge. No ink should be visible.

Then and only then will you be sure that the bevel is actually set. Forget the thumbnail test or anyother test. The Sharpie ink test is the most reliable test you can do for the bevel set. Setting the bevel is the sharpening phase of the honing progression. The rest of your honing progression is polishing your perfect bevel. The bevel set determines the quality of your shave. The 1k stone is the determining factor. Don't move to the next stone until you are sure the bevel is properly set.

Re-read Jerry's statement: "The bevel set determines the quality of your shave." The rest of the stones are pre-polishing and polishing.

Jerry is right. This guy is amazing at honing.
If you go by the naked eye to see if the sharpie is gone, usually it isn't. If you check the edge usually there are tiny hints of black left over.

When checking a razor with a microscope remember to check THE EDGE not thr bevel. Sham taught me that a long time ago. Its the line on the edge that counts.

Originally Posted by mrsell63

My suggestion is for you to retape the razors you think have a bevel set and black the edge with a Sharpie Marker. Then with a freshly lapped low grit stone, do three very flat strokes on that hone. Then check the edge under lighted magnification (loupe) to see if there is any evidence of the Sharpie ink on the edge. No ink should be visible.

Then and only then will you be sure that the bevel is actually set. Forget the thumbnail test or anyother test. The Sharpie ink test is the most reliable test you can do for the bevel set. Setting the bevel is the sharpening phase of the honing progression. The rest of your honing progression is polishing your perfect bevel. The bevel set determines the quality of your shave. The 1k stone is the determining factor. Don't move to the next stone until you are sure the bevel is properly set.

How does the Chosera compare to other hones you have used? Just looking for personal experiences...

Don't mean to jump in here, Ive used a king, dmt1200, Norton and chosera.(talking bevel setters) and the chosera wins the day in clean scratch pattern, speed, resistance to dishing(is there anything else). Its a winner IMO. I have the 600, 3k, 5 and 10. Great stones.

As the OP, I have a King, Nubatama, and now Chosera 1k. As Bill said above the chosera wins hands down. The king is ok, but loads with swarf quickly and cuts slowly. The Nubatama cuts like a champ but is so porous that it requires re-spraying almost constantly. The chosera cuts well, leaves a good scratch pattern, doesn't load with swarf and holds water/slurry on the surface well. Of course, my experience with the chosera is only 2 razors so far, but I have 30+ on the nubatama and about 10 on the king. I haven't tried the chosera on my knives yet, but I imagine it will perform just as well as it did on my last razors.

I don't know how this thread turned into bevel setting/verification...

Chris