After looking at a Chinese natural hone which the seller claimed was 3k, getting some information on the new Muller hones from a member here, and playing with my Dragon Tongue (trying to use it to sharpen and hone dull knives) I've been thinking about natural stones other than finishers. Aside from the Coticle most of the time when I hear about natural stones it's about finishing stones, and often that's mentioned as a finisher too. Heck the only naturals I know anything about that aren't finishers (and some can be used as finishers anyway) are Cotis, BBWs, Dragon Tongues, and some Arkansas stones. Others I've heard of in passing, but never in much detail.

So what would be good natural hones for doing jobs for which one would normally turn use 1-8k synthetics? Bevel setting, sharpening, etc. I know some naturals have a big range depending on patience, pressure, slurry, etc. but I'm interested in stones that can do these jobs without a lot of tuning, prep or heavy slurry. In other words if you, personally, were going to buy different natural stones for repair work, bevel setting, sharpening, honing, etc. what would you pick up? It doesn't matter if it's one, two, or ten stones. I'm just curious what options you'd consider.

I want to learn more about natural stones. What's available, and what they're capable of beyond what I normally hear about. I mean when I first got into razor sharpening I spent a long time coveting a Belgian Blue because I was assured it was one of the best finishing stones around! Now I'm not thinking of actually buying a set of all-natural stones, but depending on what I learn I may be adjusting certain long-term plans.