Thread: King 1k

By no means am I an expert when it comes to honing.. This is one of my hobbies.. I honed starting out on a 1k king norton 4/8 and a nani 12k.. I would sit for hours behind these stones.. Watch other people watch videos and even goto meet ups .. Honing almost everyday on anything. Could find.. Some edges mostly not good at all.. So I thought maybe it's me I'm doing something wrong etc,. This isn't home improvements surgery etc.. So I,had some senior srp members that live locally come watch me I was set in my mind it was me.. So guys came over watched my stroke .. Really didn't see anything drastic I was doing wrong.. Hence a miracle happened .. They put this green 1k hone in front of me.. So then it was like the honing gods came down and blessed me .. My edges then became incredibly improved.. Smooth sharp like I was used to from the pros edges.. The bottom line .. Maybe I got a dud but IMO don't waste ur money on the king 1k .. Some of you may have had great success with it but for me it was a brick that just sucked water even after hours of soaking.. I kick myself for wasting time and being cheap .. I don't even wanna tell u about lapping film.. What great results I have got for a very small investment when I started playing with film,, another thread another time.. So bottom line save your money for the chosera 1k and save yourself hours of banging your head against the wall

I am a bit surprised reading this since I have seen Glen using a 1k King in some of his videos. Since he was using it I didn't think it could be too bad of a stone.

Methinks that most guys that hone a lot, and use a King, keep it in water. I put mine in hours before, if not overnight. I have the Norton too, and prefer it. I'll be trying the green one soon enough (as money permits).

It's just my experience .. Everyone may have different results.. Its my personal story and how different my honing had become.. Some guys may rave about the king .. And if it works for them and they enjoy it who am I to say anything different.. Happy honing gents

Originally Posted by Ludvig

I am a bit surprised reading this since I have seen Glen using a 1k King in some of his videos. Since he was using it I didn't think it could be too bad of a stone.

Same for me, I believe he called it his "work horse" and a slow and smooth cutter.

Just goes to show how important that bevel setter is.

Originally Posted by Ludvig

I am a bit surprised reading this since I have seen Glen using a 1k King in some of his videos. Since he was using it I didn't think it could be too bad of a stone.

Glen could use a piece of coal and get an edge on a blade. That being said, both are good stones, the "green" one , as was posted, is just better in the sense of being much faster and i believe a little more forgiving to us mere mortals....

I hear what you guys are saying. The chosera 1k is the pro choice though. Most pro honers(Im not a pro) use it for its speed and clean scratch pattern, its splash and hone and really doesnt need much lapping. Im not answering for anybody, but if I had a bench full of honing work to do, I wouldnt use the king if I had a chosera. There is a VERY big difference between the 2 and if you hone more than 10 blades with it, the $60 more is worth it only for the time you save. I dont own chosera stock nor do I have one for sale. Just trying to share my experience with it.

Kings are one of the most popular stones in Japan for knives. They are however a 'soft' stone that 'slurry' a lot & need constant lapping & do soak up water.
No offence , you just need to know how to use them on razors. There are easier stones to use as you found but it does not make Kings a bad stone, just less appropriate for razors.
Go back to your King in a few years time & I bet you'll find your edges are ok off it. You'll even find it's not as slow as you remembered.

Thanks for the tips. Would you use a king or a chosera if you had both and why? Thanks.

So y would I use a king.. If u listed so many bad things about it,there are easy stones to use??so y make my bevel setting harder especially for a noob.. Mayb there cost efficent..??