Thread: Opinions on Ohishi stones.

I've been reading here for a while and I haven't seen anything about Ohishi hones. I purchased some years ago to hone my kitchen knives and since getting into straight razors I've been curious if they were able to be used to honing. I've been attempting to hone a few razors with poor results. The stones are 700, 1k, and 3/8k. There is some talk about them on other sites but I haven't seen any around here (probably for a reason). I'm not opposed to purchasing a new set of stones and have already started with a 12k SS and soon a Norton 4/8k. I was just curious if I needed to practice my honing more, or if these stones aren't going to work. Thanks

How did you come to them, through woodworking circles?

They are one of the few woodworking stones I haven't used, and Lie Nielsen markets them. I'd assumed initially when they were picked up by Lie Nielsen it was because Lie Nielsen wanted something more upmarket than norton waterstones and the whole shapton thing didn't work out (I heard because of supply issues). I think I've only seen them one other place, but like usual, cheaper than Lie Nielsen carries them.

Maybe they wanted a soakless stone, who knows?

Do you have more of an idea about why they're not working well, do they lack polish (i.e., the scratch pattern is too severe) or does there seem to be oddities like microchipping?

I think they are very hard stones best suited to more aggressive work with tools and such. I'm just starting out and this is a very immature opinion but I believe that is the case. I've recently got my Norton 4/8 in and my honing has gotten much better. I'll be looking for another suitable 1k here soon to replace my current stone. I'll keep them around for kitchen knives, chisels, and the like.

I'm not familiar with the Ohishi stones. But if you enter Ohishi in the search box at the top right of the page it will bring up a number of posts about Ohishi.

I didn't read them so I don't know if they'll help or not.



Howard

Originally Posted by fatcamp

I think they are very hard stones best suited to more aggressive work with tools and such. I'm just starting out and this is a very immature opinion but I believe that is the case. I've recently got my Norton 4/8 in and my honing has gotten much better. I'll be looking for another suitable 1k here soon to replace my current stone. I'll keep them around for kitchen knives, chisels, and the like.

No experience with the brand but hard stones are just fine for razors. Heavy hands are not. Heavy hands & hard stones are even worse. There may be other factors at work but pressure is often a misunderstood concept.