Newbie: Chosera 1k then what? German 3k/8k, Belgian 5k, or Chosera 5k?

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to bad that the SuperStone and Chosera series are discontinued and replaced by the Specialty and Professional Stone series respectively, this in and of itself doesn't matter but the 3/10 K combi hone is no longer available so you're looking at 2 hones again ...

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They had some stock left when I posted so hopefully the OP was quick on the draw.

If not then your back looking at individual stones or scouring the web for deals!

I have no idea how long it will be until Edenwebshop start to get in the combination stones again. I have not seen the specialty branding combination stones yet and this branding is the super stone replacement (same stone with better tolerances on the grit, But a new product that doesn't have a complete range yet).


The 2000/5000 stone is still available. It is not the same great bargain that the 3/10 was.

http://www.knivesandtools.co.uk/en/p...grit-combi.htm

If you were to do it with individual stones then the price is a lot larger.

If you were to get a 3, 5, 10 professional stone (chosera replacement) it's going to cost £250.

http://www.knivesandtools.co.uk/en/c...aterstones.htm

If you were to get a 3, 5, 10/12 specialty stone then the cost is £135

http://www.knivesandtools.co.uk/en/c...aterstones.htm

Going 2/5, 10 is going to cost £102

Or you could go 2/5, 8, 12 at £154

The whole product line is a little bit in flux atm, It may be worth sending the company an email, to see if the combination stones in the new format can and have been placed as an order with Naniwa.

Hi forum members!

Thanks for all the suggestions.
Hi tcrideshd,
I am relatively new to shaving with a straight - I have a bit less than 100 shave so far using a Dovo inox; however, I know what is BBS because I have been doing wet-shaving since 2000. My skill of shaving with straight can more and more often achieve the BBS smooth sensation, although the consistency from one day to another can have lots of improvement.

Thanks BobH, earcutter, Phoenix51 for sharing your setup! And thanks Iceni for looking up the German websites! :)
My decision went to (Naniwa) Chosera 5000 because it seems to be a harder stone, suitable for both razor and some other knives I will hone. And then I built a DIY balsa wood table top strop for the Chromium Oxide Puma paste.

This first razor that I honed is a Swedish Hellberg near wedge 4/8 (with an uneven triangular shape, i.e. angle from one side is smaller than the angle on the other side) and it also has a smiling edge and a Spanish point - so I encountered such difficult case as my first honing attempt.
So I set the bevel using the Chosera 1000, but when I tried to hone it using the most popular method I read from here - the Lynn's circle method, it did not work quite well. I had to read more and eventually used the pyramid method counting from 20, with rolling X strokes. However, I could not solve the problem of having the bevel a bit wider on one side than the other because the wedge is not of equal angles on both sides, and I only taped evenly on the spine.

I continued on the Chosera 5000 using rolling X and also in a pyramid counting from 20, and repeated the whole set with super light pressure. And then I processed onto the balsa wood strap with 180 rounds.

The resulting edge passed the HHT but not all along the whole edge: it cannot pass the HHT at the point when the edge approaches the heel at about 5-7 mm, otherwise it passes the HHT quite well, though not as easily as my full hollow Dovo Inox. And it shaves quite well.

My second attempt was also on a blade with Sweden steel, called 'EDV. Neiström', also a 4/8 but in a full hollow shoulderless design with a barber notch. It was just piece of cake to hone this one using pyramids on the same stones (but not with rolling X strokes of course). The resulting edge passing HHT everywhere easily and feels really dangerously sharp, and it shaves really well. Perhaps because it is even more hollow and in a smaller size, and the shave using this 4/8 'Neiström' is more sensitive with more feedback than even the full hollow 5/8 Dovo Inox.

However, I like the wedge better and perhaps I like the challenge of honing it and also the more solid piece of metal feeling of a wedge. It is also a bit more 'forgiving' because the edge 'Neiström' seems really quite dangerous.

Now I am looking into getting some finisher hones.
To start 'cheap', I am planning to get a Naniwa Superstone 8000 or 12000.

However, as Proinsias & nicknbleeding suggested, I may get some natural stones from here within Europe - Coticule for example. I actually really want to find a Thuringien as Bram suggested, however all I can find widely available in Germany are those MST (Müller) "Escher / Thuringien" natural hones, sometimes in dark grey color, sometimes in greyish green color and the only consistency of those stones are that they cost less than 30€ - I read that they are not as nice as the real Thuringien as a finisher.

With my own non-experience eyes, I won't be able to tell which one is a real Thuringien and even if a Escher hone passing in front of me I won't notice that is a nice one. Anyway, I shall keep looking and reading more on Thuringien identification.

Thanks again! And I have a lot more shaves to come! ;-)

Sounds like you are getting on to the honing pretty well. You have to love those razors with bad geometry, warps and twists for the challenge they present. To get those right gives real satisfaction once you get past the frustration. Good luck finding that finisher.

Bob

Yea, the 3/8k and 12K Super Stone, you will buy one anyway down the road, so bite the bullet and get the best all-around finisher from the start. It is a no-brainer finishing stone, perfect for the novice or experienced.

There is a guy on Ebay selling no name thin diamond plates in the 15-20 dollar range for a 3X8. The 600 and 1k work great.