Thread: Please school me on natural hones

If you are going to get into naturals I think your best bet is to find a trusted someone who can vouch for the qualities you are looking for before purchase. You will be rock collecting otherwise.
If you chose the path of synthetics the naniwa 12k may be your next step without much wallet damage. If wallet be damned I suggest Suehiro Gokumyo #20000 grit (@ 0.5 µm). : Tools from Japan, Japanese woodworking tools direct from Japan. you will be pleased.

Originally Posted by Bruno

Honing is for me a necessary evil as a knifemaker. I don't get emotional over a piece of rock, and above else I want it to go fast and predictable. That is why I stick with the simple synthetics in order to get a good edge as quickly as possible, starting with setting a bevel on a freshly ground razor.

Honing is imo like doing the dishes after cooking a good meal.

A pity that it is like that ;-) and thats why i like that a lot of people see more in them then just plain workhorses for work which has to be done....

But i can understand the different approaches needed between one honing with pleasure as a hobby or to relax and one who has to has a store or is a custom razor/knife maker and has to sent out a lot during the week....then i would also prefer fast and easy going and probavly would stick to synths....

Well I love honing. It's just as fun as shaving with a straight.

I have many hones, thou you don't really need more then one or two.

I have Eschers, thüringians, Arkansas hones, but I love my coticules most.

I have 6 or 7 and they all behave differently. One is very, very fast and difficult to finish the edge. Some are slower and harder, but the point is, that they all can be tamed.

I also have two Charnley Forest hones. Both great and as good as some of my coticules.

Has anyone any experience with the Thuringian water Hone currently being sold by Timber Tools? They claim the stones are coming from the original Escher site.

Originally Posted by Kristian

Well I love honing. It's just as fun as shaving with a straight.

Me too! That's the reason I intitially decided to switch from a shavettte to a traditional straight. Because I love to hone. It is a relaxing puzzle for me and not a chore at all. Which is why, I am sure, that I am so attached to my Guangxi stone. It has been so effective, consistent, and reliable that I just love using it. Not to mention working up a slurry and the feedback and fun I have from the different textures there. many times people have asked me to hone for $ for them and I turned it down simply because I wanted to keep this a fun hobby and not turn it into a chore.

Originally Posted by Kristian

Well I love honing. It's just as fun as shaving with a straight.

Me too! That's the reason I intitially decided to switch from a shavettte to a traditional straight. Because I love to hone. It is a relaxing puzzle for me and not a chore at all. Which is why, I am sure, that I am so attached to my Guangxi stone. It has been so effective, consistent, and reliable that I just love using it. Not to mention working up a slurry and the feedback and fun I have from the different textures there. many times people have asked me to hone for $ for them and I turned it down simply because I wanted to keep this a fun hobby and not turn it into a chore.

Utopian should post a pic of his Rock pile....

My advise is (although I may not be qualified to give advise) Buy your 12k or 16k synthetic and then some smaller sized jnats
Good luck.

With a JNat you don't need a 12 or 16k stone unless you want to compare or have a reference. Any decent JNat will finish an edge off a 5-8k in short order or a 1k with a couple of slurries and a little more time. Take JOB15s advice and get some small ones, at least to begin with.

Cheers, Steve

I dunno why I said that, doh, I go 8k jnat then jnat