Thread: Differents naniwa hones

Originally Posted by Iceni

What hone is it and do you have any pictures of it.

It's rare to find a hone that won't clean up. It may just be a case of contamination. Oil would be the prime candidate if the stone is discoloured and now feels a lot slower. It could be a case of a few days soak in some soapy water to clear it out if the stone is a soak stone.

Careful. Since we are talking about Naniwas SS, they are not to be soaked for extended periods. IIRC its like 20 mins max recommended otherwise you could have adverse affects on bonding. If you have another stone well... Just be sure its a soaker

you can also look into the shapton hones from the pro series or the japanese equivalent (the jap stones seems to be the ones for sale in europe, pro is US only), and also shapton glass stone series. The glass stones are thinner, much thinner than pro stones but they might be enough for hobby use for many years. I have founds at least 3 places in germany that sell the shapton japanese pro stones. juast search for shapton stones europe or similar. Supposely the shapton pro stones are hard and slow wearing. I', getting the full set of 220-1k-2k-5k-8k-12k but thos I will also use for kitchen knives. the glass stones are availible as 1k-2k-3k-4k-6k-8k-10k-and 16k. and also some specials only for carbon steel (softer binder supposedly) glass stone HC in 4-6-8k. Suppodely they launched this series to be cheaper than the pro series but It seems the pro (japanese version/european version) is still cheaper per mm of stone.

yeah either way you would probably need a 1k and a finisher like 10-16k and something in the middle of those. Just get what you can get locally and learn to use it. From what I have read it mostly dependant on the user anyway, not the material.