Thread: Differents naniwa hones

Hi SRP,

since long time, i wish to buy one of these naniwa hones to make razors' bevels better and easier. actually i'm using the synthetic hones tiny sizes, they are ok but not more. well while i'm looking about naniwa hone, i see there is some categories as professionnal, speciality and combos.

for combos, i see what they are. but for other two categories i don't know the difference. i'm looking for 1000 grit and i found two differents as speciality and profess.

do you have any idea what's the difference between these two catego?

The Professional line is what is formerly known as Chosera. Those are great bevel setters, they have speed good feedback, do not dish easy and are very consistent.
The specialty stones are a new line, to get more info on performance those shoot an email to Straight Razor Designs and ask.

The former SuperStones, now called Specialty, are great for razors. That is, EXCEPT for the 1k. The Specialty 1k is a little too soft for bevel setting. It works, but it loads up quickly and is not very fast. However, the former Chosera 1k, now called Professional, is a fantastic bevel setter. If you want a great 1k bevel setter, go with that one.

thanks for your responses.

Originally Posted by Utopian

The former SuperStones, now called Specialty, are great for razors. That is, EXCEPT for the 1k. The Specialty 1k is a little too soft for bevel setting. It works, but it loads up quickly and is not very fast. However, the former Chosera 1k, now called Professional, is a fantastic bevel setter. If you want a great 1k bevel setter, go with that one.

if i understood well, the speciality ones (for 1K) is too slow to set the razor bevel. right?

because, in this case, i will chose a combo with 1000/3000 i think this one is professionnal.

I should clarify that. "Too slow" is a relative term. If you are honing a couple razors a week, then it is okay. If you are honing a few razors per day, then you might want something that will get the job done faster and with less surface refreshing needed. The Specialty 1k WILL work to set a bevel, but the Professional will work faster. It will cost more but I believe it is worth it giving its ability to save you time.

Originally Posted by Utopian

I should clarify that. "Too slow" is a relative term. If you are honing a couple razors a week, then it is okay. If you are honing a few razors per day, then you might want something that will get the job done faster and with less surface refreshing needed. The Specialty 1k WILL work to set a bevel, but the Professional will work faster. It will cost more but I believe it is worth it giving its ability to save you time.

Thanks. It's more clear now. I think I will go with a combo of 1000/3000 of professional. That's why I was not sure about the difference. Now it's ok.

I have a Chosera (professional) 1K, But all the rest are Super stones (speciality).

There used to be a 3K/10K combo stone that was available, But I haven't seen it for a few months now, I think it got deleted with the name and branding crossover. Anyway there are a few companies that sell the stones you want in Europe for reasonable prices. There is no real need to go out of Europe at all for shipping.

I believe the Naniwa 1K/3K to be a ceramic soak style stone. It is not a speciality or Professional stone.

If it were me I'd pick something like this.

Ensemble d’aiguisage Naniwa Specialty Stones 1000 / 5000 / 10000 | A prix avantaguex chez knivesandtools.fr

For the money you get everything you need there. And it's not a huge amount of money since these will last you a very very long time.

It is significantly more than the 1/3K stone but that stone is more of a knife stone, and doesn't cover the finishing end of honing.

Naniwa Combination Stone, CS-510/430, grain : 1000/3000 | A prix avantaguex chez knivesandtools.fr


If you are looking for just a 1K stone to set bevels on then this is one of the best you can get and it's well priced.

Naniwa Professional Stone, P310, grain : 1000 | A prix avantaguex chez knivesandtools.fr

It's the stone that most people will have at some point for setting a bevel.

If you are adamant that you want a cheap combo stone like the Naniwa 1/3 then the other competitor to that stone would be the King Icebear 1K/6K. The king again isn't an amazing stone, but it does work, and I have shaved from the 6K side. You just have to use Crome oxide on a strop and be very light on the final stone strokes to get a smoother edge. Compared to a 10K/12K naniwa it is a very rough shave, And the extra paid for the higher end stones is very much money well spent.


Professional/Chosera. Short soak at lower grits splash and go at higher grits. Very fast, And don't gouge the metal away. Shallow scratch pattern, Fast progression between stones. The stones are resistant to blade defects.

Speciality/Superstones. Resin bonded, All splash and go, Fast, Easy to scratch when dealing with blade defects. Once the edge is right they work perfectly and progression between the stones is fast. They feel rubbery when you hone.

Soak stones. Need a long soak 5-15 mins. Resistant to scratching and blade defects, Slower at removing metal, Some may leave deep scratch patterns especially the cheaper ones. Huge variation between manufacturers. There is nothing wrong with soak stones provided you buy good ones, but getting cheap no brand ones will always lead to frustration. The norton 4/8 is the classic soak stone that used to be a go to stone.

There are more stones out there that don't fall into the above category. So if you already have stones try and pick stones that match so you end up with a nice rotation to work with. All stones at the same size, height and feel makes progressing between the stones far quicker as you don't have to contend with the blade feeling different with every stone.

I have both the Naniwa Super Stone 1k and the Chosera (Professional)1K. In my opinion you would do best to go with the Chosera. The 1k SS is too slow and needs constant cleaning. I use Super Stones for my honing but my bevels are set on the Chosera. Im actually getting a little annoyed just thinking about setting a bevel with the SS. Save yourself a lot of frustration and get the Chosera. It's well worth the extra cost.

Well I don't agree with you all. Of cause there's a difference between SS and Professional hones, but the professionals are made for pros...

I'm having the SS hones myself, and hone perhaps one or two razors a day. Agree that you needs to clean the hones often, but that's hardly a problem.

Many people have come by my shop to learn to hone, and I have showed them how well the Naniwas behave. Some believe that to learn to hone, you need the best hones possibly, but that's really not the case.

It's like learning to drive. A Ferrari might be the best car, but it won't be a good car to learn to drive.

The point is, that you don't really need the best equipment, or most expensive hones to start this hobby.

I have a Vosgienne natural hone for finishing and it's probably the best finisher in the world. But I can finish a razor on every hone over 8k and so can all the hone masters here. You don't need to pay the extra money for a Naniwa Pro.

It's really important to get a good 1000K bevel setter. There's many out there. You could also go after the 1000k King. It's also a very nice hone. But both the Naniwa SS or Pro will work just fine for you.

Originally Posted by BeJay

. The 1k SS is too slow and needs constant cleaning.

Thanks for this,info. Actually this is very important for,me because the 1K hones which I use actually are getting dirty so fast that's one of the reasons I look for naniwa hones.