Thread: Whipped Dog 12k barber hone opinion

Did any body have a opinion about that Stone.

You will find a ton of opinions if you enter the term "PHIG" in the search bar. These opinions mostly deal with the full-sized PHIG, Larry at Whipped Dog cuts them into 4 pieces so you will be getting a Quarter PHIG.

Yes, the Chinese natural hone has been around for a while, it may or may not be 12k, most probably not, and closer to 6k. They are a crapshoot, some work, some don’t, most are just average stones producing average results. A quick search will reveal tons of threads here and other fora.

The Chinese stones and small stones in general, are the cause many posted, new honers problems and frustration with honing, because they do not deliver expected results.

If you really want one, buy a whole 8 in stone, they are not expensive. If you want to learn to hone, buy full size stones. Small stones will cause you more problems than they will solve and in the end, you will either buy full size stones or give up on straight razors.

Honestly, spend the $35 and get the full size hone. Yes, they're hard as all unholy h#!! so lapping it will be a pain. But they cut slow enough that I would not want to hamper myself using a 1/4 Chinese 12K. I usually run between 250 and 400 strokes on the full size hone. I don't want to imagine trying that on a smaller one.

That said, I must've gotten one of the good ones. I haven't played with a lot of these, but judging by the one I have they can be good finishers if you have time to play with them.

Agreed. Buy the full size hone.

To repeat yet again, IT IS NOT 12K and people who are supposed to know better should not be promoting that fallacy.

Go ahead and spend the $35 for the full size hone instead of paying $15 for a quarter of a $26 hone. IF you don't want to pay the $35, then at least spend the $26 on a the hone that will be twice as long and will have TWO usable surfaces.

Pfft ! Used to be able to get them in 8"x2"x1" here for $15

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Pfft ! Used to be able to get them in 8"x2"x1" here for $15

Oz, I paid 10 bucks for one at Carbatec 5 or 6 years ago - unfortunately it wasn't anything like 12k in grit rating, nor was the larger size one that I paid $45 for last year! These things seem pretty hit and miss to me. The OP would be better off buying a Naniwa or Shapton - they're known quantities that actually work.

Agreed on the rating. I think natural hones should be graded on a coarse - medium - fine - extra fine scale rather than a grit rating. More fair both to the stone and the end purchaser, since naturals do have a bit of variance to them. Some PHIGs might* reach 12k, most are probably lower. Calling it a fine stone without creating that grit rating expectation is probably more fair and accurate.

I got one for my travel kit. It does work.

I've had three PHIG's and all were different, my main one I bought on Ebay from Poland and definitely improves a Norton 8k edge, the other two from Woodcrafters weren't as fine but one of the other two did improve an 8k edge. They can be a crap shoot but if you get a good one they are really nice