Thread: Chinese Waterstone 12k

That's quite a few stones! Are the combination stones such as the Suehiro 1000/3000 worth a look?

I would say yes they are. I use combo stones both Norton 4/8k and Naniwa 3/8k good economical choice for getting into honing. Both those stones have quite a range. Bevel can be set and you can get a shaveable edge from both.

Only thing you want to keep in mind with combination stones is there is slightly greater risk for grit contamination. It could be quite frutstrating if somehow grit from the lower rated side got embedded in the finer side during lapping or something of the like. Need to be very careful to thoroughly wash each side before use, and before switching sides. It's rare, but possible.

But combination hones are fine. In fact, if you're just learning and only intend to keep a small cache of razors in order they're perfect for the purpose.

I've had really good luck with all my naturals. My C12K is a hard one - no auto slurrying. I still wouldn't call it 12K, but it IS an improvement over a Norton 8K synthetic. As for my Welsh slates, the purple and black are finer than a Norton 8K, the Dragon's tongue is same ball park. Hopefully that doesn't change as I wear through them, but naturals are as others have stated - not uniform, and something of an unknown quantity until you get them in hand and try them out to see where they sit. When you find a good one they make excellent finishers though, I think there's a reason by and large more people on the site finish with some form of natural hone over a synthetic.

Not knocking synthetics mind you, just stating an observation. There's a reason I replaced the Norton combination hones I wore out. I love my naturals, but I would echo Euclid's advice to start with synthetics because it does eliminate the possibility that you got a bum stone when the time comes that you'll need to diagnose what's going wrong with your honing efforts.

There are only a handful of synthetic stones that work well with razors. Most stones are made for tools and knives.

Inexpensive stones have a tendency to release grit easily or not at all and cause problems for new honers.

How many stones you need depend on what you plan to do, maintain a single razor or two, or restore vintage razors.

Set yourself up for success and buy the best stones you can afford with proven results. The Suehiro stones tend to release grit easily and some are too small for honing razors, 1.5 in x 5 inches.

The Norton, Naniwa and King combo stones are proven performers.

If I found myself on a Desert Island and had to have the absolute minimum in the way of Razor maintenance gear. I would be perfectly happy with a Naniwa 3/8 combo stone a strop and a stick of SRD Chromium oxide. I could shave forever with that.

Thanks very much guys for sharing your collective wisdom, this is why I love SRP!

At this point I just want to maintain a couple of razors for my own use, I don't think I'll go down the road of collecting, but I have an inexplicable desire to own at least one vintage. I particularly found your advice on brands to be valuable; I think it is perhaps best for me to buy from somebody such as TIE, however they don't seem to stock combination stones.

By the way my C12k seems to have veins of orange-brown running transversely, I haven't seen this with other naturals, might this be an issue?

A lot of natural hones will have bands of color in them. My C12K has the same thing, a few spots of orange/brown in the hone. The feed back is no different in this area, and in my opinion it doesn't effect honing. Probably just bands where there is a tiny bit of iron deposited in the rock.

Originally Posted by TomP30

By the way my C12k seems to have veins of orange-brown running transversely, I haven't seen this with other naturals, might this be an issue?

See... These are the type of questions that come up with naturals that can't really be answered definitively. People can only answer whether they have found it to be an issue with THIER stone. After you have more experience, then you will be able to judge these things on your own 'for your stone'.

A little late to the party (as usual). I absolutely love the C12K, Guangxi, phigs, whatever you want to call them. Many, who have put in their due time, have had excellent results with them. Great stones, great potential, great price point. Here's a thread I typed up a couple years back about the stones with some links I felt were important. Good luck.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...-cnat-ect.html

Gary's method is good stuff. I started to do that when I had to create a new edge on a razor I had to wear a 1/4" chip out of. I hadn't thought of using it when I use my naturals. Dragon's Tongue isn't as slow as the C12K, and I usually come off the Norton 4K as opposed to a 1k hone, so I usually just flip the blade.

What I really like about half-strokes is you get the edge both ways, forward and back. It's kinda like doing twice as many passes in 1/4 the time. I should probably incorporate It into more than just my bevel setting, would probably speed things up a lot.