Thread: What is a PHIG?

Originally Posted by Marshal

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This is my PHIG. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

My PHIG is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.

Without me, my PHIG is useless. Without my PHIG, I am useless. I must flatten my PHIG true. I must hone sharper to shave my beard that is trying to grow wild and free. I must shave him before he grows too long. I will...

My PHIG and I know that what counts in honing is not the thumb pad test, the arm hairs we shave, nor the HHT's we pass. We know that it is the shave that counts. We will shave...

My PHIG is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its slurry and its dilutions. I will keep my PHIG clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will...

Before God, I swear this creed. My PHIG and I are the honers of my razor. We are the masters of our beard. We are the shaviors of my life. Amen.

So be it, until a razor burn free BBS shave is mine and there is no beard, but peace!


Sorry, I got inspired and couldn't help myself.

Good night Chesty wherever you are !

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Blame it on Utopian / Ron and holli4pirating / Dylan

Way back in the early days hehehe

Way back Ron was trying to point out to people that there is actually no real grit rating for natural stones, and was saying that calling it a Chinese 12k is essentially wrong
Dylan IIRC came up with the saying well then we should call it the "Peoples Hone of Indeterminate Grit" PHIG stuck after that


Unfortunately Ron's correct assertion about rating naturals has fallen mostly of deaf ears and ebay sellers to this day continue to rate their different stones with ever higher ratings and ever higher prices to follow...

For historical relevance, and a bit of entertainment, HERE is the original thread.

Originally Posted by Utopian

For historical relevance, and a bit of entertainment, HERE is the original thread.

A good read. After reading through that mess I can now see that first it really don't matter, second we are not that powerful to change what people are calling it all over the place, and third according to the title of this thread PHIG is more confusing to newb's then c12k.

Maybe more confusing, but definitely more accurate.

Originally Posted by Marshal

These things are starting to get more expensive. I think I paid $30 for mine including shipping, Woodcraft wants 40 for an 8x3, and ebay seems to be 35-45 depending on the seller. Much as I like my Guangxi hone, I'm not convinced they're a $50 rock. Especially in the condition mine came in - it still had saw marks from the blade that cut it on one face, and the other side looked like the natural face of the rock it was cut from. Took me 3 hours just to make the sawed face flat enough it could be polished and burnished, no idea how long it's going to take to clean up the backside.

They cost $3 in China. But you have to come to China to get it.

Originally Posted by Utopian

Maybe more confusing, but definitely more accurate.

I see your point. More accurate but not most accurate. Unless you are part of the in crowd that knows what the acronym means it doesn't help much. As you pointed out in your post linked above Guangxi river stone would be the most accurate and meaningful name. With that said, none of us here have the ability to change what the world calls a rock. Frankly, I use all of the "pet" names because to me they are all good names. PHIG, c12k, Guangxi stone, river stone, Ect.

In person when talking I tend to use Proper names

But on this medium I admit to often using the Short Acronyms, yes I am a lazy typist Gulity as Charged



Coti
J-Nat
PHIG
Thuri
WHIG
CF
Arkie
IlR

and many others


And it really bugs me that so many Marketeers take advantgae of the Grit Numbers to dupe dumb newebs outta their money.. Worse it propagates ignorance

Nothing says dumb newb separated from their hard earned coin like the sentence "I just got my new 15000k ILR" (pick any other Natural on Ebay)
That is just sad

Originally Posted by Steel

A beautiful stone. I would say there are none like it as each one is uniquely different. Again I would say A beautiful stone. One of a kind. The first one I got I learned it. I don't know if there are that many bad stones or just bad honers as some people have a hard time even with synthetics. I think if you know what you're doing you should be able to adjust to just about any stone and get it to work well. If they range in quality as a razor finisher then I believe there is a Guangxi river stone out there that is better than any other C12K stone on the market. Able to put the keenest smoothest edge on a razor in the best time (compared to other PHIGS). Shhhhh. I think I might have it.

Yes, I agree that naturals are somewhat unique, so they are one of a kind. But in my efforts to adapt the Rifleman's Creed to the PHIG I opted to leave the first - and most recognizable - line as intact as possible. I had a little more fun with the rest of it, but it was important that line remain minimally changed lol.

I'll also agree that by and large the bad rap probably comes from the fact that new honers are atraced by their comparatively low price tag. A lot of these hones probably do wind up in the hands of people (like myself XD) that aren't able to hone on synthetics, so they're really facing an uphill battle trying to squeeze a shaving edge out of one of these.

Why can't someone determent the grit of a natural stone or guess at it ? For example this Chinese 12K. Who determent the grit of a man made stone ?

Originally Posted by AlienEdge

Why can't someone determent the grit of a natural stone or guess at it ? For example this Chinese 12K. Who determent the grit of a man made stone ?

The grit size of a synthetic hone is identified by the size of the particles put into the hone. The size of "grit" in a natural stone is random, and it can vary in size, character, concentration, and "binder" from one stone to the next. Two rocks found just a few feet apart can vary greatly in their performance and perceived grit equivalent.

Here is an example...

Consider a natural dual layer coticule. The two veins are directly adjacent to one another, yet as a general rule, the yellow side tends to have smaller and more concentrated garnets, while the BBW side has larger garnets but at a lower density.