Thread: Cheap chinese hones, to buy or not to buy ?

hein31 - since you have Naniwa hones to compare them to, what grit rating would you say the Taidea hones are equivalent to? Almost sounds like the 3K behaves like a 1K, 5 like a 3K, and 8 like a 5K.

Pressure & torque are certainly key. You want to make sure all stria from previous tiers of honing are gone, and that pressure used is as light as you can get by the time you're doing your finishing strokes.

How to people feel about the Welsh slate Tri-hones being sold in the UK? They seem to fit in after the 8k stage.

Do you mean these hones?

NATURAL WELSH SLATE 3 HONE SET SHARPENING STONE CHISEL PLANE IDEAL GIFT | eBay

I've got that set from AJ, they're the Welsh slates I've referenced in other posts. I actually wish there was a more coarse option in there, all 3 can be used as finishers and the only one with any sort of middle-grit capacity is the Dragon's Tongue (Black one, far left). Usual warnings that come with natural hones - take grit ratings with a grain of salt, naturally formed materials have varying performance from rock to rock, your rock may not work like mine etc.

But all of mine are capable of putting a fine finished edge on a razor. I'm quite happy with them, even though mine did costa small tick more than those in the link...I think the ones I purchased were a slightly larger profile. At any rate, if you're patient enough to work with naturals, and you can figure out how to work the slurry, you can do a surprising amount of work with just those. I've set a bevel on the Norton 1K and honed it up to shaving sharp with just the Dragon's tongue for example.

Yes. Thanks.

Originally Posted by Marshal

Do you mean these hones?

NATURAL WELSH SLATE 3 HONE SET SHARPENING STONE CHISEL PLANE IDEAL GIFT | eBay

I've got that set from AJ, they're the Welsh slates I've referenced in other posts. I actually wish there was a more coarse option in there, all 3 can be used as finishers and the only one with any sort of middle-grit capacity is the Dragon's Tongue (Black one, far left). Usual warnings that come with natural hones - take grit ratings with a grain of salt, naturally formed materials have varying performance from rock to rock, your rock may not work like mine etc.

But all of mine are capable of putting a fine finished edge on a razor. I'm quite happy with them, even though mine did costa small tick more than those in the link...I think the ones I purchased were a slightly larger profile. At any rate, if you're patient enough to work with naturals, and you can figure out how to work the slurry, you can do a surprising amount of work with just those. I've set a bevel on the Norton 1K and honed it up to shaving sharp with just the Dragon's tongue for example.

Don't show me such things ! I almost bought them...

At best, they are 6-8k equivalent.

Put the money ($50 with shipping) towards a Naniwa 12K Super Stone.

You will be glad you did. Bet the vast majority, of them are sitting in the back of drawers. Mine are…

Not many 12k Naniwa’s gathering dust…

Mine are only in the 'back drawer' because I can't seem to stop acquiring more hones to play with. Such is the difficult life of a rock hound.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

At best, they are 6-8k equivalent.

Put the money ($50 with shipping) towards a Naniwa 12K Super Stone.

You will be glad you did. Bet the vast majority, of them are sitting in the back of drawers. Mine are…

Not many 12k Naniwa’s gathering dust…

I don't see many for sale at reduced prices however (Welsh Tri-hone that is). You would think that since so many people should be unhappy with them that there would be a lot for sale in the secondary market. I don't see any however.

I don't need a $100 12k. That's too practical anyway. I already get good edges.

For the price (especially were it not for the high shipping) the tri-hone looks like fun. I've heard the 3rd one is actually around 15k but rather harsh and the the middle one is close to 12k.

It's the Dragon's Tongue that is in the 6k-8k range (with or without slurry).

Did you get the tri-hone set or just one of the individual stones?

I already have the Chinese stone. Are you saying that none of the Welsh stones are finer than that? Really?

Originally Posted by gcbryan

...

Did you get the tri-hone set or just one of the individual stones?

I already have the Chinese stone. Are you saying that none of the Welsh stones are finer than that? Really?

I can only say that the 15K slate (i use it with oil) produces a slightly better result, it's more about characteristics than it is about funtionality. My chinese hone makes the razor smooth like butter, but the sharpness is not as high as the welsh slate. For somes razors depending on size i prefer the chinese PHIG as finisher, for others it's the welsh slate. My Müller "Thüringer MST" (that definitely never saw Thüringen) is not as good, not as smooth and not as sharp as both of the above. I have a 12K Shapton Pro and i prefer anything natural, mostly because it definitely produces as harsher and irritating sharpness. But with a reduced amount of stokes you can tame it. And i have a chinese 12K resin bonded diamond stone that produced a super sharp edge (interestingly enough not as irritating as the Shapton), but i don't like the lack of comfort...

The 8 k Taidea are very good to use with slurry - practicly feels , like coticule slurry .The 3 K are a 1 K stone
And above all - for God sake , please dont buy Chinese strops - better buy a SRP replasement padle and make a padle - you will be very happy , not to have a chinese strop