Thread: BearMoo

Hi all,
Relative noob here. Would appreciate your thoughts/experience on the BearMoo hones.
I recently acquired a few old straights from an estate sale to practice my honing and would like to get some entry-level 1000, 4000, 8000 grit hones. Amazon has these at a comparatively low price (compared to Nortons and other blue chip hones). http://tinyurl.com/y7lc57fs

Appreciate any input!

Don't do it. In general, the cheapest Chinese synths are muddy, are probably not the grit they're described as or have coarser grit mixed in with the fine, and may be slow. I believe they're intended for knives and garage tools, for which purpose they may be OK. If you want stones, go with King.

If you want to save money go with a good 1k/2k stone (a King is a little soft but works perfectly well) and lapping film. You can get set up with film, a flat tile or granite for $25 or so. If you want to go further on the cheap, you can use diamond pastes on lapped balsa.

Next step up price-wise is a set of King stones.

Norton, Naniwa, and Shapton are not 'blue chip' hones at least for razors, they're the standard tools, used by almost everyone because they work. The cheap Chinese stones are 'brown chip' stones - lol.

Cheers, Steve

Sorry, but you get what you pay for. We've had several people try that cheap chinese stuff and I don't recall anyone being remotely satisfied with them. If you buy crap you are likely either to end up giving up or having to buy better stuff later.

Originally Posted by Utopian

Sorry, but you get what you pay for. We've had several people try that cheap chinese stuff and I don't recall anyone being remotely satisfied with them. If you buy crap you are likely either to end up giving up or having to buy better stuff later.

This. Buy cheap, buy twice. I like cheap hones as much as the next person, but when it comes to Synthetics there's a reason we advocate Norton, Naniwa, Shapton or King stones. They're a one time purchase and they work.

Originally Posted by Marshal

This. Buy cheap, buy twice. I like cheap hones as much as the next person, but when it comes to Synthetics there's a reason we advocate Norton, Naniwa, Shapton or King stones. They're a one time purchase and they work.

I've literally honed 500-600 razors with this combination and they are still going strong

https://www.woodcraft.com/products/n...702d61c10004f1

https://www.woodcraft.com/products/k...702d61c10004f1

Thank you all. King or Norton it is.

Shout out to Rodb who has been awesome in helping me with my estate sale "bonanza"!

Originally Posted by zeebanker

Thank you all. King or Norton it is.

Shout out to Rodb who has been awesome in helping me with my estate sale "bonanza"!

No problem!!

You got a few really nice ones in that haul! Hopefully we can set up honing lesson get together soon