Thread: The REAL holy grail of hones?

Originally Posted by English

Do you know, we polish the edes so fine nowdays with a 50,000 grit paste that maybe, just maybe, the sticky edge........ whiuch is so desirable........... can be reached with a "one pass" on any 10 to 15K hone ..... maybe.

Or maybe the carrot chopping hone wrapped in gold, is the answer to our prayers.

I'll let someone else buy one. Forgive me, but I'm fed up with hype. I'll wait for the numbered limited edition wrapped in
No disrespect, Chris.

None taken. I understand your perspective and share it to a degree. I and others that like to try many different stones and hones after being at this awhile also know that can be possible to maintain a shaving edge using a $10 barber hone, newspaper, chrome ox, etc. IMO it's indisputable that a single coticule stone could provide a person with all the stone they'd need to shave well. However....

I don't believe there's ONE STONE of any grit range that would lay all other stones to waste with an incomparable and marked difference so amazing that a coticule, Thuringian, 16K Shapton, etc. would seem like crap in comparison. I'm not looking for said stone. Some like to taste fine wines. I like to try fine stones and enjoy comparing their subtleties for my own personal use.

Chris L

Originally Posted by Chris L

I don't believe there's ONE STONE of any grit range that would lay all other stones to waste with an incomparable and marked difference so amazing that a coticule, Thuringian, 16K Shapton, etc. would seem like crap in comparison. I'm not looking for said stone. Some like to taste fine wines. I like to try fine stones and enjoy comparing their subtleties for my own personal use.Chris L

Couldn't have put it better myself. The same is true of razors. One is enough but variety is the spice of life.

keep in mind that sword making and finishing have very different requirements than honing a straight razor. A classic sword maker uses literally an arsenal of stones and other items to finish off a sword. Also there is a sizeable group of people who collect Japanese Finishing Stones in Japan and many go for thousands of dollars based on the patterns on the stones and their pedigree.

The particular reviewer who has lauded so much praise to the name of the Naniwa Chocera 10k is none other than Ken123, from knifeforums and foodie forums. The guys are one and the same. Both glowing reviews come from only one source. More sources of info would be best.

If you want to see a picture of Ken, look no further than the thread here about the recent california meet. DwarvenChef brought his friend Ken along, and that's the guy. Perhaps DwarvenChef could head over to Ken's and hone a few razors on the Naniwa Chocera and the shapton 16 k and give a comparison.

I'll hold off on my holy grail attributions until I see many more reviews claiming such. Until then, I'll hang on to my 300 bucks.

Originally Posted by Ben325e

Perhaps DwarvenChef could head over to Ken's and hone a few razors on the Naniwa Chocera and the shapton 16 k and give a comparison.

Excellent idea, Ben. Can you get a hold of him and see if he can hone a few razors on the Chocera? We'd be waiting with baited breath for any opinions.

Chris L

Originally Posted by OLD_SCHOOL

This is accurate. The Nakayama hones are the most highly sought after hones in the world. Narutaki, Suita and so on don't even compare.

Maybe the Naniwa is the holy grail of synthetic stones

Let's remember that Nakayama, and Narutaki are mines. Suita is a stratum. Nakayama Suita is one possibility of a single mine-strata specific stone.

fwiw nihonto usually receive their finish polish with Narutaki stones

Originally Posted by Russel Baldridge

Chocera and Japanese Natural Stones .... - Foodie Forums

There's a guy in there that mentions having the Chocera hones, but not the 10k. Some of the other guys talk about other people's experiences and none seem to find it outstandingly better than the alternatives.

Then again, a 10k hone is really unlikely to be the holy grail.

Alex Gilmore's collection of natural finishing stones is extremely impressive and his experience is that the good Nakayama stones can be in the 40k to 45k range: http://straightrazorpalace.com/advan...-nakayama.html

Thanks for mentioning Alex's site again. While many of his stones are beyond the budget of the casually curious shaver one could always drop him a note asking if he has any x-x for yyy $

Originally Posted by OLD_SCHOOL

Actually I made a slight error in that post because Narutaki hones are mined from the Nakayama quarry. But none the less, Narutaki hones do not get as high in grit as the Nakayama hones with the Maruichi label.

We're not talking about the holy grail of sword finishing hones, but razor finishing hones.

regardless of what you are discussing Narutaki is a mine separate from Nakayama, therefore narutaki are not mined from nakayama. both mines dug into the same mountain on the same side into the same geologic structure so they can have very very similar products

I don't wish for any ill will to begin. I am here looking for friends that love what i love- Rocks and Iron. Perhaps a little late in discovering the art of the straight razor it seems quite natural to me now. I could only pretend to be an expert on Japanese sharpening stones, so further education, research is my goal, thus furthering my pretense

I am a bit of a sword nut too so please excuse me for focusing on that.

http://thejapanblade.com/narutaki127.htm. " Narutaki is an East Mountain mine that produced very fine toishi awasedo"

Lets split a Chocera

and be blood brothers