Thread: German Synthetic Hones... HELP!

On amazon they are $80. I was just asking about quality though, if I don't get these I will get shaptons from howard or Nortons from somewhere, can't decide if I just want 4k/8k or the whole kaboodle.
I own a 15 pcs set of zwilling Friodour knives (from Solingen) so I guess it wouldn't be a total flop if they didn't work. Though I don't really want to pay $80 to sharpen my knives once a year...
Howard- what do you mean they are optimized for their knives? How can a hone be optimized, but for different types of steel, and these are said to be used for stainless and high carbon?

Can someone explain how these hones, even if they are optimized for Henckels knives, would be different from King or Suehiro stones, optimized for Japanese kitchen knives? Or from Naniwa Chosera stones, optimized for Katanas of all things? Or Norton stones, optimized for..what? Chisels? Axes? I'm honestly curious...

And I think we're ignoring the obvious--Henckels is a knifemaker. They don't make hones. If a company decides to offer a product tangentially related to their main line, they don't buy or build a new factory for it. I would bet a farm which I don't have that they contracted the making of these hones out to another company. Very likely, it's a Japanese or Chinese company as there really aren't a TON of companies making higher grit stones like that. I know that KAI in Japan offers stones that look very much like the Henckels one--and I gurantee you KAI doesn't make hones, either.

Sorry to seem dumb, but the first part of that implies they should be good, the second seems to imply that they will probably be crap... can you give me some advice as to whether you would think they are good or not?

And I mean, on second thoughts, they can't be any worse really than a DMT when it comes to fast cutting and leaving a harsh edge, provided the grits are accurate.

I'll have another look at them tomorrow.
First time I've seen them I was unimpressed.
About like King might be it. I'm unimpressed by King as well, unless I need it for an extremely hard steel cause it is soft enough (only the 1000 grit though. The 6000 grit back side is dense pretty fast but they are only 20.00 Euro so I'm not picky).

Henckels might still be one of the best, but there is hardly anything still manufactured in Solingen.
They live from their reputation of former times I'd say

You may be right about their reputation. All our blades cam from my grandparents, either inherited or as wedding gifts to my parents. I think our youngest blade is around 1980. And I have heard they are not up to scratch. Thank you for checking.

Originally Posted by khaos

Sorry to seem dumb, but the first part of that implies they should be good, the second seems to imply that they will probably be crap... can you give me some advice as to whether you would think they are good or not?

Why would contracting out the hone manufacture have anything to do with quality? I don't mean to imply anything about quality by speculating about the source--as long as the factory QA is on the ball, they're probably fine.

My point is that the arguments that Henckels hones are only for Henckels knives, and therefore bad for razors, seems to be odd since NO current production hones are for razors and the hones are very likely NOT designed specifically for Henckels knives.

Jim- earlier you mentioned that you would say why not? Could you give me a worst case scenario? Lets say absolute worst. Zeepk worst. Would it actively ruin the razor, or just not hone at all, or just not hone very well (ie hones, but NEEDS finishing)? Actually, can everyone who wants to please chime in here? And I don't mean to be rude, but please only give a response and reason, Olivia and Jim I wish I could thank you ten times, because even though your disagreement doesn't help me decide (if you both agreed or disagreed it would be an easy decision) but it lets me see the whole issue clearer. And Olivia, if you are able to hold and touch one and look at it, that would be amazing help. I am mostly interested in if it is feasible or not, the quality is less of an issue (I feel like an idiot saying that). IF IT WILL WORK, I would like to subject myself as a guinea pig. Maybe this is a new kind of hone. If I recall other posts correctly, the Norton wasn't really popular til Lynn worked out how to hone it. Now I'm definately not claiming to be Lynn, but if it is workable, I would be willing to tackle it.
PS: I checked my knives, they are all stamped with Solingen and I believe they were made there. Nice.

Sorry but I have to bump this. I'm getting close to the wire. So... Norton 4k/8k or take a risk on the Henckels 3k/8k... both are $70.

If they're both the same price, I would just go for the nortons. They could be used on your knives too so there's no risk.

Plus, many members here are familiar with the nortons so you could easily get help from them if you are having trouble.