Thread: is this a decent hone to start of with?

I was looking online for hones as I liked edged objects quite a bit, swords, knives, razors, etc. Recently, I started whittling and my friend pointed me toward this website to get some hones. What do you guys think? I am thinking about getting the whet-2 double sided with the very fine arkansas on one side. Is it only good for knives and chisels?

Track of the Wolf - Sharpening Stones, whet stones

It would be of limited use for honing a straight razor if it would be any good at all. Knives and chisels are what that would be more suitable for. Waterstones are what a razor honer generally gets best results from. If you go to the SRP Wiki and check out 'hones' you'll find "what hone do I need" or something like that. I've had real good results from the Norton 4/8 and from Naniwa waterstones in 1,3,5,8 and 12k grits.

Pass on this, these are not conducive to what we are doing.

I was just wondering because I read in the faq something about Arkasas stones and was wondering if those qualified because there isn't any definitive reference as to how many different levels of grit there are besides, "soft" and "hard". I was also looking at the Norton wetstones at Vintageblades. I'm really starting to like that store.

More people have started out on the Norton series than anything else and many of us still use ours. You will need a 1k hone for bevel setting and then I would advise the 4/8k combo.

shoot me for saying this...
In the knife world fine is usually around 4-600grit and extra fine 1-2k(atleast with syntetics)

can the extra fine be used to set a bevel? possibly but other stones are way better, and at that grit its also same price or cheaper

Originally Posted by janivar123

shoot me for saying this...
In the knife world fine is usually around 4-600grit and extra fine 1-2k(atleast with syntetics)

can the extra fine be used to set a bevel? possibly but other stones are way better, and at that grit its also same price or cheaper

This is exactly what I was curious about. What level of grit do those things have? All I know is my buddy gets a keen point on his Murphy whittling knife. It is sharp enough to shave arms like an X-acto but I guess that's why they refer to a "razor-sharp" edge as the ultimate.

You can do whatever you want with any stone, its a matter of efficiency, buy what you wish. But the Nortons have a very proven track record here and should you need help with understanding the stones, there will be plenty available. Should one choose to buy something else that no one is familiar with and you need help with it, good luck!

For whittling, get a Fallkniven DC4 and lap the ceramic side to make it even smoother. ~US$28. It will let the edge shave arm hair.

For razors, more will be needed.

Originally Posted by Sticky

For whittling, get a Fallkniven DC4 and lap the ceramic side to make it even smoother. ~US$28. It will let the edge shave arm hair.

For razors, more will be needed.

Awesome... I'll look into it. Any suggestions as to where I can order such a whittlin' blade?