Thread: Picking A Japanese Hone

For what it's worth, I like to "discover" a stone by using knives rather than razors. Here's why:

1. Most of my razors are already really sharp, and there's not a lot left for a stone to do. This makes it harder to differentiate stones. It's not hard to find a fairly dull kitchen knife to play around with.

2. You can't use a lot of pressure when honing a razor. You can use some with a knife, and this reveals a lot about a particular stone.

3. The sharpening angle is pretty much automatic with a razor (lay it flat on the stone, maybe with tape on the spine). It's not at all automatic with a knife, and this can also be informative. When people say that super-hard stones are "unforgiving," what they mean is that you really have to hold a precise angle to get a good result. Visibly uneven micro-bevels say something about a stone's hardness.

4. Knives give better visual feedback. Magnification always helps, but you don't need a 400 power microscope to tell the difference between mirror and haze on a knife bevel.

The proof is in the shave, of course. I just think knives are a good tool for investigation. As an example, I didn't really understand my Chinese 12k until I had finished a 210mm gyuto on it.