Thread: Chinese Natural- Great New Discovery

Originally Posted by JimR

Could you post pictures of any of its wrapping?

The wrapping is just plain old clear cellophane. Some has red stripes in the cellophane, and the others just plain clear. The first 2 I bought had some hand-written chinese writing on it, but the others only have the clear plastic stuck together with cellotape(scotch tape).

Those first 2 with the chinese hand-written paper in it was just the price, and shop details, nothing else.

Of what I can tell, but I'm not an expert, this does not seem to be the plain old Chinese 12K...it seems to be a different beast alltogether. I was able to hone razors from blunt, all the way to super smooth, starting with a slurry, and diluting it as I went along. The result was better than what I can get from my vintage Coticule, using the same technique.

Jimmy, I just checked my old PM's, and if I may, I will quote your last PM of the final result of this stone after your testing:

From Jimmy: "I don't know precisely how to categorize it grit wise but it is a real good hone. Yesterday and today I honed razors (Craftsman) with it and shaved. The razor I honed today was an old vintage Sta-Sharp (Sears & Roebuck) and I set the bevel with a 1200 DMT 8" then honed on the Chi hone with slurry diluting as I progressed. Finished with water at maybe 100 strokes ...... very light .....weight of the blade. HHT was effortless and the shave was smooth as silk and BBS. You've got a winner there."

The C12k I owned had exactly the same look.
Nice gray with decent dark "tiger lines".
It was superb. A true 12k, and I never understood why people would not rate this a 12.000 or beyond finisher, but a mere slow 8k stone.
Obviously there are several different types of C12k.

Honestly I believe the grey ones with lines tend to be the superb finishers
everybody has been talking about, whereas the darker tend to be more 8kish

And I highly believe the hone in the first post is a C12k or something identical.
Still a very good buy, though!

Photos of my C12k (8x2) from WoodCraft...

Me

Due to this thread I picked up a 2nd one at Woodcraft today. I bought the most light gray one of the three they had in stock, lapped it and tried it.

It's subtlety different from my first one, more feedback and less sticking.
The new one has the black stripes, the old one doesn't. It also seems slightly softer and generates very light slurry when honing.

I'll have to give it a real workout to make a real judgment on the differences between the two stones

The C-nat stones I have found here in Hong Kong still seem a bit different to the ones you guys describe. They look similar to the photos above, but the lines are not black, like most guys describe...mine are a dark brown/tan colour.

They are also fairly fast cutting stones, IMO, especially with slurry that I make with my DMT8C by rubbing it on the hone. I then dilute the slurry while honing and finish up with water only, then almost dry for the final 5-10 strokes. Superb!

The final polishing on these stones really seem well in excess of 12K, because it is smoother, and a nicer shave than my Naniwa 12K gives me....IMHO.

leadingedge

I believe nobody here said that CNat is bad. I personally think it's great for the price. Have fun with the stone and keep us updated!

Originally Posted by Traskrom

leadingedge

I believe nobody here said that CNat is bad. I personally think it's great for the price. Have fun with the stone and keep us updated!

Personally I also believe the trusty old Chinese 12K is a brilliant stone, from what I can read. In fact, I'm going to see if I can get hold of one myself from woodcraft.

What I meant in my above post, is that this C-Nat I have found gives me a better edge than my Naniwa 12K, not better than the Chinese 12K you guys have. I cannot compare it to the Chinese 12K until I can get one for myself.

I think there are 2 main issues with the general perception of C12Ks, one which is fact, the other opinion.

The first is that while some appear to be excellent, others are claimed to be of lower polishing quality in the 8k range rather than 10K+. There just isn't the consistency that Eschers have.

The second issue I believe is a silly one. They are cheap, therefore are inferior. Price never dictated quality - Eschers were considerably cheaper when they were being mined, even if one takes into consideration inflation, they were around 6-12 dollars depending on size and colour!
I haven't got the price inflation index calculator, but I dont think that was anywhere near the 300+ being paid today.

I'd really like to try a 'good' C12K and compare it to the finish of my Eschers. They are certainly good looking rocks.

Well, I just ordered one of these, and I ordered a PHIG from Poland not too long ago, so we'll have a run off!

Unless...the ones from Poland don't come in a box, and are a different size from the ones from Woodcraft.

Hmmmm...

Originally Posted by JimR

ones from Poland don't come in a box, and are a different size from the ones from Woodcraft.

My stone is from Poland, and probably the biggest size that he has. AFAIK he has 4 or 5 different sizes. I got it from Polish eBay and not from the US site, but from the same seller though.

Edit - Just doublechecked it, biggest size that he has 10"x3" I have 8"x3"