Thread: Chinese Natural- Great New Discovery

The seller has blocked communication via ebay and is not shipping to Turkey so no way to learn for me.. I don't see the red iron marks on this stone unlike other Chinese stones.

It's gray like the others, I asked

I have two, a 175x50mm which isn't that great and a 8x3" that so far seems awesome.

I got my Chi-Com nat from Woodcraft. It seems to be a slow cutter, even with slurry. However, Zib suggested trying a drop of CrOx added to the slurry. It works MUCH better like that.

My stone is the same gray with chocolate brown/black "tiger stripes" as pictured elsewhere in this thread.

At this point, I can't see it replacing my coti/BBW. I'd like to get one of the new Thuringians to try...

Originally Posted by GeauxLSU

It seems to be a slow cutter, even with slurry. However, Zib suggested trying a drop of CrOx added to the slurry. It works MUCH better like that.

Yes, this is definitely the case. I asked Zib (Rich) to verify what I have discovered by a lot of experimenting with my own C-Nat stone using various slurries, and his results were exactly the same as mine. We both experimented with various light and heavy slurries, and found that it leaves a superb edge when used with a heavy CrOx slurry, and it cuts faster.

The CrOx slurry we both got best results from, is pretty heavy, to the point of making the top of the hone look like green paint.

Below is the way I get absolutely great results on most razors -

I set a bevel with a 1K stone, then I take my C-Nat and create a nice proper slurry with my DMT 325 on it. I hone only with the C-Nat's own slurry, diluting it to plain water. After that, I clean up the C-Nat, and coat it with a nice heavy CrOx slurry. The feedback is absolutely silky from this point on, and I dilute it once again as I hone to the point of almost plain water again. I use quite a lot of honing strokes (about 100 or so) to finish it off this way, but the final resulting edge is absolutely spectacular.

Interestingly, one of my C-Nats have very heavy striations of tan coloring patterns in it, and when I kick up a slurry with that one, it is even more tan than the color below. It seems like it is a softer type of striation inside some of the C-Nats. It does not appear to make much of a difference with the honing results, but I will still experiment more with that one. I have not spent much time on that specific C-Nat of mine with the heavy tan coloring.

As the seller also stated on E-bay by answering your question, it is just the light in this specific photo that makes it look like a tan / brown colored C-Nat, the actual color is grey.

Originally Posted by northpaw

A tan PHIG! Interesting!
Anybody have one of these?

I got great results off Burt's "C nat" with the crox slurry. It holds up on it's own just fine too. It's better than any C12k I've owned. The crox slurry is like a steroid, and 100 strokes seems to be the norm. The SRD mix is perfect for the job, or if you have powder, you'll have to experiment until you get the mix right. The crox should look like green paint on the hone. I've come off Coticules and Naniwa's/Norton's to it, always improving my edge.

It's been a while since I've used this method. My next test will be using crox slurry, start to finish, just keeping it wet, little dilution.

The crox acts like a Nagura.....

Originally Posted by zib

It's been a while since I've used this method. My next test will be using crox slurry, start to finish, just keeping it wet, little dilution.

The crox acts like a Nagura.....

Looking forward to the result of your next test Rich!

I like the way you describe what it does, you're spot-on with your description, the CrOx slurry really acts like a steroid to the (already great) little C-Nat and it takes it up a serious notch to a very high level of honing excellence.

I am curious, does any one know if the Chinese people in China still use straight razors. Are these stones sold within China as razor hones? Alx

Originally Posted by alx

I am curious, does any one know if the Chinese people in China still use straight razors. Are these stones sold within China as razor hones? Alx

Hi Alx,

Straight razor shaving is not very big in China, so the hones are not sold as straight razor hones. They are sold as excellent quality finishing hones for sushi & kosher knives, scalpels, precision scissors etc. Some guys even use them to take their woodworking tools to the absolute next level of extreme sharpness.

The reason they are so popular with the western straight razor community, is the fineness of their particles combined with their relatively good cutting ability. And of course you can not beat the price for what you actually get! You can get a $30 Chinese hone that is equivalent to (or sometimes even better than) a $300 Escher if you are lucky! If you have a good quality Chinese natural hone, then it really leaves a superb edge on a straight razor.

Guys, I'm finding this thread most interesting from the standpoint I just picked up a Chinese stone myself, and I wondered if it was any good.

Here is the link to my ebay purchase. Did I just throw away 30$??

Just starting to try my luck at edge maintenance and I thought this was the way to go...

12000 grit natural whetstone for fine honing. 7.8" long | eBay

Thanks, hope you can view it,

Mike