King/IceBear Make for Decent Budget Hones
Since I'm on a budget, I decided to get a set of King/IceBear water stones from Woodcraft. I bought the 250/1k combo, and the 4k and 6k singles, all of which cost me about $85 after tax. That is roughly equivalent to a 4k/8k combo stone, so I decided to go the King route.
I understand that there are others that do better than these, but the King stones actually do a decent job for the money. After lapping them smooth, just 1 pass was enough to put a streak of metal particles on the stone. After 3 passes, swarf was starting to build, and after only 10 passes, the water was completely gray with swarf and loose particles. It's a little slower than the Naniwa's and Nortons, I'm sure. It took about 30 passes on the 4k to polish the scratch pattern from the 1k, same from 4-6. Of course, I cap it all of with the GuangXi starting from heavy slurry and diluting to clean water. About 10-20 passes over Flexcut Gold on a leather strop, 40 passes on clean leather, and I'm looking at a fierce, mirrored bevel that shaves me pretty comfortably.
Again, I'm not saying the Kings are the best at anything at all. I know they're definitely not. They are, however, a stone that performs well for someone that has a limited budget and can't afford something as reputable as the Naniwas or Nortons.