Thread: Guangxi ~15,000 Grit natural stone - Thoughts?

Originally Posted by Utopian

The grit rating of 12k is utter BS, as such a rating is meaningless for a natural stone hone. So what do you think the 15k grit rating is?

BS X 1.25 ?

Originally Posted by mbaglio100

BS X 1.25 ?

Nah.
In my experience, BS almost almost always increases exponentially.

Originally Posted by hcintineo

i'm stumbling around the shaving sub-category on ebay and i came across this stone. the description says it is a natural stone from the Guangxi province in China. i tried looking it up but didn't find many results.

15000 grit slurry whetstone | eBay

the seller has more than 10 available. i figure it may be a good stone, especially for the price, to keep a nice edge on a razor every week or so. i know nothing about hones or natural stones for that matter. has anyone used a stone like this before? or would it be a waste of $5?

I picked up one of these and it is not as fine as a C12K hone from Woodcraft.
I did get a large rock and it does work as a hone. Not as well as my
best barber hones for sure. It is good rock for $5 but mine was not
a 15K hone.

As long as you do not have high expectations you will be OK with it.

I have a Chinese "12K River Rock" I think that was the original description, not sold on it yet, keeping an open mind[no jokes, please] but I will use it more and see if with experience comes better technique. Can't beat the price though.

Just a thought.

anyone here know the joke about a guy selling a POS and claiming its a good POS for the price? sounds awfully familiar to the PHIG... at least IMO, as stated some PHIGS are really good for the dough, I unfortunately have gotten the good POS for the price, not the good ones.

Originally Posted by Memorael

anyone here know the joke about a guy selling a POS and claiming its a good POS for the price? sounds awfully familiar to the PHIG... at least IMO, as stated some PHIGS are really good for the dough, I unfortunately have gotten the good POS for the price, not the good ones.

Kinda like "the food isnt that great ,but you get a lot!!"

I have that rubbing stone and it no likey releasy da slurries.

Seriously. That stone with the red striations is harder than the c15k that it came with and raises slurry on my combo coticule, thurry, and and norton 4k/8k. That slurry stone does not release any slurry from itself.

That being said, it's too small and thin/narrow/flat for even a slurry stone and I don't think you're going to find it usable for maintaining a razor. I like the C15k. I can't speak to it being an actual 15,000 grit though. I'm just reiterating someone else's ignorance, which I guess show's my ignorance. Take it for what it's worth.

With a DMT, the 15k will raise a good slurry. It's not as creamy in consistency as thurry and it doesn't cut as well as the coticule. What I actually like to do is use my coti to raise a slurry on the 15k and then dilute that down to just water to finish my blades.

I haven't bought the chinese whetstone from Woodcrafters. Chinese stones are typically described as slow, meaning a shapton 16k woujld take 3-10 strokes to finish an edge where a C12k would take a hundred. If you opt for a chinese stone, I suggest the longer stone as it speeds the finishing process and I find that as a newbie honer that it lets me focus more on my stroke, balance, and pressure more so than aligning it for the x-stroke's pattern.

What I suggest is selling a few buddies on straight shaving and then splitting one of those Ebay seller's 20lb pavers. Take it to a place that sells granite counter tops and have them cut it into 4 or 6 pieces for you. I did 4 pieces with mine and they're fine at just under an inch thick, 16 inches long, and 3 inches wide. That's plenty of room work with. You could cut the thickness down to just under 3/4 of an inch and squeeze 6 pieces out. This stone isn't brittle by a long shot and if you felt it was too thin, you could always box it in or back it with a piece of wood.

Some like smaller, hand held, skinny hones. To each, their own. I believe that size matters and I'm partial to this particular stone in this particular length. I'm pretty sure that if it was shorter, I would not have the same love of it. In fact, it's likely that I would curse it and speak badly of it.

Love. Such a fickle creature at the best of times.

I have this stone, it gives very good slurry.