Thread: Looking for a good set of stones... Tips?

I think the Naniwa SS are too soft for Knives. But thats just like my opinion man.

@legion, your right that is no way to answer my question, I originally thought of trying the coticle instead of an artificial line of stone but decided I knew nothing about which veins were good, colors or anything that would help me to get a good stone... With you post you have me considering taking another look as I really like the idea of one stone all the way through. Any tips on what to look for, color? size? vein? distingushing marks?

@ starbartFast, why do you say they are too hard for knives, the knives I'm talking about are Japanese and quite hard 60+ Rockwell scale I know nothing of honing so any tips or knowledge will be appreciated.

I just did two razors on a coticule and one on Naniwa 2-5-8-12K's(and bevel set on Chosera 1K), and all ended up quite good, I just shaved using one of the coticule razors and it was awesome, smooth for days. All three were "eBay specials" and both on the coti were done entirely on them, only the third got the Chosera treatment.

I got a 150x40mm La Petite Blanche directly from Ardennes Coticule in Belguim and it came lapped and chamfered ready for use. Using the "Unicot" method was nice and easy, this was my first time honing on my own. While it probably isn't the sharpest razor ever, it was more than shave-ready and very smooth shaving, not even a hint of razor burn after a three pass shave.

The layers to ask for is:


La Petite Blanche layer
La Veinette Layer
Les Latneuses Layer
La Dressante Layer with fine manganese lines
La Grosse Blanche Layer

I think the best advice I got when looking for coticules is not to get too caught up in veins and layers, just get one stone in a size you like and practice with it. I, of course, ignored that advice, and bought three different layers to try. And I found the advice was right, they all do the same job, just differently. Some cut a little faster, some auto slurry and need rinsing in the final steps, etc. etc. But they all do the job once you work them out.