Hello Wintchase
Thanks for the mention. I generally try to encourage fellows (no gals as of yet) to try out a few stones at the same time to make comparrisons against each other, like a stone bake off, plus against the stones they have already. This was the old fashion way of buying stones in Japan, a stone merchant would visit the barber shops with a selection of stones for the barber to try out and he could pick and choose.
These days this would be a luxury situtation, but the basic idea is still a good one. Some users know what they are looking for and what they want, but in the case of you Carazor, and other newbies the best option would be to test out a group of stones or better yet to locate a member of the STP here who lives nearby that might host you for a couple of hours some day to test out their stones in a comparrison and learning situation. This would be the best of all worlds because their established honing skills could rub off on you along with their stone knowledge.
Maybe mini regional "hone-in's" could happen every once in a while to diseminate some skills on a small spontanious scale. Good luck with it all, no matter where your next stone comes from, I guarantee it will be a learning experience. Alx
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