Value of this hone?

Ahoy to one and all. I feel like I ought to point out that I am still fairly new to straight razor shaving and I am brand new to honing straight razors. In fact, I have only ever tried to hone one straight razor and that was tonight. I have been sharpening knives and tools for several years though, so I am not totally ignorant of the topic.

Now that you have some background, I was wondering if anyone could help me with some insight into this stone:Attachment 117018

I am looking at it on an ebay auction and I was curious to know what you guys thought about this stone. Here is the information that the seller gives:

"Excellent sharpening stone to hone any blade, especially razors and knives.


Dimensions about: 37 mm x 48mm x 197mm (1.5” x 1.9” x 7.8”).
One, the largest, surface is lapped.

Slurry stone included.
Slurry stone size vary. From 0.5"x7/8"x7/8" to 2"x7/8"x7/8". Slurry stones are created from fragmented pieces. No returns are accepted due to size or shape of slurry stone since, after all, the shape of slurry stone really does not matter.


This whetstone (mined in the Guangxi province of China) is very hard - almost like ceramic, and gives a really fine polished edge.
It is also known as a slow stone, requiring 50 - 100 laps to polish the edge of a straight razor, but the results are superior smoothness - sometimes likened to a "buttery" feel.


I realize that getting anything on ebay is a roll of the dice, but this stone seems pretty reasonably priced if it is as good as it claims to be. I'm tempted to get it just because I'm impatient. I'm currently waiting for my friend to come back from Japan with a natural stone of some sort that is apparently excellent for razors. I trust my friend's taste in sharpening stones because he's a sushi chef and he's obsessed with sharpening. According to him, this stone will be a really good finishing stone for a straight razor. But he won't be back from Japan for a few weeks and I'm impatient. Besides, if this thing ends up being decent then it would be nice to have 2 kinds of finishing stones. I've droned on for long enough though. Any opinions that you have are welcomed. Thanks!

This stone is rated around 12000 grit, is a really slow stone, like all naturals stones, some piece works better of other. Is a cheap finishing/ polishing stone that do his dirty job, for a newbie is could be a good compromise between price and performance.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...nese-hone.html

There is some light reading on the subject :)

We call them PHIGs

People's Hone of Inderterminate Grit

They are also available at your Local Woodcraft and Rockler stores, and you can hold and touch them

Oh great! Thanks for the info guys! I'm going to go ahead and pick it up if it's not a total dud. I figure I can always pass it on to a friend if I get something better down the line. Thanks again for the link to the thread, I'll look it over.