Thread: Newest babies came in the other day

To gssixgun
The stones come in 400/1/3/5/10k. Thank you for the info.

To jimmyhad.
Sorry the video was so long, but it was the only one available. This is my first time in a forum, and I have tried what you said, but it still comes up with that huge line of "verbiage". I don't know what I'm doing wrong. One of the moderators has pointed out that he had to take out the info I posted because it broke forum rules. Sorry about that. So I can't post it anyway.

I don't own one, and have nothing to do with the business involved. I just wondered what they were like, and assumed wrongly that someone knew something about them.

Originally Posted by TheLegalRazor

Interesting thread which I will follow.

Will these Chosera cut faster that their SS counterparts?

Other than possibly cutting faster, what advantages do the Chosera offer over the SS's for someone who is only honing for personal use?

This is the good honing stuff you don't find on any other of the forums.

Sorry missed your post earlier...

Yes they do cut faster and with very good feedback

Absolutely none there is zero reason to own these if you are not honing a ton of razors, they are not "Better" they are faster they are thicker and wear less so perhaps after a few 1000 razors the cost factor will even out

Originally Posted by mainaman

I know many people with the cracking problem and it seems that the issue is how the stone was soaked and then dried.
I do not soak mine, just splash and go, but it dries at room temp for a long as it takes. I am already more than half trough and have no problems with it. I also mounted mine on a base just in case it cracked, that was when it was new, 3 years a go.

Soaking/drying is not the issue with the cracking 10k stones I have had. I don't even soak them - ever - and they are left in a room with more or less constant RH and temperature.

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

Soaking/drying is not the issue with the cracking 10k stones I have had. I don't even soak them - ever - and they are left in a room with more or less constant RH and temperature.

Regards,
Neil

Neil,
that is the explanation I have heard the most, I do the same as you and have no issue with my Chosera.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

@Don

You can use it as a slurry stone with the 1k if you need to do some "Serious" restoration on the bevel (I tend to do that on my DMT), but they are either a 400 or 600 grit block (can't remember at the moment) and designed to "Clean/Condition" the surface of the stone ie: clean off the swarf and glaze and expose new grit..
When you are using these to sharpen Tools and Knives this is much more of an issue then how we use them...

These are more of a "Prep Stone" we tend to use stuff a bit different then other shapeners do, I know huh I think we tell people that quite often on here hehehe Honing razors is really not the same as Sharpening Knives and Tools...

I think they are 600 grit Glen - at least I remember reading that on one of the chefs knife forums some time ago. They certainly do speed-up the 1k, but I have used them on the 3k and 5k, too, with good results. Thinning the slurry towards the end gets the most out of the stone.

AS far as I can tell, these cleaning/conditioning blocks are the same, whether they come with the 1k, 3k, 5k, or 10k - ie, all 600 grit. I have inspected the bevel under magnification coming off a hone with and without using the block, and with using a DMT to raise a slurry, but all the scratch patterns are quite close, even up to 10k when you would expect to see a huge difference - or even feel it - neither of which happens. So - they are either remarkably quick to break down into much finer particles, or they aren't made from anything 'grit-like' in the first place.

Strange, isn't it? Or is it me?

Regards,
Neil

I have heard it too Stefan, and seen some alarming evidence some years ago on a knife forum where someone took pictures of his (previously well-soaked) 10k in pieces! One of the stockists that I was looking at the other day has now taken to adding something along the lines that 'fine crazing is natural and not a fault and will not affect honing' in their descriptions of the line, which was not there before.

Luckily mine are just finely crazed (a bit like myself) and do not present a problem, but it looks pretty horrific, especially when dark honing detritus gets in the cracks. I have had the issue with two 10k choseras, and now I am finding the beginnings of it in the 5k, but unlike the 10k they lap out of the 5k pretty quickly. I gave up after lapping the 10k for five minutes or so on a pretty coarse Atoma, so it must be quite deep.

Mind you, I have had cracks in two 16k shapton glass stones and a 30k shapton glass stone...

Regards,
Neil

Funny you mention that Neil, my 16K has lines in it as well. I'm not worried about it since I can't feel anything, but I do keep an eye on it. I don't use the 30K much at all, I bet it's got less than 100 razors finished on it...most couldn't handle it.

Originally Posted by shooter74743

Funny you mention that Neil, my 16K has lines in it as well. I'm not worried about it since I can't feel anything, but I do keep an eye on it. I don't use the 30K much at all, I bet it's got less than 100 razors finished on it...most couldn't handle it.

I have found that a fair number of razors cannot take the 30k edge too, Scott - very annoying when you discover it after stropping and have to drop back down again! Some that don't handle it too well can be 'persuaded' by taping after the 16k and making a micro-bevel with the 30k, though.

Regards,
Neil

Originally Posted by Neil Miller

Soaking/drying is not the issue with the cracking 10k stones I have had. I don't even soak them - ever - and they are left in a room with more or less constant RH and temperature.

Regards,
Neil

I did some googling on this issue and came up with quite a few posts/threads on knife forums. I'm concerned because I've been batting around getting a 5 and a 10k for some time. Anyway, I don't understand not soaking for 15 minutes when the instructions say to do so. No rules and it is a half way free country (both of ours) but I figure they wouldn't say to do it if there were no good reason for it.

Meanwhile my smooth as silk, beautiful, Norton single grit 4 & 8ks are still solid as a ..... rock .... and looking good after four years of rubbing razors across them. That said, why would I want the choseras ? As Sir Edmund Hillary said when asked why he climbed Mt. Everest ..... "Because it was there."

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I did some googling on this issue and came up with quite a few posts/threads on knife forums. I'm concerned because I've been batting around getting a 5 and a 10k for some time. Anyway, I don't understand not soaking for 15 minutes when the instructions say to do so. No rules and it is a half way free country (both of ours) but I figure they wouldn't say to do it if there were no good reason for it.

Ah, but then again Jimmy, some manufacturers advertise/d their razors as shave-ready, and some strops used to come with oil or conditioning paste to rub into them before they even needed it!

Reminds me of when I was a photographer - the ASA/ISO speed stated on film was never correct - you had to run it through your own equipment and recalibrate - 125 ASA was more like 64 in my hands.

Seriously, though, it was a result of reading those knife forum posts that put me off soaking choseras - all the big damage seemed to be done when the choseras were soaked. I don't soak any of mine and they all perform just as well as if they had been soaked, but with less mess and fussing about. Hones like Kings and Nortons are a different kettle of fish though - they like a good drink otherwise you can't get any water to pool on the surface.

As an aside, I now use HoneRite in the water - it makes the choseras even less permeable and lets the clearing stones work better as they do not immediately stick to the hone, and once slurried they feel just as before, but with the added benefit that the blade never rusts and it leaves a protective coating. It's not for everyone though - I would tend not to use it if it wasn't for the fact that I hone other peoples razors and it saves me from oiling/waxing near the bevel.

Regards,
Neil