Thread: Chosera or Naniwa for Bevel Setting?

Originally Posted by Nikolay

is the name of manufacturer of both NANIWA Super Stones and NANIWA Chosera lines.
So it is a bad idea to compare NANIWA with Chosera.

Why is that a bad idea ???

Originally Posted by Nikolay

But they are unpredictable when applied to stainless steel.

I am going to have to disagree there too

No idea about the stainless thing, but the first part of Nikolay's comment was to just be more precise with the names. Asking what the difference is between a Naniwa and a Chosera is easier to decipher than the difference between a Ford and a Mustang, but is the same sort of question.

But amazingly we still all knew exactly what the OP meant, so let's hope that wasn't actually what Nikolay meant...

Originally Posted by gssixgun

But amazingly we still all knew exactly what the OP meant, so let's hope that wasn't actually what Nikolay meant...

The fact that frequent readers and experienced users are aware that Naniwa only has two popular product lines in this community do not render the point invalid. Your "we all" may in fact exclude the OP and many others who are not as well-versed in the market. To suggest that it doesn't matter because you and some others understood is quite contrary to the notion of wanting to be helpful.

Naniwa's are Naniwa's, Chosera's are Chosera, If I say Toyota and Lexus does anybody get confused? I doubt it.
I'm pretty sure there has been no confusion with regards to this issue ever and if there was it was cleared up pretty easily, I for one will continue to refer to my Naniwa SS super stones as my "Naniwa's" and WHEN (not if =P) I get my new Naniwa Chosera Super Ceramics SS 1000 bevel setter I will refer to it as my Chosera. Because that is much simpler and easier to understand for my primitive brain.

In fact the chosera's are sometimes referred to as "super ceramics" and also have SS in the model number. So... If it aint broken.. don't mess wit it! lol

Originally Posted by Tierdaen

The fact that frequent readers and experienced users are aware that Naniwa only has two popular product lines in this community do not render the point invalid. Your "we all" may in fact exclude the OP and many others who are not as well-versed in the market. To suggest that it doesn't matter because you and some others understood is quite contrary to the notion of wanting to be helpful.

BTW NANIWA produce much more than just these two lines, there are also NANIWA DIAMOND stones, woodworking stones, economy and pro lines for kitchen knives and so on.

As for the phrase about stainless steel it needs to be explained.
The main idea is that softer and viscous stainless steel provoke two bad things:
1) too much slurry that can make the edge rounding instead of sharpening ( when excessive pressure on bevel setting )
2) sometimes NANIWA SS are clogging too fast with stainless and you need to dress the surface after each some ten strokes or so

Originally Posted by Tierdaen

The fact that frequent readers and experienced users are aware that Naniwa only has two popular product lines in this community do not render the point invalid. Your "we all" may in fact exclude the OP and many others who are not as well-versed in the market. To suggest that it doesn't matter because you and some others understood is quite contrary to the notion of wanting to be helpful.

Actually the "We all" simply referred to the context of the thread, where every person here clarified it.. Reading the entire thread might be helpful

Originally Posted by Nikolay

BTW NANIWA produce much more than just these two lines, there are also NANIWA DIAMOND stones, woodworking stones, economy lines for kitchen knives and so on.

[B]Yes we know...[/B]

As for the phrase about stainless steel it needs to be explained.
The main idea is that softer and viscous stainless steel provoke two bad things:
1) too much slurry that can make the edge rounding instead of sharpening ( when excessive pressure on bevel setting )
2) sometimes NANIWA SS are clogging too fast with stainless and you need to dress the surface after each some ten strokes or so

Simply not true, when using the hones,, I think perhaps you are getting info from non Straight Razor sources and confusing things
Making broad sweeping statements like that are what is actually not a good idea..
What you are saying goes in direct contradiction to what I have found using the Naniwa SS's to hone SS razors..


I would love to know where you came up with this info ????

Speaking of stainless steel razors in general I've not found those I've encountered to be any more unpredictable than high carbon razors I've honed. A lot more of the latter than the former. OTOH, custom stainless razors I've encountered, three to be exact, have been tougher to get up to speed.

The customs were an ATS-34 and two S30V blades. Not surprising since their reputation for being tough, abrasion resistant steels, precedes them. Once "there" they were great. I've read that most of the vintage stainless factory blades, if not all, were fashioned from 440C steel. If that is true I would have to assume that heat treating and tempering are paramount. I say that because I've had 440C pocket knives that weren't that good, while my vintage stainless razors have been first rate.

I've yet to try a Chosera. I've heard that the binder on those is magnesia while I know the superstones have a polymer binder. I imagine the abrasive and the distribution of same in the binder are different. Anyway, the 12k superstone as well as the 1k, 3k, 5k, 8k are great stones IME.

I can't imagine an experienced honer not getting stellar results with any of them. OTOH, I reserve 'back honing' for my strops. I learned to hone edge leading on stones, the way it has been done for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. So far so good.

Originally Posted by Nikolay

BTW NANIWA produce much more than just these two lines, there are also NANIWA DIAMOND stones, woodworking stones, economy and pro lines for kitchen knives and so on.

As for the phrase about stainless steel it needs to be explained.
The main idea is that softer and viscous stainless steel provoke two bad things:
1) too much slurry that can make the edge rounding instead of sharpening ( when excessive pressure on bevel setting )
2) sometimes NANIWA SS are clogging too fast with stainless and you need to dress the surface after each some ten strokes or so

Not to be rude, but this is a straight razor forum, and since we talk only about straight razors, the confusion doesn't exist for us and the issues you cite don't either. It's awesome when members can bring outside info and experience to the forum, but, in this case, I would say it is your approach, not our naming system, that is bringing undue confusion to a thread about setting bevels on straight razors.