Thread: Ice Bear 10,000 Grit Waterstone

Has anyone had any experience with this stone? I picked one up at Highland ( http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/i...OD&ProdID=5530 ) and am thinking of touching up my Lynn-sharpened straight that I mis-stropped right off the bat. My first experience, I'm sure I'm not the only person to have done this.

J.

Originally Posted by Jonedangerousli

... I mis-stropped right off the bat. My first experience, I'm sure I'm not the only person to have done this.

Nope, and you won't be the last :-( I did this to my first two... It's one of life's little ironies that newbies are the most in need of a professional honing, and the most likely to quickly damage it. I was lucky that I got one shave out of mine before I killed the edge, and that one shave was the most incredibly close and comfortable shave I had ever experienced - I was hooked instantly.

The grit sounds ok, but I'm not sure how quickly it cuts. Make sure you lap it first (there are like 50,000,000,000 threads on that topic) and round off the edges. After that, just do it gently, slowly and in 5 stroke increments (on each side).

About the stone you speak of. I am the owner of a full array of acceptable Naniwa waterstones. BUT not happy with the finisher (10k). I find it hard to put it into the rotation. Anyway after having great results with a clay based King 6K and the lack of any happiness with the resin based Naniwa. Anyway I bought an icebear clay based terrific stone. Pity it takes you $500 bucks to learn whats already public info.

Could you please explain what you don't like about the Naniwa (I'll assume Superstone) 10k hone? I think it is a perfectly fine (pun acknowledged) hone.

Originally Posted by bobski

About the stone you speak of. I am the owner of a full array of acceptable Naniwa waterstones. BUT not happy with the finisher (10k). I find it hard to put it into the rotation. Anyway after having great results with a clay based King 6K and the lack of any happiness with the resin based Naniwa. Anyway I bought an icebear clay based terrific stone. Pity it takes you $500 bucks to learn whats already public info.

I have two Kings (4k and 8k) that are good hones. They cut quickly and produce a nice edge.

Dave

It's a rebranded Kitayama 8K, so not really a 10K. The 10K rating is basically marketing hype - someone, somewhere, claimed that the thing had jnat-like friable grit (never proven, as far as I know) and therefore it could polish up to the equivalent of 10K. Some have even claimed 12K.

I have one of these stones, and find it to be solidly 8K. It's a muddy stone for something with that high a grit, which is generally not great for us razor types. The mud dries quickly, so you're either constantly spraying, or shuffling a little heap of dust from one end to the other. This is time-consuming and of no apparent benefit.

This is not a bad stone, but there's no shortage of better razor stones in the 8-10K range. My Kitayama has been relegated to kitchen knife duty, where its indeterminate grit is less of an issue.

I have an old King Ice Bear 10K, that I have had for years, so I don’t know if it is the same stone, mine is more of an off white, almost yellowish.

It was my go to finishing stone for years, until I bought a 12K Super Stone, also a while ago, it is the Pink one.

My 10K is very similar in performance to the 12k Super Stone, with the 12K just a bit faster. My 10K leaves a very nice edge that can be shaved off of or after a few Chrome Ox laps gives a nice comfortable edge. It is a better edge than a Norton 8K or Superstone. It is a little softish, a bit muddy feeling, but that I think makes it a bit smoother finisher.

Bottom line, if it is the same as my stone it will be a nice finisher.

Now days my go to is the 12K super stone and the gold standard by which I judge Naturals.

If it’s a choice between the 10k and a 12K buy the 12K. If you have the 10K already, keep it and enjoy it, you will not be missing much, Chrome Oxide will make up any difference.

Yes, the 10K will restore you edge, barring any major damage.

Utopian,

Mate, I find the naniwa SS 10k to be a very hard stone indeed. Now lets be clear, I am inexperienced at honing (6 months roughly), But I used a clay based king 6k and I got an edge you could shave with from the 6k. True. Then I go to the 8k to polish, and supposedly the 10k to finish the perfect edge. Not so for me with the Naniwa SS 10k, This problem is 75% poor technique, but if the clay based Ice Bear can give me that extra 25% well I'll give it a go. The Ice Bear 10 K comes with a nagura stone too, so....I'll report the results when I get them. Cheers, Bob

Originally Posted by bobski

Utopian,

I find the naniwa SS 10k to be a very hard stone indeed.

There you go. A softer stone is easier for a beginner to use. It's not the stone at fault but as you say technique.
Compared to some of my naturals or even the 20k suehiro, I wonder just how hard the SS 10k really is.