Thread: Hone of the Day

Great little review Mike. I've been thinking about getting a Chosera 1k, just because sometimes my king can be very slow, as you know all to well. I had bought a Sigma select ii in the 1k from LeeValley and have found it to be not much better than the King. Even though the website claims it to be a very fast stone. Oh, and the soak time is longer!!!! Can you imagine that!!! Everything I've read in your review makes the decision a no brainer. Again, thanks.

Today has a new guy over to hone his new TI which was factory shave ready. Chosera 1k bevel set. Had grind issue with a smile. Toe and heel off the hone 1 side and centre the other. Followed with 3, 5, 8, and 10 k naniwa ss and because of the gymnastics to get it there a 5x1 thuri to finish going from slurry to plain water. Came out nice did 10 laps on a paddle I put crox on for him and was slaying hair. Now I need to wait till he uses it to find out how it goes.

For my night session a Tosuke Kamisori I have never got there. Found a small chip so reset bevel on a la verte coti with slurry then to plain water and finished on g20 going from light slurry to plain water. Shave test tomorrow also first kamisori shave.

Will bring mine to the next GTG Andrew, so if you haven't purchased one yet, can try it out yourself to assess.
Did a nice number on my Ti edge even,,,
Cheers.

Originally Posted by MikeB52

Hazet, very good slip jaw pliers. Best I own actually. You are right about them not being readily available over here though, if at all.

Spent some time getting to know my new Naniwa 1k over the last few nights. Figured I'd post my thoughts here.
Attachment 224995
Here, a WB smiler getting its bevel set via rolling Xs. The stone is slightly longer and narrower than my Norton, but the Norton base proved stable enough for the job at hand.
Attachment 224996
Here a NOS Wapi I unwrapped just for the occasion.
Great stone compared to my king. Aggressive removal, but not scary or uncontrollably so.
Scratch pattern was surprisingly uniform and non toothy despite the speed with which it took off steel.
I use Scotch/3M 22 electrical tape when I hone. Its an 'extra thick', industrial grade tape that I found would last through the entire bevel set with my king. It's .010" thick x 108 ' roll so lasts a very long time.
With the Naniwa, after maybe 300 laps, had to change it due to wear. So I needed no more proof this stone moves material. See how metal laden the slurry looks in the pics.
Was able to get to sticky thumb grab stage in under an hour on the Wade, which had just been restored and was quite dull, and just over an he on the wapi which had never been honed before.
Very impressive time on stone ratio vs the king IMO. A similar Wade took me the entire night on my old rock.
No soaking required is nice, and I didn't find it particularly messy. No more so than my old stone anyway.
Tackling my nemesis blade tonight actually. It's a Ti LeDandy that I have never been happy with. Dulled what edge it had and will see how it goes.
Anyway, that's my lil review on the Chosera. I look forward to gaining more experience with it on a few other blades in the box.
Cheers.

Mike.. I got mine about a week before yours, and love it. Did you get the Naniwa dressing stone as well? It makes the chosera work so much faster for me .YMMV
I seem to be able to set a bevel in about 20 minutes , if that!!!
And thats after breadknifing (high honing) on a 400 grt. Nani.
I'll agree the sratch pattern is very consistent and not toothy.
Wished I would have gotten the chosera, 50 razors ago. [emoji4]

Mine didn't come with a dresser Mike.
I am using a nagura to make my slurry so far. Have a natural and synthetic one so experiment in between the two.
The time savings on the mos critical step of the honing process is pretty impressive.

For Canadians who have a nearby Lee Valley store, they have their Veritas 12" x 4-1/8" x 1-1/8", 14lb lapping plate at a fairly reasonable price of CDN $109 .00 and several grades of grit powder + lapping oil.

On the other hand, Lee Valley also has the DMT 4" x 10" 325 Diasharp, and it's only CDN $ 119 which is more than adequate in my book, and you don't need to mess with powders. Even the 3" x 8" D8C is more than good enough for lapping most hones, but for some reason Lee Valley does not carry that particular one. Amazon Canada does, and it was very attractively priced the last time I checked.... well, until new stock arrives from the US when I expect prices to shoot up due to our dollar.

Both items are available from Lee Valley to those in the US, but I have no idea how that works out, cost wise.

Regards

Christian

Yes, the DMT 4" X 10" 325 Diasharp works very well.

Bob

Originally Posted by MikeB52

Mine didn't come with a dresser Mike.
I am using a nagura to make my slurry so far. Have a natural and synthetic one so experiment in between the two.
The time savings on the mos critical step of the honing process is pretty impressive.

I had to buy mine separately.
Thats why I mentioned it, when you said you were ordering your chosera. Oh well... If I had the right saw... Id cut it in half, and send ya the other half. Their only $9.00 from SRD

The nice thing about the lapping plate and loose grit though is that you get every grit you want for a paltry sum - and you get fast sharp cutting grit every time. The diamond plates slow considerably as they are used and wear in.

I have diamond plates also but for me those are mostly reserved for flattening softer synthetic hones like Shaptons/Choseras - though I do use an Atoma 1200 for raising a slurry on some natural finishers.

Originally Posted by eKretz

The nice thing about the lapping plate and loose grit though is that you get every grit you want for a paltry sum - and you get fast sharp cutting grit every time. The diamond plates slow considerably as they are used and wear in.

It just dawned on me that there is another option from Lee Valley and that is their glass plate lapping system. It's included with the "Stone Pond" but can be purchased separately and can be used as is with grit or you can add the lapping film on top which allows the lapping grit to embed itself into the film and works faster than on the glass directly. Replacement lapping film is available and I would probably have film on both sides of the glass if I wanted to use two different grit sizes.

Lee Valley also has a very reasonable cost granite surface plate, but it would be a shame to ruin it using loose lapping compound. Using it with wet/dry paper is another story. There are many ways to lap a hone.... having 3 stones of same size and similar sized grit is another as they can be used to lap each other until they are all flat.... 2 stones will not work as one could become the opposite of the other.

I'm happy with diamond plates... I see no reason to spend more, in fact, I prefer to spend what money I have on new hones to try.

Regards

Christian