Originally Posted by
STF
I don't know anything about the King stones but honestly, if you think there is any chance you might need honing advice or mentoring, I would be inclined to go with stones that most of the experienced and knowledgeable guys here use.
Nortons and Naniwas are two of the widely used stones by the guys that know what their talking about for a reason, they all might think Kings are the bees knees too but I haven't heard that.
I'm not an experienced honer, certainly not expert and wouldn't presume to give you honing advice but I will say this, I got the Nortons to start because there are a lot of guys that have them and could help a lot. I bought Naniwas more recently because I didn't have to soak them and I like them more than the Nortons but again they are stones that a lot of guys have and there is lot's of advice available.
Unless you already know what you're doing I would get stones that you can get help with when you need it.
There are cheaper stones out there but they might turn out to be a false economy, I prefer to stick with the synths that everyone else has because if nothing else, they are tried and trusted.
Just my humble opinion.