Thread: Yellow Coticule vs Chinese 12k. Who has both?

i already have a norton 1000/4000 stone and i'm trying to figure out what my next stone would be, i could just get a norton 8000 but what about just jumping right to the chinese 12k? or would that take way to long due to it's slow cutting. I basically want to avoid buying 2 more stones, if i could get a combo 8k/12k that would be amazing but i think i'm going to have to choose between the two. At the moment i'm thinking i'll just stick with a 8k norton, since i think some ppl shave off an 8k?

also, does anyone know where to get the chinese 12k in canada? or is it something i need to order online

orfeo

Originally Posted by orfeo

i already have a norton 1000/4000 stone and i'm trying to figure out what my next stone would be, i could just get a norton 8000 but what about just jumping right to the chinese 12k? or would that take way to long due to it's slow cutting. I basically want to avoid buying 2 more stones, if i could get a combo 8k/12k that would be amazing but i think i'm going to have to choose between the two. At the moment i'm thinking i'll just stick with a 8k norton, since i think some ppl shave off an 8k?

orfeo

No, you will will not be able to jump from the Norton 4K to the Chinese 12K and there is no 8K/12K stone that I know of. You would be much better off getting an 8K stone and learning how to use it, then getting a higher grit stone and/or paste when you can afford it. Some people would say that you could go straight from the Norton 4K to a yellow coticule though. The coticule is a very fine stone that has the ability to cut very fast when used with a slurry; MUCH more so than the very slow chinese 12K.

One stone that would do everything that you need when combined with the Norton 1K/4K would be a belgian natural stone with a blue and yellow side. You would be able to come off the Norton 4K with a great bevel then polish it with the blue (which is about 4-6K) then finish on the yellow (8-10K).

Originally Posted by orfeo

also, does anyone know where to get the chinese 12k in canada? or is it something i need to order online

If you order them from woodcraft, they ship it from a warehouse in Ontario. They are very canuk-friendly.

thanks for the help guys, i may try and get the belgian then, is this what your talking about, http://bestsharpeningstones.com/cata..._stone_kit.htm , or is this simply two stones and what i want is http://bestsharpeningstones.com/cata...n_Coticule.htm (but that second link says its only the 8k while the pic seems like it has both 4/8k). Is there a better site to goto for ordering?

thanks again

orfeo

Well, that first link is offering two stones, not one. And they are not priced any cheaper than what you could get a norton 4k/8k AND chinese 12k for (approx $95 before shipping, from Howard/woodcraft).

and the second link is just one stone, Yellow coticule stones are usually mounted to a slate backing, which is what you are mistaking for a combination stone.

I agree with the guys above, the 8k will do more for you than the coticule and the 12k. But the 12k is so cheap you might as well get one for the hell of it (regardless of the fact that they work really well).

and yes, Howard at www.theperfectedge.com has most everything, at really good prices.

woodcraft has the chinese stones, amongst others.
http://www.woodcraft.com/depts.aspx?DeptID=4026

Yes Howard at theperfectedge.com should have what you need. There are different types of stones. Most yellow coticules have a blue slate backing to support the soft yellow stone; it is not used for honing. Sometimes Howard has very rare belgian natural stones which have BOTH the yellow and the blue stone which were formed together. Another option that would probably be a little cheaper and probably a little better because you would probably get a little more stone would be to buy a blue stone and a yellow stone seperately; Howard has cheaper prices than the site than you listed. The yellow will be the more expensive stone, belgian blues are fairly cheap. As a side note, I have found that the belgian blue stone works better than any other stone that I have tried for putting a final polish on my knives, so I will probably be ordering another just for this purpose.

thanks guys, i'll think about which Belgian stone to get once i get lynns dvd i think, is the 4x2 inch good enough for a belgian stones? i think i'd stick with those an not bother going any bigger due to price. Although, do you guys use these for your knives as well? i use global 20cm chefs knife and i want to get a kasumi or hattori chefs knife one day.At the moment i just use the norton 1/4k stone which i find sufficient. But i guess i could maybe get a 8x3 blue for the knifes and a 4x2 yellow for the finish on the straight razor.


orfeo