Thread: Buying a hone on the web?

I have a japanese waterhone thats 3000/8000 grit. It works quite well, however its too narrow and my blades get unevenly honed, because I have to do a cross pattern.

I would like to buy a wider hone, maybe a norton? Any suggestion for websites that sells 4000/8000 grit honesfor a reasonable price?

Craftsman Studio - Fine Tools

Waterstones at Tools for Working Wood

Many people on here prefer thin hones. I, personally, love 1.5 inch wide hones.

They take a little longer to get the hang of, but when you do, you will have a wider range of skills and options for honing styles.

Use your money to get a nice finishing stone like a Belgian Coticule from theperfectedge.com, or even a Chinese 12k stone from woodcraft.

Your blades should not be getting uneven hone-wear either, can you describe you process?

Originally Posted by Russel Baldridge

Many people on here prefer thin hones. I, personally, love 1.5 inch wide hones.

They take a little longer to get the hang of, but when you do, you will have a wider range of skills and options for honing styles.

Use your money to get a nice finishing stone like a Belgian Coticule from theperfectedge.com, or even a Chinese 12k stone from woodcraft.

Your blades should not be getting uneven hone-wear either, can you describe you process?

Maybe you are right I just need to learn to do it right.

But it does seem logic to me, that when I crosse a hone in an X pattern, that the middle of the razor gets more honing than near the tip and near the scale. Because the middle gets honed alle the way through the motion, whil tip and end only gets hond ½. This is also exactly whats happens with my razors. I need to do extra honing in both ends to get it as sharp there as in the middle (only sometimes though, sometimes it works out well).

The 250/1000 stone I have is 3 inches wide, and thats just much easier, beacuse it can hone the whole blade in a straight motin without the X pattern.

I cannot give you advice on where to buy a Norton, but I can tell you that the unevenness of your honing results are not due to your narrow hone. The majority of the seasoned honers at SRP do X-strokes. With many razors, X-strokes are even imperative for consistent results.
The Norton 4K/8K has an outstanding reputation, and I'm not saying it isn't worth buying one.
I'm merely implying that a hone that's 2 inch wide, or even 1 1/2" is not a reason for uneven bevels.

Best regards,
Bart.

Damn', Russel beat me to it.

Great minds, Bart, great minds.

Originally Posted by JimmyH-AD

Craftsman Studio - Fine Tools

Waterstones at Tools for Working Wood

Am I wrong for thinking the 1;5;8 set of Naniwa would be a pretty good deal if they were in stock @ Tools for Working Wood?

I used to have an 8000naniwa (was it a superstone? I don't know) but it was a good one.

I've done ok buying hones off the web recently

I went for the Norton narrow set of three seen here . They are great for smilling blades and those old Sheffields that are a bit warped. I use the rolling X that Russel posted a thread on some time back.