Thread: My first Chosera experience

I was lucky to get a set of Chosera hones for my birthday, a 3000, 5000, and a 10000 (yet to arrive but expected in a week or so). I have been using a straight razor for about 5 months or so and have up until now used lapping film on a 1/4 inch thick piece of plexiglass to maintain the edge of my daily razor (yes I only use one...for now). I have had no big trouble keeping my edge shave ready with the film but have wanted a set of stones to do the job.

I also have a Thuringian hone from kees the small 5" by 1" kind.

I couldn't wait to use these hones but was trying to hold out for the 10000 to arrive. Well I couldn't wait.

I lapped the 3000 and the 5000 on some wet/dry sandpaper and then lightly used the dressing stone that comes with the stone.

I had also in my posession a kind of beat up Ontario Cutlery 5/8 that I thought I would try to hone up with what I have available.

I had never used the razor as it suffers from some rust and stain issues but I polished up a bit of some 2000 rubbing compount and some metal polish.

Now to the stones. I soaked the two in some clean water and after a half hour or so took them out and started at it. I did about ... I don't know ... 50~70 laps on the 3000 then I moved to the 5000 and did about the same number of round trips. I checked the edge with a thumb pad test and not knowing really what I should be feeling for I moved on the the Thuringian.

I probably did about 100 laps with a heavy slurry. Renewing it several times before moving onto water only. I did about 100 laps with the water only rinsing after every 20 laps. At this point the edge looked really good but felt the same when I attempted the thumb pad test but it felt the same as after the previous attempts. I tried to run the edge through my arm hair in a thick patch and it did really good. I did another 10 laps on the water only Thuringian and the did about 30~40 lapps on the chromium oxide balsa bench hone I made and stroped on leather only (skipping the canvas).

The shave for the past 3 days has been really good!! The grind on this razor is about 1/2 hollow whereas on my other daily it is double hollow. Next to no irritation and smooth all the way along.

I can't wait to get the 10000 Chosera and feel the keeness that Bart has posted about with the Choseera 10000.

But as my honing goes, so far so good!!!

Excellent! Sounds like a worthy purchase, and a good start. How much did you get that 10000 for?

Jim, I got it for 17,500 yen. I calculated buying it from Martin at Rasupur and if I bought it here in Japan and they worked out to be about the same after the high shipping charges from Germany for a heavy stone.

I am really looking forward to it's arrival and am excited about how it will workout.

I guess the only thing left would be a high grit Japanese natural to top off the progreession. But that will wait until next year I think.

I am also thinking about a small Kosher Coticule, but have yet to decide on that.

Originally Posted by ZethLent

Jim, I got it for 17,500 yen. I calculated buying it from Martin at Rasupur and if I bought it here in Japan and they worked out to be about the same after the high shipping charges from Germany for a heavy stone.

I am really looking forward to it's arrival and am excited about how it will workout.

I guess the only thing left would be a high grit Japanese natural to top off the progreession. But that will wait until next year I think.

I am also thinking about a small Kosher Coticule, but have yet to decide on that.

Definitely let us (me!) know how it goes when it shows up. I've got a Coticule/BBW combo and a Barber hone, and the only thing I think I really need to top it off is a high grit polisher.

I've been looking at the Shapton 刃の黒幕 #12000...what about the Chosera stones makes them different from the Shaptons? And what's the Japanese name for them? I'd like to check around and see.

Jim,

I think I sent you the url for that online shop here it is again. This is where I bought the 3000 and the 5000. It is the cheapest I could find after a lot of searching the web. The 10000 was in stock there six months or so ago, but is hard to find now. I don't know why though. I found this site that has them and that is where mine is coming from.

For some reason I am under the impression that the Chosera stones are trying to mimic a natural stone's feedback, speed, and other characteristics. Japanese naturals I am told, have a quality that the abrasive size decreases within the slurry and can for example start off at 5000 but in the end have a 8000 grit slurry after some strokes on the stone. I am not sure but I think that would be a great attribute in a high grit polishing stone.

I am little confused by the Naniwa Chosera's in that the 3000 has a stamp on the side that cautions more than one hour of submersion in water. Whereas the 5000 has no stamp to that effect. I guess the binding agent in the 3000 is weaker than the 5000??

Looking at the shapton glass stone pdf, that is all in Japanese, I am led to understand that the hardness of the abrasive, the hardness of the binding agent are all factors and differ from stone to stone. From that pdf the stones that are harder all around are suppsed better for Western chisels and planes over Japanesee chisels and planes appearently because the steel in the Western ones are harder? The chart indicates only three stones as optimal for razors and that is the 3000, the yet to debut 10000 glass stone (scheduled for this month) and the 30000. All of the others are less optimal according to the chart, but we see through the feedback from the users on this and other forums that the other stones have fantastic results. The biggest surprise is the 16000 that people rave about. It has the worst score attributeed to use with a razor. The only reason I think that iｔ might be dubbed bad for razors by the manufacturer, is due to the lower distribution of abrasive throughout the hone comparing the 3000, 10000 and 30000. The 16000 only scores a 3 and the 3K, 10K and 30K score a 5, a 5 and a 4 respectively. This is definately a YMMV issue in my mind. The users think the 16K is awsome yet the manufacturer thinks there are better options in the 3, 10 and 30K stones.

Perhaps the Naniwa Chosera also have an extremely high particle distribution, but I don't know yet. I would assume the 10K, like the shapton glass, does, as it is designated a razor hone from the '剃刀用' stamp on the stone.



For you information the Chart has five catagories that evaluate each hone. Starting at the top of the pentagon (below each individual hone) and moving clockwise are as follows:


Feedback (Bad 1 ~ 5 Good)
Strength of Binding Agent (Low 1 ~ 5 High)
Climatic Durability (Weak 1 ~ 5 Strong)
Hardness of Abrassive (Soft 1 ~ 5 Hard)
Hone Particle Distribution (Wide or Loose 1 ~ 5 Near or Tight)


The photos are of a razor made of sweedish steel.


Oh, and the Japanese name for the Chosera's is this ナニワ　本職　超セラミックス砥石　in romaji is 'naniwa honshoku chouseramikkusu toishi' I hope this helps.

Very very helpful, Seth, thanks! I looked at the PDF for the 刃の黒幕 stones, but not the glass--I was thinking they were just too expensive. They list the 8k and 30k as razor stones, but not the 12k; however, a couple of kamisori sharpening guides I've found recommend using the cream 12k specifically. I'm not sure why, but there it is. Seeing as how I can get a 12k for 5000 yen, I think I'll end up buying that one, and then someday getting a natural finisher, if I'm not happy with the 12k results.

That's really interestimg. I own all Glass shaptons and that's basically what I use 90% of the time. The ones that truly stand out are the 4, 8 and 16K.
These are also the 3 I would buy again without hesitation.

The 30K is nice but my Japanese Karasu is awesome and better. Depending the razor I might finish on my Escher, 16, 30K shapton or Karasu. Fron your post it seems the glass Shapton10K is coming. Another one for the collection if it makes it in the US. . Next the 12 and 14K glass shapton?...

When you guys try the Naniwa Super Stones and particularly the 12K, let me know. Cheaper than the rest and I have been taking razors off the 12K right to the paste and bingo virtually every time.

Lynn