Thread: Is this stone good for honing?

hello, i have a stone that i bought before and would like to know if i can use it to hone a straight razor, the only picture i could find of the box is this one from an ebay auction: sharpening stone whetstone wetstone knife sharpener X 2 - eBay (item 280347601767 end time Jun-18-09 03:20:16 PDT)

thanks in advance for the help.

Nope.
That looks like a typical silicon carbide tool hone, and as such is way too coarse for a razor. If you try to use the fine side, you will likely produce hundreds of microchips along the length of the blade. In other words, even as a bevel setter it will likely do more harm than good.

Concur. Looks more like a stone for a pocket knife

Those tend to be in the 80 to 150 grit range. Great for fixing chips and chunks missing from kitchen knives, not so good for straights. Could it be used... yes, would you want to? Heck no!!!

Straight razor honing is on the extreme end of the honing world and right up there with microtome honing. A silicon carbide stone is not something I'd use on a straight razor. Save it for your axe. Get a Norton 4k8k to start out while you're building honing skills and then advance to a finer stone like a coticule or esher after that when you can tell the difference on your face.

I concur with the comment about microchips

it will happen, and the more you sharpen the duller it will get

be careful what sort of stone you use