Thread: Chinese 12K water stone from Woodcraft...

came in today. The $30 one. I guess you get what you pay for. It had numerous chips on the edges, but none that the razor would hit. Question though. Maybe it's my imagination, but it feels more agressive than my 8K Japanese water stone. When honing that is. Did all three of my daily shavers this evening and will try them out in the morning.

Hi - the Woodcraft 12-13K (who knows?) stones from Woodcraft Supply - in my opinion - are worth the money. I bought mine right at one of the stores, and yes, a couple of the stones did have a few dings on the edges, but nothing that would get in the way. I picked a decent one. I have been usin it again after the 8K Norton, and once I realized that I needed a LOT more strokes on the 13K, I began to get outstanding results!

I use the stone wet. I do not know about the waterstones you mentioned, since I only have a Norton.

I like, and use the 13K as a third stone before any strops, pasted or not, and get very good results!

Good luck with it!

Best -

Originally Posted by threeputt

came in today. The $30 one. I guess you get what you pay for. It had numerous chips on the edges, but none that the razor would hit. Question though. Maybe it's my imagination, but it feels more agressive than my 8K Japanese water stone. When honing that is. Did all three of my daily shavers this evening and will try them out in the morning.

Have you tried producing a slurry with a nagura stone? This should produce the correct grit and be less agressive. In order to get the most out of natural or natural "type" stones, you need to do this; unlike the Shaptons. I'm a big fan of the Kitayama stones. Here is a 12k that some might like, or go with the 15k Shapton which produces a nice mirror.

http://knifeoutlet.com/shop/catalog/5223.htm

NO NO NAGURA! That Japanese Kitamura is the same brand 8k stone I have. It works well on it's own after being soaked. The ultra thin edge of a straight razor needs to be treated much more gently than a knife blade, and I know knife blades. I've been into knives for decades. I even did a short weekend apprecticeship under Darrel Ralph, Bladesmith, and made my wife one helluva nice Santoku from CPM440V and canvas micarta. Can you imagine a str8 with a steel such as one of the CPM (Crucible Particle Metallurgy) steels or a variant such as S3V? Wow that thing would hold an edge for eons. Anyway, the nagura stones are of a considerable larger grit size than even an 8k waterstone, and you're effectively changing the cutting rate with one of those. I had often wondered about this, it was confirmed by someone on this board, and then I did some research. Definitely keep the nagura under the sink and don't pull it out when honing razors. As to my first post above, it didn't take long for the 12k stone to settle down. Now it actually feels like 12k instead of a more aggressive grit like it did at first. I'm still dreaming of the Shapton arsenal you have :-)

I got the 12k stone from woodcraft several days ago. It was a very good addition to my hones.

Originally Posted by threeputt

NO NO NAGURA! I even did a short weekend apprecticeship under Darrel Ralph, Bladesmith, and made my wife one helluva nice Santoku from CPM440V and canvas micarta. Can you imagine a str8 with a steel such as one of the CPM (Crucible Particle Metallurgy) steels or a variant such as S3V? Wow that thing would hold an edge for eons.

I'm waiting for someone to make a Cowry-X razor! I love those powdered tool steels. My ps Gyuto holds a beautiful edge.

Nagura- Well I would like to think that the 8k Kitayama would not come with something that would produce a coarser grit than the stone itself, but I will check into it. The thing is, you don't really get any mud up from razor sharpening, and I think the beauty of these stones is that fine mud (swarf) that forms and polishes your edge. Maybe start it with a beater to get it going?

KornDog I agree it seems there is no mud forming without the nagura, but it is exactly the mud that contains the larger particles as I understand it, and they come from the nagura itself. Using the 8k straight and wet, it begins to turn dark with the fine particles of steel coming off the blade, so I know it's working. As it starts to dry I just keep sprinkling water on to keep it wet, but I don't wash off the steel slurry until I'm finished. As for the grit of the nagura, they don't specifically sell naguras for different grit stones, not that I have found anyway. Replacement naguras are not sold to match varying stones, and are only a few bucks apiece. Further proof in my book. Let me know if you find something to contradict this.

I will have to go through to find out who gave the honing #'s when using a 12k, great advice. This AM I took all my razors(8) did like 12 passes on 8k Norton then 50 passes on the 12k followed by 30 on strop with .5 chrom oxide paste. I then stropped 40 times with a plain strop and I shaved with my 7/8 Filarmonica and let me tell you it was, Lynn like in sharpness. To date my closest and best shave. I believe the 50 on the 12k stone made a major difference. Wow

I love my big hunk of grey Chinese rock. When I'm just touching up a blade, I don't create a slurry first, but when going through the full honing process, I raise a slurry with the green U/F DMT.

This stone gets double use for me because I turn it on it's end and use it as an anvil for peening pins with a jewelers handle. It's so smooth it won't scratch anything even if I make contact with the scales and it feels "softer" than my anvils and vices. I keep it in my little rolling hone drawers right beside my La-Z-Boy, anyway, so I don't have to go to the shop to tighten up loose pins.

Hi all,

does anybody here have a source for this (or a similar) waterstone in Europe ? Woodcraft would of course ship to EU as well, but the shipping charges are astronomically high.

Thanks, best wishes,
-Axel-