Thread: Japanese Water Stones Appropriate for Honing?

I have some Japanese water stones (Combination Water Stones #800 #1000 #1200 #4000 #6000 #8000) I have kept in very good condition that I have been using over the years since boy scouts to sharpen my Helle Eggen and other outdoor survival knives. I have read your fine sticky post by OLD_SCHOOL on honing and his recommendations.

My question was for straight razor honing are these stones appropriate or will they do?

My process for sharpening my Helle usually goes #800 #1200 #6000 then I use the inside of my leather belt a as a strop and finally the edge of my car window a few times to finish it off but I am under the impression that straight razor honing is very different.

I'm thinking of re-honing my dovo soon (my first time) with the Japanese water stones #1000 #1200 #4000 #6000 #8000

Thanks ahead of time for the input and advice.

YES THEY ARE. GL

Ok figured they were thanks bud.

Just out of curiosity, who makes them? I have a King 1K that I quite like.

I would suggest you get a proper strop for straights, as the edges can be rather fragile.

I have never used window trim. i reckon you could skip that esp when driving.

i have 800 and 1200 "waterstone". easy to confuse which may be which. i have to judge from the bubbles when soaking.

those bricks can be rid of with advantage if you can afford the waste-- but more than adequate to stick with. Lacking a 1k (approximate) stone is like missing a testicle.

4, 6 and 8 k waterstones like King are pretty nifty. I like those.


30 bucks is a good deal for a clean strop with zero work and trouble like making your own/ i reckon it depends on the belt and how you use it more than anything.`

Ok thanks guys for all of the advice I'll give these Japanese Water Stone a try they were made by King Brand (Whatever that means). Here is a link to some pictures.

Fast Cutting Japanese Water Stones - Woodcraft.com

I'll let you know how the honing goes and if the shave works out. I'll only use the 800 and 1200 for my other knives and axes. Not my straight razor. For the Straight Razor I'll use the 1000 4000 6000 and 8000. I watched some of your honing straight razor youtube videos and should be fine the technique is just a little different from sharping my bush knives and axes/hatchets.

Thanks again!

P.S. If it doesn't work out I'll come back to purchase some of the western stones.

Yup, the King's are good. The ones you have selected are a good progression, though you probably will not need to use the 6k between the 4 and 8k. The jump from 4 to 8k, though it may sound large, is a rather standard jump (i.e. the Norton 4/8k combo being the standard learner's hone). Using the 6k in between shouldn't hurt anything, it's just an extra step. Maybe you could save that for your knives and axes too.

Comparing knife vs razor sharpening, my main problem was making the finishing strokes light enough.

Freehanding the angle on a knife is harder (at first). Holding the angle on a razor...well, the spine makes it like a "knife with training wheels".

Making the finishing laps light enough on a razor is harder. It really is necessary if you want the sharpest edge.

Just a FYI & report after honing my Dovo for the first time on the Japanese water stones.

Everything seemed to turn out just fine. The straight razor seems to be the sharpest of all my knives & axes as I imagine it should be. It's a real pleasure using it every morning. I'm just kind of weird I like everything insanely sharp all the time.

I took the advice on these forums and went with the 1000, 4000 then 8000 for the straight razor. For my other knives & axes I use the other sides of the stones which is the 800, 1200 & 6000.

Thanks for the advice as always great forums & great site teaching people and me great skills that would otherwise be lost to me and my family without SRP & YouTube. I got 1 real nice straight razor I can happily use for the rest of my life.

- Scott

Originally Posted by Huxl3y

I'm just kind of weird I like everything insanely sharp all the time.

You'll fit in with the SRP crowd just fine then
Welcome.