Thread: Belgium vs. Japanese Stones...

I just returned form Japan, and my excpet of touring arround
was to get some good Japanese Waterstones.
In Kyoto I was lucky to get a good piece of a "Honyama" -
Grit about 10k.

I was lucky because I paid just arround 110 bucks. I can tell you, at this shop
which had plenty of natural waterstones from 1000 bucks.

The "Kyoto" waterstone getting rare in there is no more to break out of the mountain anymore.
The Natural wateerstone don't have to soack in water and also
one has to make a nice slury with a second smaller stone.
Of course with such a waterstone is more effort and care to observe
as they are precious...
Oh and Shapton is a Japanese company which build a good reputation in the US.

I will post a pic of this Waterstone.

Trust me, we know all about the Shaptons. I'd love to get one or five but they're too rich for my blood right now

Unfortunatly I have to agree
with you.
Initially I wanted to get one or more shapton's too.

Originally Posted by dylandog

How important is it to get a slurry going on a coticule before you sharpen? Is it ok just to get it going with the action of the razor? And does the rubbing stone need to be a piece of coticule, or could you use, say, an old swaty?

Yes to all.

Hellp Jim,

The Chinese 12K is available from woodcraft.com. About $30+
It's actual grit is slightly less than 12k but it does do a very nice job as a finishing stone even though they are slow cutting, hard stones. After the Norton 8k I use 100 laps on the 12k.

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=4920

item # 144950

Hope this helps,

Originally Posted by jim in gold bar

Randy.. you probly mentioned it in your posting text. But where
did you get this..I have an 8K Chinese Natural stone, and it
is a reliable standby....These stones seem to be one of the better
bargains out there for razors...The temptation of a 12K stone is
almost too great to bear,,specially at that price....My 8K stone is
black, with silver streaks..If kept wet, and ocassionally planed it
is a good hard, stone for a fairly good polish....

jim winding down after 2 services...Sunday is not a day of rest in
Gold Bar

Originally Posted by randydance062449

.........After the Norton 8k I use 100 laps on the 12k.

Hope this helps,

100 laps....must be those long winter afternoons in Minesota

I mentioned in my post
to upload some pics of the "honyama"

....

Thanks for posting pics of your rock fathung. I found this web site
http://www.woodworker.com/cgi-bin/FU...ARTNUM=117-569 in the U.S. that is selling odd cuts of the "Honyama" stone at a very reasonable price. They claim 10k grit for the rock. This is cheap enough to try out on my old practice razor first before it touchs one of my good razors. I think I might order one and try it out. It can't any worst than some of the barber hones I've seen.Thanks for getting back to me.

kimw

well I would snatch one of those of course they really
cheap.

One thing though
first the honyama is a quite fragile stone
the note on the webpage about watering the stone for 15 minutes
I would not do that..

As those stones are natural ones. By soaking them
you get a crumbly piece out of the water and soon after no use for honing anything.

Also you need to experiment a bit of how much water you use for
lubrications ,as to build up a slurry therfore you need a so called "Nagura" stone

a small piec of soft grained chalk stone nedd to be rubbed on the surface.

Storage. keep the stone in a normal room temperature maybe in a light damp cloth ( but I keep mine just in it's plastic wrapping).

Hope it helps and have fun with it

Thanks again fathung, I'll proceed with caution. I also have a source for natural nagura's so that will not be a problem. Thanks for your help.