Thread: recommendations for kitchen knife hones

“After giving it more thought, I decided there's no reason I can't use the same stones for knives and razors.”

You can, but I too would use one side for knives and the other for razors. A knife tip can and will tear up a soft stone like a Chosera and have to be lapped quite a bit to get flat enough to hone a razor or you can easily snag a razor edge and cause a nasty chip.

Remember to remove a 1/8 in gouge, you have to remove a bit more than an 1/8 inch of the rest of the stone. Do that a few times and it gets old fast.

If you can hone a knife on a gouged stone, just hone around the gouge and a knife edge will float over the gouge.

Or keep the King until you get the hang of freehand honing and the tip from gouging.

Edge trailing strokes also work well, especially when working off the burr. Strop on a paddle strop or piece of cardboard glued to a board & pasted with metal polish. Finish on plain leather, wood or cardboard.

I would recommend a Norton India Combination IB8 with some mineral oil or baby oil (same thing but cheaper.) That combined with a strop and some green paste, or flex cut or metal polish and you’re set. You can always wash the oil off in the sink too after you’re done with soap. Won’t hurt the stone.