Natural Chinese Water Stone

I was thinking of getting one of THESE for final polishing on my straights. Does anyone have any experience with the Natural Chinese stones? They are a lot cheaper than the Belgian yellow stones and are a much finer grit.

Have one, and love it. It works outstanding - but I wouldn't recommend it to the beginner as it cuts REALLY slow.... like to FINISH a blade after a norton takes about 100 strokes, so it requires a lot of patience, and good form.

Hope this helps...

Joel, do you think this would be a good stone for a little touchup honing? They have a store just down the road from me.
DJ.

Dinder1 said:

Joel, do you think this would be a good stone for a little touchup honing? They have a store just down the road from me.
DJ.

Click to expand...

Touching up how? Personally - I wouldn't recommend it. I mean - if you are a hone freak, and know what you are doing - it is a KILLER stone, and can certainly replace a belgian (personally I think they work better) but for an edge that is starting to pull, diamond paste is MUCH easier to use, and MUCH faster. For a finish I use like 100 strokes on this stone... so a whole edge touch up (provided it is just pulling a touch) would take hundreds of very flat, very concentrated strokes... with diamond paste - maybe 20 strokes on 1 micron, and 20 strokes on .5 micron.

i have one of these also, in the larger size though i always use an X pattern when i hone so no idea why i bought the bigger size ...


anyways... i would 100% agree with what joel said above. it is an extremely slow cutting stone. it takes a minimum of 60+ laps coming off my norton 8k and then usually a pyramid or 2 on top of that after some shave testing.

i recently picked up a bench hone from tony miller(2sided with honeybrown ..aka smooth.. on both sides), he just started selling them this month. the smaller size is 10x3 which is plenty ample, i pasted mine with 1um and 0.5um diamond pastes from www.tedpella.com and this has become so much easier to use for touch ups. its seriously fantastic and easy and cheap way to do it.

that chinese 12k stone is similar to the 1um paste and then the 0.5 paste would be a great follow up to that. some people use the CrO2 but i havn't so i can't comment on it. you could always get a bench hone with one side smooth leather for the diamond paste and if you wanna do CrO2 get the other side in balsa wood. i think thats what the boys use for their CrO2 which they all swear by.

you can also buy smaller finishing barber hones from www.redtrader99.com

hope that helps

~J

ps. pasted 2 sided bench hone = the serious win

Thanks J,
They have become really popular the last 2 weeks. These will replace the wide 2 sided paddle I used to do which was only 2 1/2" wide. These will come as a bench hone like you bought or with a handle to use like a paddle....one end steadied on a table, the other end in your hand.

The Thuringens just arrived as well and will be sorted out over the next few days before being released.

Tony

You might want to consider just leaving a 1" area at one end for holding it. Maybe surfaced in leather for comfort. Without that long handle sticking out it makes for a handier package (esp since it's already 10" long), so you can stick it on the drawer next to the sink.

Well, I bought one of the Chinese stones last evening and went to town on that damn Wacker 1/4 hollow Spanish point. Final verdict....the stone is freakin awesome. Yes, it does cut very slow. However, I think that works to my advantage because I am able to approach perfection in a very slow and controlled manner, carefully monitoring my progress along the way and not miss the sweet spot. The Wacker is very smooth now.

I also own a four sided paddle strop from Tony and I love that too. I will use that more for quick touchups when my straights begin to pull. I will use the Chinese stone for finishing when it is time to hone. I don't want to abuse/use up the paste when I do not have to. The Chinese stones are very cheap ($29.99) as compared to the Belgians.

Everything has a place in the world of straights.

I love my Swaty too.

The 12k stones really are great finishing hones. I don't like them as well as the coticule or Escher, but for the money, they can't be beat. I'm not sure the Eschers or coticules produce a better final edge, either...they're just what I've gotten used to using.

Not bad stones at all, especially if you have some time on your hands <g>. I just got a flyer today from Woodcraft listing all the Nortons on sale. The 4000/8000 is now $63.95. Not sure if this is a local/regional thing or storewide.

Tony

Of course, there may be a Thuringen in my future...

FWIW, the Chinese 12K stone needs to be "refreshed" once in a while. "Refreshed" means that you need to lap it on a 1000 grit sandpaper, Norton 4/8K or other hone to make the abrasive particles sharp again. On this stone the particles do not break free or splinter/fracture like a waterstone does. It is more like a Arkansas stone where the abrasive particles become rounded and dull. Be sure to lap the hone flat.

When the hone starts to cut slower than before then it is time to "refresh".

This stone is also very good to use as a rubbing(cleaning) stone on the Norton 4/8K.

Hope this helps,

randydance062449 said:

FWIW, the Chinese 12K stone needs to be "refreshed" once in a while. "Refreshed" means that you need to lap it on a 1000 grit sandpaper, Norton 4/8K or other hone to make the abrasive particles sharp again. On this stone the particles do not break free or splinter/fracture like a waterstone does. It is more like a Arkansas stone where the abrasive particles become rounded and dull. Be sure to lap the hone flat.

When the hone starts to cut slower than before then it is time to "refresh".

This stone is also very good to use as a rubbing(cleaning) stone on the Norton 4/8K.

Hope this helps,

Click to expand...

Yes, that does help. Thanks a lot for the info.

Do you need to make a slurry with this stone? If so what would you use?

19george said:

Do you need to make a slurry with this stone? If so what would you use?

Click to expand...

No