Time Share Natural Stones?

This idea has been circling my head for the last couple of weeks, I'm going throw it out there: Most, if not all of us know what Time Shares are. Why not start a Time Share for natural stones? As I'm getting more and more acquainted with honing, I'm curious about natural stones, especially the JNATs, but I'm too poor to spend $300+ or $400+ on a piece that I'll use more than a few hundred strokes between the 4 razors I have in my lifetime.

So why not a Time Share group where 10-15, or whatever amount pitch in to pick up natural stones?

It's just a recipe for disaster...

kcb5150 said:

It's just a recipe for disaster...

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I'd have to agree. the logistics alone are a deal killer, not to mention insuring the hone every time it's shipped.

There are excellent JNat options under $150 and some at around $90. Alx Gilmore at thejapanstone can fix you up with a good selection of JNats in the $120-150 range that would be superb for a final finisher off anything else. Max also has some nice small stones. You don't need a full size bench hone for a razor, and small stones can be hand held which is desirable.

Cheers, Steve

If you look around B&B, we have coticule aces, Jnat aces, synthetic aces, film aces etc etc. My advice would be to try edges from these various honemiesters on their favorite honing mediums and then pick your favorite. Then buy the appropriate stones and start learning.

Sounds cool, but as mentioned... the risk someone would take it and vanish is high unless it's restricted to very very established members... most of whom already have more than enough hones; and the costs of shipping a stone with insurance, even just around the country will run $20+ a trip; making it more like a time-share with additional rent fee's.

At CKTG - for 80 bucks you can get an Oozuku Koppa and 50 will get you a Jyunshohonyama.

So....yeah....the time share thing seems a bit extravagant in comparison.

The question is, does an Oozuka Koppa taste like licorice?

Yes - the red kind.

Umm, is this the point where somebody is supposed to say "potato?"

Sorry guys. Just a thought.

Thoughts are good! No need to be sorry, man. Try try again and all that jazz.

You could offer a "stone storage service". Have everyone send you their stones, you use... I mean ... store them, and when needed they pay for the postage to return them. This would work out quite well for you. It of course would be a great service for those trying to hide their stones from their spouses.

I would suggest trying to get to a meet. Your can often try out stones at the meets.

What Krodor said. Ideas are good but sometimes the details get a little complicated. The idea of a pass-around has been mentioned before, but one objection was that if you have a truly good and pricey stone, you don't even want to risk shipping it around.

Where are you? If you're close enough, I'd be glad to meet up and let you try some of mine. And if you're interested in sourcing a stone, I'd be glad to help you in the search.

Cheers, Steve

It's awkward enough when a razor goes missing in a pass-around. I'd hate to be the person on either bookend of a missing box of stones (or even a single stone) in a pass-around.

bluesman 7 said:

I would suggest trying to get to a meet. Your can often try out stones at the meets.

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^^^^^^^ My thought as well ^^^^^^^

Might be some gents in your area who are into honing. This would be easier to manage and probably more fun.

Definitely the best idea. Then you can try the stones for yourself and see what you might prefer at least as far as honing work. Maybe go to the meet with a good bit of facial hair growth and try a few different edges too? Kind of wish I'd have done that, might have saved some money on stones. Naaahh, probably not. I'd still have wanted to try them, lol.

Think of it this way:

The BST is a form of timeshare.

You buy the JNat for $400(!), use it for a while, then you sell it in the BST for $350, the next guy buys it, uses it, decides it isn't worth the fuss as he's tried lapping film instead, so he re-lists it for $300, and on and on like that....

Why'd you come in here - thought you caught a whiff of Snickers or something? Lol. I think everyone is well aware of your nagging dislike of honing stones by now.

I'm simply saying buy your stone, use it, then sell it. In the end it works out very similar to your original time share concept.