$9 Combo Stone

[enjay]

Found in an "Amazon Deal of the Day" blogpost.



Is there any merit to these cheaper-than-dirt-cheap stones? I'd reckon no one here would actually use this, but curious as to if anyone's tried it.

[Ourorboros]

I'd use it on a $25 knife, but that's it. Haven't tried it, but have used hardware store silicone carbide stones before. They do work, don't care for the finish or coarseness.

[Kit Craft]

Sure, they are better than no stone at all. Normally stones like this, in my experience, wear fast and are rough even for the stated grit.

[Jeff B]

Should work fine on your garden tools...

[Kit Craft]

Should work fine on your garden tools...

I'd use a Norton IB8.

[Jeff B]

I use some unknown I found in my dad's shed.

[nakneker]

I’ve seen a bunch of these type of stones for sale on Amazon and EBay. The greedy side, the cheap side of me wonders if they are reverse engineering high qauility stones in China and offering these stones trying to under cut the market. If you go on EBay you’ll see a plethora of these kind of combo stones available and almost everyone one of them ship from China, some from Taiwan. I’m tempted to buy one just for the hell of it and see what it would do. At 7.99 shipped what’s there to loose.

[Jeff B]

...At 7.99 shipped what’s there to loose.

$8

[Gregory27]

The first stone that I ever picked up was a cheap (not THAT cheap) 800/3000 combo. I never cared for the 800, really unpleasant feel, but the 3000 was fine. On a whim, I pulled it out last week. Same thoughts, I didn't care for the 800, really gritty feel, and slow. The 3000 was fine, but it felt like I kept getting a stray bit of coarser grit in it when using it. So, yeah, it has some drawbacks. It was good for practicing, but really doesn't have a purpose for me now.

[ken123]

Should work fine on your garden tools...

I'm (admittedly] spoiled. I use an Igarashi with curved sides, specifically designed for gardening initially.

---
Ken

[enjay]

Sure, they are better than no stone at all. Normally stones like this, in my experience, wear fast and are rough even for the stated grit.

Ha, I shared this mostly for chuckles, but maybe I could use the 400 side to alleviate my SP 220 from chip removal duties.

[Kit Craft]

Should work fine on your garden tools...

I'm (admittedly] spoiled. I use an Igarashi with curved sides, specifically designed for gardening initially.

---
Ken

And or Ban and Atsu?

[salemj]

My first stone was a $25 combo stone (1k-6k) off Amazon. I still find plenty of uses for it to this day, especially when I travel to unknown kitchens and knives...

[Lepus]

There are good reasons the fancy stones we usually use treat us so well.

First and foremost is the quantity, distribution, and presentation of abrasive in the stone. Ken is the better person to talk about this because it is really his wheelhouse, but as pedestrian as they seem to us Japanese water stones are incredibly abrasive rich. Nothing else I know of presents as much abrasive and water stones even present fresh abrasive as they're used. That might not make a difference to the average person sharpening a garden tool or a HRC 54 Chinese made knife built for durability, so that degree of abrasive density can be a bit overkill for most people. But if you want to sharpen a Moritaka, as well not bother if your stones are abrasive light or don't shed from the stone to consistently offer fresh abrasive. Cheap stones have less consistently distributed abrasive and a lot of binder. Have you ever needed to lap past the rough layer on the outside of a stone because it wasn't presenting abrasive well? If you want to deal with that all the time, you need look no further.

The other big one I can think of will be abrasive size consistency. If a stone is inconsistent, with abrasives varying larger or smaller than desired, a stone will be slow. Large abrasive will leave errant scratches that take longer to remove on the next stone or prevent a finishing stone from fully offering a consistent edge. Small abrasive will slow sharpening down because it isn't grinding deep enough. Again, not a huge issue for a Cozzini where the idea is to get something if an edge, big problem for a Takamura R2.

Naniwa, Shapton, Suehiro and the like go to what are for most people's abrasive needs insane levels of purity and consistency. But we are here because we own insane knives that benefit from that level of refinement in stones. I don't think any Chinese manufacturers, with their one-size-fits-most and good enough approach, are putting together what I want. Don't get me wrong, I love the convenience and price associated with many Chinese made goods and Chinese engineers can actually make incredible quality stuff. I'm sure some Chinses factory out there could make amazing water stones if the market was bigger, but it is not.

I'm reminded of an AvE video about Chinese vs Japanese calipers. He did a few other amazing related videos comparing Mitutoyo and cheaper Chinese calipers. Be aware his videos usually have breathtakingly magnificent profanity. The one I have linked is the exception in his caliper comparison series.



I have to be open tried some three or four stones I suspect are similar to the one linked. They sucked.

[Jeff B]

...Is there any merit to these cheaper-than-dirt-cheap stones?...

If you own cheaper-than-dirt-cheap knives...

[DarkStar]

...Is there any merit to these cheaper-than-dirt-cheap stones?...

If you own cheaper-than-dirt-cheap knives...

https://www.cheaperthandirt.com/categor ... -blades.do

Hmmmmm

[Jeff B]

...Is there any merit to these cheaper-than-dirt-cheap stones?...

If you own cheaper-than-dirt-cheap knives...

https://www.cheaperthandirt.com/categor ... -blades.do

Hmmmmm

Well...there you go!

[Radar53]

@Lepus regarding the electronic calipers. Two or three years back I bought a pair of Chinese electronic calipers, mainly because I thought that they would be more convenient than my Japanese manual Mitutoyo ones. I didn't think that much about it other than to surmise that the accuracy was probably not as good, but hey it should still be OK for knives.

I quickly noticed that pretty much every time I went to use them the battery was flat, so in sorting that out the convenience benefit went out the window. So they now sit on my shelf as an unloved & unused decoration.

[Kit Craft]

I'll stick with my manual calipers. No batteries required. I am so bad about charging things with batteries or changing disposables...

[salemj]

There are good reasons the fancy stones we usually use treat us so well.

First and foremost is the quantity, distribution, and presentation of abrasive in the stone. Ken is the better person to talk about this because it is really his wheelhouse, but as pedestrian as they seem to us Japanese water stones are incredibly abrasive rich. Nothing else I know of presents as much abrasive and water stones even present fresh abrasive as they're used. That might not make a difference to the average person sharpening a garden tool or a HRC 54 Chinese made knife built for durability, so that degree of abrasive density can be a bit overkill for most people. But if you want to sharpen a Moritaka, as well not bother if your stones are abrasive light or don't shed from the stone to consistently offer fresh abrasive. Cheap stones have less consistently distributed abrasive and a lot of binder. Have you ever needed to lap past the rough layer on the outside of a stone because it wasn't presenting abrasive well? If you want to deal with that all the time, you need look no further.

The other big one I can think of will be abrasive size consistency. If a stone is inconsistent, with abrasives varying larger or smaller than desired, a stone will be slow. Large abrasive will leave errant scratches that take longer to remove on the next stone or prevent a finishing stone from fully offering a consistent edge. Small abrasive will slow sharpening down because it isn't grinding deep enough. Again, not a huge issue for a Cozzini where the idea is to get something if an edge, big problem for a Takamura R2.

Naniwa, Shapton, Suehiro and the like go to what are for most people's abrasive needs insane levels of purity and consistency. But we are here because we own insane knives that benefit from that level of refinement in stones. I don't think any Chinese manufacturers, with their one-size-fits-most and good enough approach, are putting together what I want. Don't get me wrong, I love the convenience and price associated with many Chinese made goods and Chinese engineers can actually make incredible quality stuff. I'm sure some Chinses factory out there could make amazing water stones if the market was bigger, but it is not.

I'm reminded of an AvE video about Chinese vs Japanese calipers. He did a few other amazing related videos comparing Mitutoyo and cheaper Chinese calipers. Be aware his videos usually have breathtakingly magnificent profanity. The one I have linked is the exception in his caliper comparison series.



I have to be open tried some three or four stones I suspect are similar to the one linked. They sucked.

So, your comments about this guy caught my attention. I watched his "Dyson animal balls" and my lord! Actually makes me a bit proud to be up here in Canada. Haha. Wow. His KitchenAid de-boxing is also...breathtaking. I'm hooked.