Talk:Hones - comparison table

This is a snake pit... I have a DMT-C (350mesh), DMT-F (600mesh), DMT-E (1200mesh), Belgian Blues, Coticules, a Naniwa Chosera 5K, a Naniwa Chosera 10K and a Japanese Nashii Nakayama.

I can exchange some of my Coticules (with use of slurry) with the DMT-E, for bevel correction purposes. None of my Blues come even close to that: they're just way too slow to remove enough steel within a reasonable amount of time. But they are great to refine an already good bevel, coming off a Coticule with slurry, or the DMT-E, or even the DMT-F. The Chosera 5K does about the same for the keenness of the edge, but faster, while leaving a less smooth edge. The Chosera 10 pushes the sharpness envelope, and leaves an edge smooth enough to shave with, but a Coticule with water makes it smoother. Where my Nakayama fits in, I haven't figured out yet. I think it compares to the Chosera for boosting keenness. I don't like it as much for smoothness.

How this need to be put in the table without confusing a newbie that seeks information, I have no clue. When I started out honing, I was misled by the idea that the Blue/Coticule tandem was comparable to 4K/8K (Norton). It caused me many weeks of frustration, till Josh Earl and David Polan finally pointed out that there's hardly any relation between the Belgian combo and the Norton combination hone. I definitely object to rating the Belgian Blue as a 1K Norton, but then again, I don't own a 1K Norton, so who am I to change the table?

I think it would be better to make 4 categories: (I have indented hones that less ideal for that use, but still doable) 1. BEVEL REPAIR (DMT-C, DMT-F, DMT-E, Norton 1K...) 2. BEVEL CORRECTION (Norton 1K, DMT-E, Fast Coticules/slurry, Shapton 1K,2K, Naniwa 1K, Norton 4K ...) 3. EDGE REFINEMENT (Norton 4K, Belgian Blue, Naniwa Chosera 5K, Shapton 4K, Naniwa Chosera 10K, Nakayama ,...) 4 EDGE FINISHING (Coticule/water, Esher, Naniwa Chosera 10K, Shapton 16K,...) --Bart 23:13, 8 February 2009 (UTC)