A member of this board asked if anyone had experience with onyx razor hones, and posted a link to one available from Wild West Shaving Co. Before I posted my response, I visited the site and decided to place an order so that I could test and review the stone. I should state, I have no affiliation with Wild West Shaving Co. and purchased the stone with no mention of plans to review it. The total price, with the shipping option I chose, was $36 even and the package arrived 5 days from placement of the order. It arrived wrapped in bubble wrap and inside an 8 x 10 padded envelope folded around the stone as well. I would have preferred a box, it arrived with a small chip. The stone was as pictured, an orangey onyx stone, 6 x 2 5/8 x 3/8 with well rounded edges, not the advertised dimensions of 6 x 3 x 1/2, the chip was on the edge, near one corner, but since that would not affect the honing, it doesn’t bother me. It was not perfectly flat, on either side, but it lapped flat quickly on fine SIC powder followed by 220 wet/dry. I then took one side to 1500 w/d and marked the chipped area black so I could use that to reference which side I was honing on. After lapping, the stone was quite pretty and showed some shimmer. Not important to its honing capabilities, but nice to see. Onyx, considered a minor gemstone, is a micro-crystalline form of quartz (Chalcedony family) and has many of the same properties as agates. Now, onto testing. Remember, all natural stones will have varying results and as a big fan of quartzites and agates, let’s call them Q-nats, I may show some confirmation bias. What I intended to show was the scratch pattern after a set number of laps across the stone, then more laps and another pic. The 60x magnification loupe that clips to my phone was quite difficult to use consistently and scratch patterns don't really tell you much. I'll just describe my process and observations instead. The bevel was set on a 1k Taidea stone. The side previously lapped to 220 was slurried with a well worn Harbor Freight diamond hone. After a bout 20 laps I diluted the slurry and continued. Checking with my normal honing loupe I saw a few microchips. I refreshed the slurry and worked those out, then diluted again and ran some more laps with lighter pressure. The edge was treetopping arm hair and looked good under the loupe. Flipping the stone over to the side that was lapped to 1500. One drop of mineral oil, thinned with mineral spirits, in the center, was spread out to coat the surface. Within roughly 30 laps the blades was leaving black swarf on both the stone and the cloth I use to wipe the blades, the stone is cutting not just burnishing. Under the loupe the scratch pattern was getting finer but was still distinct, roughly like it would be on a Thuringian hone, in my opinion of course. I know from experience with my other Q-Nats, this will likely improve as the steel burnishes the stone and it should begin to leave a hazy bevel with indistinct scratches. Did I mention it's translucent too? There it is, not the finest Q-nat I have, at this point, but it performed well. In my opinion, it was a good purchase and a fun hone to use. YMMV. I would like to see the vendor correct the size statements, to not claim it leaves a 12k edge and ship well padded in a box.
