slrjona said:
Also why are honing stones sooooooo expencive surly there's a cheaper way.What about some sort of slate tile?.
Your first question was answered most adequately by Arrowhead.
The answer to your second is simple demand. My time is valuable. I don't have the power tools necessary to cut down a stone. I don't have a truck to get out to the wilderness or undeveloped areas where the quarries are, AND all the good quarries have already been bought. AKA I'd be trespassing and stealing if I ever went onto their land.
Combining all of those factors, you can see how I would be willing to pay the cost of the stone. I'm willing to pay even more for a foreign stone because to get one of those I'd have to fly over to Europe or Japan. Clearly cheaper to just buy the stone.
Now, all that said, I buy the natural stones because I like them. Not because they perform any better. In fact, 99.9% of the time, I don't use a natural stone unless specifically requested by a client.
A Naniwa 12k is only $80, that is very affordable from my perspective. A coticule can also be had for around $100, again, affordable. A new Thuringian is a little more, but they come in larger sizes. A BBW is cheaper. I'm not sure, but I think surgical Arkansas can be had for under $100. And as Arrowhead pointed out, a Chinese stone is $20 or so.
Compared to the cost of a Shapton 30k, I think those are a steal.