# Thai Binsui



## Badgertooth (Jun 8, 2016)

For anyone else that was wondering what else was in the Thai bag of goodies, here is the other stone I got. A Thai 'binsui'. Here's the kicker, while I am really into jnats and sharpening, I've actually never tried a Japanese binsui so can't pass fair comment on a comparison. 

It's big. It's dove grey when it's dry and has a little orange tint when it's wet. It's harder than I expected it would be and cuts more aggressively than I thought it would. It's got a nice enough feel to it when wet but really purrs when you take a diamond plate to it to kick up some milky white slurry. I include some slurry photos as there's not much to be gained seeing the scuffed up bevel on a tanaka ginsanko which needs hours of work on coarser stones to hit all the lows.









I didn't know that I'd use it for any big repair works but it'd do a lot of the heavy lifting on a dull unchipped knife. It sets a pretty crisp bevel on account of the hardness of the stone and it's a good edge with plenty of bite suitable for butchery and veg work


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## foody518 (Jun 23, 2016)

Would you recommend this kind of stone for wide bevel sharpening/polishing, or no?


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## Badgertooth (Jun 24, 2016)

foody518 said:


> Would you recommend this kind of stone for wide bevel sharpening/polishing, or no?



Definitely not.


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## Badgertooth (Jul 23, 2016)

Revising my initial thoughts on this stone. Had it as a bit coarser than it is on account of tactile feedback. I am getting the very sticky, bitey, crisp edges off it. 


Kato edge fresh off the binsu deburred on felt and newspaper.

https://youtu.be/wthDRurC6Hk


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## brainsausage (Jul 23, 2016)

So, my takeaway from this is that the stone upon use gives the user an irresistible urge to make coarse confetti from common newsprint type circulars.


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## Badgertooth (Jul 24, 2016)

I can name at least 3 paleo recipes that have coarse newspaper confetti as their base.


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## brainsausage (Jul 24, 2016)

Badgertooth said:


> I can name at least 3 paleo recipes that have coarse newspaper confetti as their base.



That's three two many


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## XooMG (Jul 24, 2016)

I'm using mine as a slurry base primarily, but it is a nice stone. I think Aranyik wants to focus on providing these for their outdoors knives rather than the kitchen knife crowd, but I like mine.

Like with a decent binsui or similar stone, you can do quite a bit of polishing work by applying higher-grit slurry to it. I have been polishing just for novelty with coticule slurry on the thai binsui, and it's a pretty nice, though imperfect, finish. Hakka slurry got me a smoother polish and actually was pretty impressive the first time I tried it.

The stone by itself works fine, but like with most of the coarser stones, they will lose their bite if not relapped. That seems to be what makes them good as slurry bases as well. I have yet to experiment with mine as a sharpener, but will probably give it a try in the future.


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## Badgertooth (Jul 24, 2016)

Xoom is yours releasing slurry? Mine needs a solid DMT XC lapping before it even thinks of releasing anything. I did stipulate a harder stone which is distinct from what he specifically notes as polishing grade. But that's not to say I ain't gonna try some other stone slurries on it, that could be awesome


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## XooMG (Jul 24, 2016)

Badgertooth said:


> Xoom is yours releasing slurry? Mine needs a solid DMT XC lapping before it even thinks of releasing anything. I did stipulate a harder stone which is distinct from what he specifically notes as polishing grade. But that's not to say I ain't gonna try some other stone slurries on it, that could be awesome


No mine does not slurry much at all under normal conditions...the top actually burnishes with repeated polishing. If I want the stone to keep cutting aggressively, it needs to be relapped.

I almost think I like the "thai binsui" with soft foreign slurry more than I like the khao men stone. I just relapped the latter and put orange peel texture on the sides and bottom (man that lacquer gets slippery) so I'll need to give it another try.


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## Noodle Soup (Jul 24, 2016)

Sure sounds (and looks) like the same stone I bought in the Thai Aranyik knifemaking village. I really like the large size but the weight makes them a pain to carry home.


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## foody518 (Apr 17, 2017)

Also wanted to mention - blessed be that (hard) Orange Thai Binsui. Finished dozens of softer stainless knives on it (following a medium coarse synth stone) and it looks exactly the same. So nice to have medium stones that don't wear appreciably. Easier to work off the burr than a comparable grit synthetic. Toothy edge but not overly so compared to some ~1k synths I have. 
One day I'll actually dish the stone and have to take off a 1mm of thickness...50-75mm to go... :O


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## dwalker (Apr 17, 2017)

I have a hard Japanese binsui. I use it regularly with aoto nagura and get really nice results. I have found one use with its own slurry that I really like, my vintage Forgecraft cleaver.


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