Khao men

This was a gamble after my interest was sparked a few months ago by a really cryptic post about Thai stones. I followed my nose a bit and came upon Aranyik. Super cool and helpful to deal with, the guy was endlessly patient with my barrage of questions, quick to respond and went the extra mile with videos of slurry and sharpening. My stones arrived today in good order. I'll admit to a certain Japanese bias when it comes these things and just the teeniest bit of apprehension when trying these.

To look at, the Khao men looks exactly like a Tsushima but that is where the similarities end.



It releases a good amount of slurry on a wide bevel and is softer and more forgiving than a Tsushima. Here is the dried slurry from about two minutes sharpening



My trusty Watanabe is always the measure of finish on a wide-bevel. Bear in mind, this is two minutes of quick work and I didn't hit all of the heel but you get the idea. It's a nice, even hazy finish from not much effort.



It finishes sharp as blazes. Finer than a Tsushima.




I got a bit philosophical about my initial apprehension - how is this any more of a crapshoot than buying any other rock from a stranger on the Internet? I'm glad I took the gamble.

I will do a separate post on the Thai binsui grade stone that I ordered but have yet to test.

Loving these natural stone posts - you are going to make a natural stone junkie out of me!

mikedtran said:

Loving these natural stone posts - you are going to make a natural stone junkie out of me!

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Leave some for us Mike when the bug properly bites. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to link to non site vendors here but I'm happy to pm if not.

I'd considered one of these before but did not feel like jumping through hoops to get shipping to Taiwan.

XooMG said:

I'd considered one of these before but did not feel like jumping through hoops to get shipping to Taiwan.

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Yeah, shipping to NZ was pricey but hit him up now while he's still in Thailand with direct access to the stones. Otherwise he's posting it from Hawaii to Thailand which might be considerably more.

Sounds like you liked this better than the Tsushima?

mikedtran said:

Sounds like you liked this better than the Tsushima?

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Yeah, tough one to make a definitive call on as one is inclined to compare them based on looks but they are different in every other way. Tsushima would not be much good for cosmetic sharpening but is hard to beat for aggressive edges you want dialled down to that upper-mid, pre-finisher level.

Khao feels better in sharpening, leaves a great looking finish and finishes finer.

There's still a few hoops I need it to jump through before I make a final call. But these generally give me a feel for the potential of a stone

1. Iwasaki spicy Swedish
2. R2
3. Togo reigou
4. Teruyasu Fujiwara flavoured white #1

That is quite the run of different steels!

Also your inbox is full =)

I'd like the link please

mikedtran said:

That is quite the run of different steels!

Also your inbox is full =)

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Oops, cleared!

I googled aranyik and it gave me a place in Hawaii. Is that right?

ynot1985 said:

I googled aranyik and it gave me a place in Hawaii. Is that right?

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That is the one =)

Badgertooth said:

Khao feels better in sharpening, leaves a great looking finish and finishes finer.

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from the sounds of that, it's better in every aspects as compared to a Tsushima?... might be what I'm after as I was looking for something as fine as that but not as harsh on the polish..

how much was shipping + stone to NZ? it's a good indicator on how much it would be to get it to Oz as NZ is close enough to here

ynot1985 said:

from the sounds of that, it's better in every aspects as compared to a Tsushima?... might be what I'm after as I was looking for something as fine as that but not as harsh on the polish..

how much was shipping + stone to NZ? it's a good indicator on how much it would be to get it to Oz as NZ is close enough to here

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Yup, then it would be a good option.

$35USD to NZ from Thailand via SAL. You're looking at more like $50 from Hawaii.

"Khao men" mostly finds references to rice and gravy dishes, not stones?

LifeByA1000Cuts said:

"Khao men" mostly finds references to rice and gravy dishes, not stones?

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Haha, Search Aranyik in Facebook or Thai natural
Stones Hawaii if all you're getting with your searches is hungry.

Miles is back in Hawaii now.

I guess I am picking up a pair like yours, @Badgertooth. I need to wait a few weeks on the khao men, but I guess we'll get to see if I'm half as fortunate as you.

Got me tempted as well. Sent miles an email waiting for the restock of the khao men.

I got updated that my stones are ready for shipping...I'll be getting them from Thailand via SAL so no idea how long it'll take, but hopefully they're interesting and fun enough to be worth the wait. I like the big black brick concept.

Holy hell.

it that the 'regular' size?.. looks gigantic that brick

Yeah that's the regular...the white binsui-esque one is about 5cm thick. The khao men is the standard "9x3x3" model.

Mine is on the way to me as well. :doublethumbsup:
http://imgur.com/S9SEgWs
http://imgur.com/dV7xmIh

The binsui looks small even though it's a 8.5x3.5x3 because that khao men is a beast at 11x4x4.

is everyone getting a binsui?

Well since it's so affordable I thought why not lol

Miles does a good job of promoting them, so curiosity takes over even though the stone isn't really all that essential. Besides, it helps justify the fixed rate shipping cost.

yeah..hehe, he is doing the hard sell on me .. I wouldn't mind taking it but already have heaps of stones.. need a good reason to buy another stone I don't really need. hence why I asked as everyone seems to be buying one

It's a great upsell. Might as well get it to spread the shipping cost. I've got the binsui and it's nice but I think there's a tonne of variation from amakusa-like to Ikarashi-like and you'd have to be specific as to what you're looking for. That said, I got a detailed description and sharpening demo of each binsui type

Hmm I thought miles only sold 2 types of binsui?

That paper towel cut... impressive indeed... are you someone that could get a can lid that sharp with a scythe stone anyway, or is that really a specialty of that thai stone?