Thread: Finishing Stone vs Pasted Strop

Originally Posted by yul b. nekst

O.K. I guess I'll be getting one of Tony's bench hones. I will use .5 paste, right? Then after I understand what a really sharp edge is, I will buy a coticule, or something. Am I still farming the same field?

Save yourself some bucks and get Tony 4 sided pasted strop. After the Norton go there and you will be shaving BBS in no time. I have it set 3,1,.5,.25 with the .25 on balsa. It works great and I use it between every 20 or so shave to keep the edge sharp ( only the .5 and .25 at that time). Good luck.

While I can get a razor shaving sharp off of the Norton, I get better results when I finish on either a pasted paddle or a finishing hone.

I have one of Tony's paddles with 3, 1, 0.5 and 0.25 diamond pastes (with the 0.25 being on balsa). For most of my razors, the 0.25 is more than I need or want.

I also have a few very fine barber's hones (lithide; American Swaty clone; Austrian "Apart" hone - very similar to a Swaty). The Austrian hone puts a very sharp edge on my razors and I think the edge from a hone lasts longer (although this is a matter of degree). While the barber's hones can be tricky to use (I often use mine like a small bench stone, as opposed to holding them in my hand), they can be found quite cheaply - I paid just over $10 for each of these hones.

Just wanted to provide another alternative to make things more confusing

So here's what I'm getting out of this:

4k=resharpens edge
8k=polishes sharpened edge
pastes=finishes (and helps to keep) a polished edge
finishing hone=refreshes a polished edge

Is this right?

Thanks to all for the help. I really need a few more razors though! Practice, practice, practice!!!!!

Yul,
Basically yes, but many methods work as pointed out. We each have a different path here and each started with varying degrees of sucess on doifferent tools.

One can get a shave ready edge right from a Norton. one can also get there with pastes, paddles, fancy natural stones or barber hones. It depends on what YOU want to LEARN to use. Some will pick up honing easily, other woill not want to devote that much time to it.

There is no right or wrong, just opinions, some strong <g>, some flexable. Some hate the "new fangled" 15,000 and 30,00 grit stone, diamond pastes, etc.... But remember barber hones, loom and 4 sided paddles and fancy Belgian and Escher stones have been around since the civil war..........I'd venture to guess the Norton came a good while later. It is THE tool to use today, but not the only choice and not where razor sharpening started.

Tony

Yul,

This is a very good way to think about it, especially as a newbie. For me, the biggest breakthrough was learning what "sharp" meant as opposed to "smooth" or "polished." Once I figured out that I needed to use the 4K until the razor passed the hanging hair test (with my hair, your mileage may vary), my honing took off.

It's important not to skip steps. For example, a .5 micron pasted strop can make a razor that won't pass the HHT pop hairs like crazy. But since you jumped over the sharpening and smoothing steps, the razor won't shave well.

Good luck,
Josh