Thread: Need help slecting stone/strop juice

I'm trying to get my stuff together here.
I have an Illinois 127 strop on order. What should I order for the linen side paste and the leather side treatment?
I want to have a 'touch up' stone as well. Leaning towards a Naniwa. What grit and what is a reasonable price to pay?
Also about to order; a Dovo Best Quality as a starter for me to beat up on while learning how to maintain an edge.
I have read quite a bit here, but wound up confused.
Thanks, guys

You are going to get even more confused because of all the views about to be expressed.

Basically you don't need pastes for your linen side for daily blade maintenance. For occasional touch up most recommend crox on a secondary linen strop so you can keep your original one clean. Also, unless it is an old leather strop you are trying to resuscitate all you need is to rub the leather with the palm of your hand just before using it. That warms the leather a bit and makes for proper draw. And as far as a touch up stone goes, if you are eventually wanting to learn to hone your razors yourself then look at a Naniwa 12k. If all you are interested in is doing edge touch ups every so often as the edge starts to drag a little then get a barbers hone (eBay is good for that, and not much else).

Like I said, this is my opinion, shared by many and then there will be all the other pundits with their view on the matter. Good luck, take a deep breath and start hacking your way out of the information jungle.

Thanks, Razorfeld. That's the clarity I'm looking for.
Razor and strop are on order, and the 12k stone will be looked at in the near future.
That should keep me off the streets for a little while.

I would like to add to the above advice to do a little research on a barber hone first as they are not all equal. There was a lot of research and and it continues to be done by Modine at razor and stone. There are some really great barber hones out there and some that should be avoided.

Originally Posted by Neckbone

Thanks, Razorfeld. That's the clarity I'm looking for.
Razor and strop are on order, and the 12k stone will be looked at in the near future.
That should keep me off the streets for a little while.

Your welcome. And Rezdog is correct about the variability in barber hones. I went with a three line Swaty and get nice edges with it. Not to interested in going whole hog on honing from bevel setting to finishing (not lazy, just old enough to know what I can and can't do well.)

Yes, that's the advice you'll get around here - the basics are simple, well honed razor and quality strop with fabric and leather - no abrasives on either of them.
For touchups you can do many ways, you could have a paste on a piece of balsa (or other woods work too), or on a piece of fabric, or on a piece of leather; you can use virtually any finishing hone (finishing meaning the last one before shaving), so there is variety of old barber hones still around, there is the belgium coticule, the chinese hone, thuringians, japanese hones, from the man-made hones norton 8k, naniwa 8k or 12k, may be shapton...

You don't need that right away. Focus on correct stropping and on your shaving technique, and of course preparation is just as important, and your razor should be good for 25-50 shaves.

Just something to keep in mind. Any synthetic or natural stone you buy will need lapping so you will need to make sure you have the equipment for that. The Naniwa 12k is a great stone though. I would put it above both my dubl duck and swaty barbers hones.

Originally Posted by eddy79

Just something to keep in mind. Any synthetic or natural stone you buy will need lapping so you will need to make sure you have the equipment for that. The Naniwa 12k is a great stone though. I would put it above both my dubl duck and swaty barbers hones.

I agree that dressing the stone is important. I'm a woodworker that has more sharpening equipment than I need. In there somewhere is a dressing stone. I'm experienced in sharpening plane irons, chisels and machine cutters; recognizing that they are not razors.