Thread: Beginners Tips : July 2014

This months Beginners Tips is about finishing stones and reasonable expectations.



During the past few years I have had a number of new guys come to my home for help with honing, stropping, restoration, beard prep etc. They are almost always fascinated by the finishing hones and have lots of questions about them. Which is best, how do I use it?, wet, dry, with a slurry? How much of a slurry? How to make a slurry. What can I use to lap them flat.
Will one finishing stone take care of all my honing needs? Escher, Coticule, PHIG, Charnley Forest,
Naniwa SS12K, Shapton Pro 30K etc.


For some reason, we all fall in love with the finishing stones when we first start our straight razor journey. We imagine that it will provide the most BBS shave and keep our edge in top notch condition forever.
I asked a couple of the more experienced guys in this area what they expected from finishing stones when they first started . Their answer ( and mine) was almost always the same..............


Magical results!!


We want the finishing stone, no matter which one it is, to always result in a sharp, smooth shave no matter what the condition of the edge when we started in the magical stones.,,,and we don't expect it to take many round trip laps to accomplish this! And we certainly don't expect to have to either return to the magical stones for more laps or, shudder, go back to a coarser grit hone!


But, that is exactly what we all have to do. Very few can max out an edge with just one trip to the hones and for those that think they can then try sending your razors to other experienced shavers for an evaluation. You will be surprised at the results. I know that it was an eye opening experience for me. Please note that I said “max out”....get the very best edge that the razor can have and that suits your face. Usually, it requires 2-3 trips to the hones, not just the finishing hones, to get the best edge.
What new guys don't realize is that a very good 8000 grit edge must be established before even thinking of going to the magical finishing hones and that the only way to determine if the 8000 grit edge is good is by a shave test. A 8000 edge should shave you very nicely, for some guys that is all that they need.


A reasonable expectation for a new guy is that if the razor is first shaving you very nicely from the 8K hone then you can move on to most any of the magical finishing hones and they will improve the edge if used properly. But....you cannot expect the magical hones to make up for poor bevel creation, a lack of time on the 4K nor a lack of time on the 8K. All those must be accomplished first. If you don't, then all you have is a ….


magical paperweight.

Nice tips, Randy! Sooo what is with the green soldiers in the bottom photo?

My point exactly when I read about a new shaver with no hone experience buying up every stone under the sun and expecting "magic" just by touching them.

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Nice tips, Randy! Sooo what is with the green soldiers in the bottom photo?

Those are 0.5 micron chrome-ox hones that I made about 5-6 years ago when I was first experimenting with the hone making process. When I lapped them and removed the surface "skin" there was an abundance of pin holes. The hone was still usable but cosmetically not acceptable.

What do you mean when you say " Usually, it requires 2-3 trips to the hones, not just the finishing hones, to get the best edge. " ???

Does 2-3 trips mean start with the 4000, then use the 8000, then the finisher --- or is that considered 1 "trip" and after using the finisher, you need to do another 2 trips to get the best edge ? (Ie: like the pyramid method) ?

Originally Posted by JohnG10

What do you mean when you say " Usually, it requires 2-3 trips to the hones, not just the finishing hones, to get the best edge. " ???

Does 2-3 trips mean start with the 4000, then use the 8000, then the finisher --- or is that considered 1 "trip" and after using the finisher, you need to do another 2 trips to get the best edge ? (Ie: like the pyramid method) ?

No, not the pyramid method. It means to go back to the finishing stone first, then strop & test shave. Do that twice if necessary. If thats not good enough then back to the 8K for 5-10 laps followed by the finisher again, then strop and test shave. If thats not good enought then repeat. The absolute most aggressive step is to go back to the 4K level then work back up again, but thats a last resort.

Hope that helps,

That helps a lot - Thanks for the clarification !