Thread: newbie needs a hone! and advice!

Hey guys. Ive been straight shaving for almost a month and feel that my beginner level stropping has rounded my blade.. as i only have a leather and poly strop i need a hone! My question is can i go cheap on a 1k and get by with a north 4/8k stone...
also if anyone has a hone i can buy used to save me some money that would be awesome as im having trouble finding high quality hones used.
Thanks for looking!

Send it to Lynn for $25-30 bucks while you hunt for hones.
There is a classified section. Have you looked there for any?

Free advice: you don't need a hone. As Scareface has said send it to a pro like Lynn. There are members who can hone better than you will for the first 2000 attempts, probably, so wait a while before you leap into honing. Some never do!

At most you probably only need a 12k hone. That will set you back about $200. That's equivalent to 8 professional honings.

A barbers hone is always a less expensive option and will keep a shave ready edge for quite some time.

There is a 12000 Annika stone on SRD for under 100

I've got to disagree with some of the other posts on here. If you're interested in maintaining your blades get a hone. Naniwa 12k is a great maintainance hone for $70ish. Just use a light touch and take your time with it. You don't have much to lose.

Or got a natural stone and use with slurry.
Either way synthetic or natural stones there is learning curve you can't skip.
So ask yourself if you really want to learn skills to hone or just use straight. If you only want to use then send for sharpening and master only stropping technique.

A pro honing is cheap and guaranteed to have you shave ready. Otherwise you only need a finishing stone and the naniwa 12k fits that perfectly. If you go back to 1k it is unlikely you will have a shave ready razor for a while as you learn how to hone. At most stick with touch ups and get another razor if you want to learn honing.

So from what was said yes i plan on sending out my nice razor BUT im tryin to learn on my vintage and i got a pocket microscope to see my progress.. i dont wanna drop over 100 and maybe i should just start with 10 12 combo? Any recommendations? I say 10 and 12 so i can get the basics and learn tp maintain a sharp edge and not bevel set and what not quite yet. Thanks for replies guys!

Also i think bejay is understanding what im trying to achieve. I want to progress to EVENTUALLY be independent on my straight but in the meantime i will send out if needed. I understand im not going to be a honemeister in 3 months ha.