Thread: Honing a straight razor

Hello everyone, I'm new to the straight razor (and this website as well). I bought a TI about a month ago and I love it. Now I want to invest in a nice stone to hone my blade myself. I live in Arkansas at the moment and heard that Arkansas is know for their stones. I would really like to get a stone from this state (for the sentimental value), but I don't know what to look for. Any ideas or pointers?

Hi there, Welcome!!
You'd be looking for a Surgical Black or Translucent to hone on. Both Arkansas.

It depends on where you want to go with honing.

To maintain an already shave ready blade, a Barber hone or Naniwa 12K, plus if it was me a CrOx pasted paddle

To hone razors from the wild, you would need some hones in the 1k, 4k, 8k, 12k range plus the pasted paddle and probably a diamond hone in the 300-400 grit range to fix chips and frowns

Originally Posted by Chaywood18

Hey guys I'm new to straight razor shaving but I have got the stropping and shaving part down pretty well but I need some advice on what kind of stones to get for honing and the proper way to hone any advice would be greatly appreciated thanks in advance

Originally Posted by Aerdvaark

Hi there, Welcome!!
You'd be looking for a Surgical Black or Translucent to hone on. Both Arkansas.

Do I need both of those stones or should I just get one of those stones?

Just one. They pretty much are interchangeable.

Originally Posted by rodb

It depends on where you want to go with honing.

To maintain an already shave ready blade, a Barber hone or Naniwa 12K, plus if it was me a CrOx pasted paddle

To hone razors from the wild, you would need some hones in the 1k, 4k, 8k, 12k range plus the pasted paddle and probably a diamond hone in the 300-400 grit range to fix chips and frowns

1k 4k 8k 12k us rnough. You don't need a pasted strop
Or diamond plate. Redundant.

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A pasted strop is the first thing to go to when a razor is tugging at least for me. If you are working with a chip or large frown a diamond plate is very useful. I've fixed at least 50 frowns and I wouldn't want to do that with a 1k

Originally Posted by andywe10

1k 4k 8k 12k us rnough. You don't need a pasted strop
Or diamond plate. Redundant.

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Originally Posted by andywe10

1k 4k 8k 12k us rnough. You don't need a pasted strop
Or diamond plate. Redundant.

Sent from my SM-T700 using Tapatalk

Diamond plates are also useful for lapping hones, so not really redundant, a luxury maybe because you could use wet and dry and a flat plate under it.
I guess it also depends on how bad the razors are that you are going to pick up to work on.

Originally Posted by edhewitt

Diamond plates are also useful for lapping hones, so not really redundant, a luxury maybe because you could use wet and dry and a flat plate under it.
I guess it also depends on how bad the razors are that you are going to pick up to work on.

Very true.. I was thinking from a budget standpoint. The diamond plates are pricey.

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A DMT D8C costs around $50 give or take, and considering their usefulness for keeping hones flat and serious repairs, I do not consider one pricey. Now, if you are talking the $379 Shapton DGLP, then I would have to agree with you on the budget concerns.