Thread: Touching up and maintaining a fresh edge

I ended up getting a Carborundum 103 barbers hone for around $30. Haven't received it yet but once I do I will let you know how it works for a beginner like me. Part of me wishes I would have waited a little longer and gotten the 12k kuromaku for $63 but the barbers hone was more practical for me being a college student with not much storage space in my apartment.

Originally Posted by JayR

I love this forum and spend way too much time reading it (ask my wife ). Although I've wet shaved for quite a while I'm new to SR and often feel like I'm five years old trying to hang out with my high school brothers, especially with the honing topic. Like a lot of people I'm on limited budget. I'm especially confused about the barber hones. In some discussions it comes up that their grit equivalent is actually fairly low-mod range and there are lots of inconsistencies between stones which makes me think I would be better off to try and get just a 10 or 12 thousand grit finisher, but other times the barber hone seems like it would be the perfect Stone for me to get started with just to maintain my own razors, as long as I have them well honed to begin with by somebody who knows what they're doing . The bottom line: if I already have 1 or 2 straight razors that come to me truly shave ready, am I better off getting a swaty two or three line or getting an off-brand finisher like a Chinese 12K, or something else? Thanks in advance.

Let me know. In theory, it (barber's hone)just seemed convenient, easy, and the vintage aspect remains a cool part of things. In a few weeks I'll probably go the 12k route and I'll chime in as well.

Many barber hones can produce a perfectly adequate shaving edge. It will take practice and patience it will get you there.

Thank you again for all your help Utopian.

Originally Posted by Utopian

Many barber hones can produce a perfectly adequate shaving edge. It will take practice and patience it will get you there.

Don't thank me till you get a decent shave from your 103. You may curse me for a while first!

I can't recall, is the Carborundum 103 one of the dual sided hones? I think when looking for a quick, easy, and cost effective solution a 2 sided barber hone may be the best one available.

If not it isn't the end of the world. They still tend to cut pretty quick, and should make a comfortable edge unless maybe your beard resembles a California Redwood forest. There's a reason one of the blades in my rotation is honed on a Swaty and nothing else. It shaves good. And I just picked up a handful of other barber hones to play with. It'll be interesting to see if any of them can match or beat my 12K stone. I think the glass one may give it a run for it's money, but we'll see...

The Chinese 12K is a crap shoot. Some of them are solidly mid range performers and don't make for a very good razor finisher. If you get a good one, they can be a solid finishing hone or 1 stone solution. Get a bad one...well, maybe you can use it to slowly hone up kitchen knives.

Post # 42,,,

http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...m-hones-5.html