OK, help me finish the jump

I shaved with a Feather for two years. On Tuesday, I got a shave ready Dovo, a hanging strop, and a 2 sided pasted paddle from Tony Miller. Things have been going great, but I feel a real need to be able to make a razor shave ready. There's just something flat out wrong about a dependence on others for a successful shave.

OK, so now I'm in a bit of a quandary about how to proceed without spending a ton more money. I'd love to, at the least, be able to put a shaving edge on a new or NOS razor, but I don't want to trash one in the learning process.

I have a nice, but dull, vintage blade that would seem like an ideal blade to practice on (THIS auction). Assuming, for the moment, that I'll be finishing on the pasted strop (1 and 0.5 diamond paste), would a Norton 4K/8K be course enough to start an eBay blade with no chips or dings? I have some other beaters I could practice on, but I suspect those will need something courser.

Let's say I'd like to try to keep things to less than $75 out the door, and with that money I'd like to meet as many honing/lapping needs as possible, and I'd like to spend even less than that if I can. Would I make different choices for relatively intact eBay vintage blades than for new or NOS??

Since you are setup for strops. I would recommend going with the standard Norton 4k/8k stone (have it flattened/dressed) and a prep stone for the slurry. It does take time to pickup the feel for honing. If you feel yourself getting frustrated with the process, give it a break and wait until you have a positive frame of mind. Success is so sweet when it comes.

Ken is right all you really need is the 4k/8k nortons but i would add the nortons flattening stone before i would get the prep stone.

honing a e-bite special with a 4k/8k stone will take a while but eventually it will work. but spending that mush time on the 4k side will wear it more than normal that is why i suggest the flattening stone.

of course for a little more you skipp the flattening stone and get a diamond plate that will work as both a flattening stone and a low grit hone:D

a PM to Howard or a visit to his shop The Perfect Edge will get you started down the path for the right stones and his prices are great!

+1 a norton and pastes should take you to where you are not getting a lynn honed edge but it will shave fine. Just remember if you are starting on a 4k that you need to set the bevel first so that the razor is shart then worry about pyramids. If the razor isn't sharp and you don't use your courser stone to make it sharp then you will be at it all day and not getting anywhere.

The Norton 4/8, a couple of sheets of 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper to remove any nicks or old oxidised steel, and your pretty much set to go. To flatten the Norton use some coarse sandpaper, like 180-220 then finish with the 1000 grit.

Thanks guys--

Think I'm gonna go for it. I have a local Woodcraft, so with the sale, and tax about equal to shipping, I can have it in my hands by tomorrow. I'll bypass any sort of flattening stone for now, and just use 1k wet/dry and a flat countertop for lapping.

Tried to buy the 4K/8K at a local Woodcraft last night, but they were out of stock. They were very nice, though, and ordered one for me and will raincheck me on the sale price. Can't argue with that.

I just snagged on of these 2 weeks ago. Funny thing is, mine was described as "Harbor King" and I didn't figure out what it really was until I got it home.

I sharpened it up and it shaves very nicely. Good starter for honing, etc.