Thread: Hone

As i said in my hello message, i am a poor college student and i certainly can't afford a 80 dollar stone like the norton 4k/8k. Where could i find a good cheap (under 30 close to 20) hone stone or any recomendations on what to get? Thanks!

a cheaper option, that i still use, being a poor university student myself, are slipstones. specifically made for shapening curved wood-working tools, they nonetheless have a large enough flat surface to hone a razor on with a little cunning. a 4K retails for $12, and an 8K for $20. I would credit the thread where i heard about these, but i cant seem to find it at the moment.

the best of luck to you.

Oh thank you very much that sounds right up my ally! Where can i find one? All i seem to be finding is "soft" or "hard" arkansas stones. also any info on cheap strops? thank you so much

You don't want the Arkansas stones. The hard is a little rough for what we need, and the soft is way to rough. You can sharpen a razor on the translucent and possibly the black Arkansas but these will set you back more than the Norton.

Here are the slipstones mentioned above:

Slip Stones at Tools for working Wood

I've used these for a while. Their main drawback is that they are slow and small, and you have to stack them right to get a flat surface.

They take about four times as many strokes as the Norton does to accomplish the same work.

You could also go to ebay for razor hones. 15-20 bucks including shipping.

Thank you this was fast! Are the barber hones for finishing? Just asking whether i should get the slipstones or perhaps the barber hone and a slipstone to compliment?

sorry for all the questions :-\

Barber hones are for finishing, just normal maintenance to keep the blade sharp. For repair or restoration work you'll need an array of different hones.

Ok so a good Barber hone, and the 4k? Would my standard fine knife sharpeners work to re-keen the edge?

Originally Posted by Detach

Thank you this was fast! Are the barber hones for finishing? Just asking whether i should get the slipstones or perhaps the barber hone and a slipstone to compliment?

sorry for all the questions :-\

My first hone purchase was a Swaty barbers hone, I still keep it by the sink for quick touch ups when I need them. It is only one of several finishing hones or strops I have though, this gets addictive.

When I wanted to actually sharpen from scratch is when I got the slipstones as a cheap entry into honing.

So my first honing set-up was 4000 grit slipstone, 8000 grit slipstone, then finish on the Swaty. Then I got 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper to lap my stones and a glass bed to keep it flat so I could use the paper on really rough razors. Then I learned to use newspaper as a finishing step (I didn't like it much though). And so on and so forth, I think I now have at least three completely different systems to take razors from dull to sharp.

Originally Posted by Detach

Ok so a good Barber hone, and the 4k? Would my standard fine knife sharpeners work to re-keen the edge?

4k then 8k then barbers hone.

Your "fine" knife sharpener is probably no more than 1200 grit more likely only about 600 grit. Knife hones are barely fine enough to use to get nicks out of a razor and using one is likely to make a very dull razor even duller, at best.

The first thing to learn when sharpening razors is to forget everything you know about sharpening knives.