Thread: basket

These are my choices so far.

• Strop
• Brush
• Blade
• Bowl/Soap

I still need to get strop paste and a whetstone, but I don't know what to get. When I search in amazon.co.uk for a whestone it has products for sharpening knives. 1) I'm not sure if that's alright for this blade. 2) I don't know what grit to get. 3) Strop pastes come in different colours, I presume there's a reason. Which one should I get?

Hi and welcome1

Your shopping basket looks like a nice starter setup, as far as for hones go the most recommended setup is a 4K and a 8K stone, or a Belgium Blue and a Coticule, since you are shopping on amazon.co.uk I assume you are in Great Britain and it might be easier to get the Belgium Blue and the Coticule from either Adrennes Coticule or The Invisible Edge both are members here. There are a lot of members from the UK here so they might have better options for hone sources.

Hello,
Nice, quality stuff!
The razor won't arrive shave ready though, & you may struggle to get it there by yourself.
The norton is probably the safe bet on the hone, but the other option is a natural combination Belgian Blue/Yellow Coticule.
You probably don't need paste. Yellow is the conditioning one. Anything else & you need more strops as you can't contaminate the basic leather one with abrasive.
Before you buy, check what's for sale in the classifieds.

Let me also welcome you to SRP. You've nailed it with you starting list. Pastes, there are varying opinions as the using diamond paste versus CrO pastes. The linen side of the strop is used frequently by many members here. I use a paddle strop with CrO paste. Since I am just beginning to use hones I am starting with a coticule since I don't think I need to put a new bevel on a razor I have used for a short bit. I will want to refresh the edge. I could be wrong, and there are many members who a far more experienced than myself. Depending on where you live perhaps you could meet up with a member over there to help you...

Originally Posted by dward

Depending on where you live perhaps you could meet up with a member over there to help you...

I'm in London.

Originally Posted by ben.mid

You probably don't need paste.

Can I just confirm from somebody else that I don't need paste.

Originally Posted by Bjorn

Your shopping basket looks like a nice starter setup, as far as for hones go the most recommended setup is a 4K and a 8K stone

Is 3k + 8K ok, like this possible hone

Cheers for the fast responses.

You don't need paste. You will need a leather conditioner when your leather strop begins to dry out but that will be months and months down the road.

The strop pastes are used as a sharpening medium, if you want to go this sharpening route, thats fine, its a good route to take. In that case the best option is to get a paddle strop or bench strop specifically to use for sharpening because you will need clean leather for daily use.

I would think that hone would be a good alternative to the Norton that is so easy to find over here but tough to get ahold of over there.

Thanks for your reply, although I'm not sure I understand. You want me to get 2 strops; one for daily use without the paste and one another for occasional use with the paste ? Cheers for helping.

/edit
Ok I just read up about the pastes. The yellow will be fine for a beginner like me.

edit2
Where do I get a norton 4k/8k in the uk? This hone seems to be the most popular.

Originally Posted by harsha

/edit
Ok I just read up about the pastes. The yellow will be fine for a beginner like me.

As far as I understand that is leather conditioning paste, not abrasive - you don't need it.

Originally Posted by harsha

edit2
Where do I get a norton 4k/8k in the uk? This hone seems to be the most popular.

I don't know, but yes that's the most popular hone.

Originally Posted by harsha

Thanks for your reply, although I'm not sure I understand. You want me to get 2 strops; one for daily use without the paste and one another for occasional use with the paste ? Cheers for helping.

/edit
Ok I just read up about the pastes. The yellow will be fine for a beginner like me.

edit2
Where do I get a Norton 4k/8k in the uk? This hone seems to be the most popular.

The Dovo Yellow is a leather conditioner. There are many many others, odds are if you own any leather goods you might already own one, or even just Glycerin soap (many shaving soaps are) can do a good job of keeping your leather supple.

The other pastes can act as a hone in order to resharpen you razor when it needs it and again there are different types. If you get pastes, getting a two or more sided paddle strop to put the pastes on can be a more economical and somewhat easier to learn method of keeping your razor sharp for the long term. This can allow you to skip getting a honing stone for a long long time.

If you do chose to get a stone, The Norton 4/8K is the most popular but far from the only choice. The 3/8K you found would be a good alternative that would probably do just as well, though it is probably a little slower to cut. My only worry with that stone is that the size isn't listed anywhere I can find, If its about the same size as the Norton it would be a good deal. If its much smaller it wouldn't be such a good buy.

Originally Posted by harsha

I still need to get strop paste and a whetstone, but I don't know what to get. When I search in amazon.co.uk for a whestone it has products for sharpening knives. 1) I'm not sure if that's alright for this blade. 2) I don't know what grit to get. 3) Strop pastes come in different colours, I presume there's a reason. Which one should I get?

At the time of writing, this one was still available: Complete Honing and Strop Set - Straight Razor Place Classifieds

Given the exchange rate, it is a steal, and it will also remedy any potential honing and maintenance issues for yourself, and your offspring.

The blade itself will not be a problem at all, although I am not sure at all whether I would buy from Amazon if you have specialised razor shops in the UK. Not least because those shops offer shave readiness as an option.

Additionally, you could get two great razors from the Classifieds section here for the price of that Dovo. Mind you, the Dovo is excellent.