What stone to use on razor

Hi everyone. My first time here. I bought a straight razor a couple of years ago without finding out about it properly, tried it and it hurt! Now I realize that it may need honing first although I wasn't told this might be the case when I bought it. I am a little confused with what stone to get. On your posts people mention different grades of grit all above 1000,(expensive) but on shave shack etc they offer a hone that is 400 grit(cheap). Can I use this to hone then strop? I don't want to spend too much until I know I can get a good shave with this razor. Any advice please.

I have never personally honed a razor on anything less than 1000 grit, and would not even contemplate shaving off anything less than about 6000 grit. For producing the final edge that they will be shaving with, mostly guys prefer something in the 10,000+ grit range.

Your cheapest option is to send it off to a honemeister to get it honed, then invest in a pasted paddle strop.

What brand razor is it by the way? Some inexpensive brands are really only suited to be a letter opener.

Good advice there from Mparker. That 400 grit stone will pretty much take all the metal off your razor, it's way to course. Go to the Vendor's corner here, and find a Honemeister or resto guy that will fix up your edge. Where are you, What part of the country....Anyway, If you have no experience honing straight razors, it can be a bit involved. You may want to do some reading here on the WIKI.....

Thanks for that. It is a solingen best quality bought from Harrods in London when I was working next door. You know an impulse buy.

Welcome to SRP. Check out the SRP Wiki here for tutorials on all things straight razor related. For a honemiester in the UK send a PM (personal message) to blue principle. He is a member here and proprietor of The Invisible Edge in the UK.Before you do your first shave read this post by SRP founder Lynn Abrams. :gl:

thank you all. A great help and I will go to invisible edge. Does anyone know why the shave sites would sell a stone that is too coarse? I have found the same stone on 3 sites.

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Originally Posted by mutters

thank you all. A great help and I will go to invisible edge. Does anyone know why the shave sites would sell a stone that is too coarse? I have found the same stone on 3 sites.

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because they don't know better or care. it's just another item that they all buy from the same place, add the markup and wait till somebody buys it.
there are a lot of junk razors being sold as well.

Thanks again for the help. I looked at invisible edge who are selling belgian stones and will try one of these. After taking your advice and reading the links it seems I didn't use the strop properly and have taken the edge off it. Do you think I can get it back just with the strop?

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Originally Posted by mutters

Thanks again for the help. I looked at invisible edge who are selling belgian stones and will try one of these. After taking your advice and reading the links it seems I didn't use the strop properly and have taken the edge off it. Do you think I can get it back just with the strop?

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That depends. If you feel confident in your stropping you could try 50 laps on the linen and another 50 on the leather and test shave. Here in the SRP Wiki help files there is a great excerpt from the barber manual on stropping and on honing. Check it out.

I would at least try a PM to Poona on here and see if he has any time to hone up you razor..... He was honing for the longest time but now and then life tends to interrupt for some of us .... He is in the the UK...

I think I bought the same hone from the same place when I started out. The Apex right? The worst thing is there was no indication of the grit on mine, I had to do some detective work to find out what it was, and I was shocked to find out it was 400 grit.

I did try it on one old razor when I wanted to do some heavy work on it. It didn't feel good (even after lapping), and I won't ever use it again. Might be OK for kitchen knives etc. Can't believe I wasted around £30 on it.:gaah:

Even if you buy hones, which anyone who's shaving with a straight should do at some point, get it honed by someone who knows what they're doing as this will give you a reference as to where you can be getting. Steve at the Invisible Edge does great work and offers honing services on his site. Once it's properly sharp the coticule you're thinking of is great for keeping it there IME.

Great. Thanks Alan. I have learnt more in one day from you gentlemen than in last six months. What a great site.My sons are looking to start with straights but not until I stop bleeding! Later I will be looking to buy starter sets for them both and I know where I'll come. All three of us are wet shaving and like trumpers stuff.