Thread: Which is better for begginer to honing

I have ordered the sahpton stater set with 220/1000 and 4000/8000 combo stones and a lapping stone.

My question is should I get a Naniwa 12K super stone or diamond paste and a balsa wood strop? Which would be eaisier to use?

Thanks

Jon

i think the best would be the shapton 16000 since it's the same brand.
other than that a higher grit hone is not any harder to use than a lower grit hone.
most people find stropping easier than honing.

Do you mean Norton combo stones AFAIK Shapton doesn't make combo stones. Unless you ordered the separate grits. In any case if it was me I would leave it at that until I had some experience with honing. Maybe a piece of balsa and some chrome ox.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Do you mean Norton combo stones .

Oops! yes I mean Norton starter set, I have looked at so many hones over the past few days I am on hone overload!!!

As far as ease of use.... The naniwa 12k is not any more difficult to use than than 4k/8k norton. You will use the same stroke.

pasted balsa is probably, "easier" to use, as it is just a stropping stroke. But if the blade is not there at 8k, it does not matter.

If it were me Id go with what Jimmy said and Slartibartfast is correct about the paste, it would do no good if the blade isnt already "there".

You can do a very respectable job using a Norton 1000, 4000, 8000 followed by 0.5 diamond paste and then chromium oxide on balsa. This should be followed by good stropping technique and with a well prepared beard you should achieve a very good shave.

Lewis

My suggestion is that you make sure that you lap all the honing surfaces of your new stones. I'm sure you know that already, since you ordered a lapping stone, but it bears repeating. After lapping the stones flat, radius the long edges so that you don't damage your edge as you hone.

Pay particular attention to the 4K side of your 4/8. If yours is like mine (and a lot of the other guys) you will find that it has a very porous, slightly rough feel to it. If that is the case, keep lapping until it looks and feels smooth. I had to lap about an eighth of an inch off of mine to get it where I wanted it. If you don't do this you run the risk of microchipping the edge and you will be hard pressed to polish them out. This can cause you to have an edge that is sharp enough, but not very comfortable to use. At that point your choice of final finishing medium won't help you much.

To your original question, I think the Naniwa 12 would be a great addition to your set. After that, a felt strop with CrOx or Diamond spray and you are good to go.

While people argue about finishers, don't look at grit on the finishing stones. The higher the grit number the less standard it is. and after 4k or 5k its not getting sharper, just smoother. So identify whether you want an ultra sharp blade- diamonds, or smooth and sharp- Thuringen or baby butt smooth feel- coticule, etc. It's all opinion on the finishers anyway. I've used 3 different finishers (to hone with, I'm guessing I've felt 5 or 6 when you consider what honemeisters have used) and they feel slightly different but they aren't any different sharpness wise.

My advice would be don't use anything after the 8k Noton for at least 100 razors....Not even .50 CrOx

IF you can get a close comfortable shave off the 8k Norton, you know how to hone....
Then at that point you have enough experience to decide for yourself what direction to take.....

ps: there are tricks to using the 8k Noton to get an even smoother finish off of that stone...