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ok, i'm new:boohoo:
i have nothing here except a strop and one side is pasted. by the time i get a single stone to maintain an edge for minor repair the cost might dictate that i go ahead and get a combo stone. probably a 4000/8000 norton? my questions is: will 8000 grit be fine enough or should i get a kit, say from lynn, that features 3 (japanese?) stones in 5/8/12k? thanks ps. is it possible to get away with one stone? say a 12k? or would that not be course enough?
Check the wiki, and the many opinions you'll get.... but as I understand it a 4k/8k would be all you'd ever really need.
Depends what you plan to do.
For maintaining an edge, regular stropping, plus occasionally using the pasted side should keep you going a long time. An 8000 or higher grit when it needs an occasional touchup on the stone, ie when stropping on paste is no longer enough.
You mentioned repairing an edge in the same breath. That's something totally different, and will likely require stones of lower grit (depending on the repair you want to do) in addition to the 5/8/12 that you mentioned.
Welcome to SRP, by the way. :)
Welcome to SRP. Is the razor or razors you have honed by a pro ? That would be the first thing I would suggest if they are not. What RayG said is on the money.
Why not shave for a time and maintain your razor or razors on the strop and make sure that you are going to stick with it. In the meantime go to the SRP Wiki here and read the tutorials on the different options that you have. Some guys get by fine with a barber hone and their strops and some paste.
someone said that as a newbie it's easy to roll an edge by not stroping correctly. for that reason it was suggested to have a yellow belgian stone to fix things while i learn. i have three shaves under my belt with a chinese razor i got from rup. it feels about as sharp as a very bad de blade. since i don't really have any experience with straights i don't really know if it's a good example of a straight. my problems could easily be my inexperience. i feel confident that ken honed it properly. but if i do something stupid it may be a good idea to have a stone here at home. i also bought a razor from a member on this site. it's in the mail so i should be able to compare the performance.
so,,,,by the time i spend money on one stone i was thinking that i could buy a combo stone for just about the same price. and if i go that far then,,,,do i need a 12k stone to do a final polish or will 8k be enough. the razor i'm getting from a forum member is finished off with a 12k hone.
Here is an excerpt on honing and stropping from the 1961 barber manual in the SRP Wiki. You will find the stropping instructions in the last couple of pages and they are really good IME.
If you can mess a razor up on a strop it is equally possible to mess one up on a hone if you don't know what you are doing.
The instructions in the manual on honing are really good too IME. I would suggest you get stropping and shaving down first and do enough reading in the wiki and on the forum to help you decide which hones are right for you.
I like the Nortons and I like the Naniwas equally well if not better so it is hard for me to recommend one over the other.