Thread: Newbie question

Hey guys,
I'm new to SRP. I've been DE shaving for a while, but I've been looking at straights for a while as well. I know I should start with a shave ready straight and not worry about hones, but I still have a question about hones for future reference.
The newbie guide for hones says that you will only need a finishing hone unless you're planning on restoring straights.
Can you guys tell me if either of these stones are considered finishing stones and where they fit in on the spectrum in terms of overall quality? Which would be recommended as a better stone for finishing?

Here are the stones I saw:
Chinese 12K Slurry Stones - Straight Razor Place Classifieds
Coticule Natural Combo Slurry Stones, Small, Med, and Lg - Straight Razor Place Classifieds

Thanks!

What your looking at are slurry stones, they are used to rub on your hones while wet to form a slurry mixture. This effects the behaviour of the hone, basically it makes it cut faster. These are not hones themselves.
Grant

the stones you are talking about is totally has different characters.
At first early mentioned coticule which is in classified you point out is not the real hone it is slurry coticule
Now
Coticule is a lot versatile then chinese 12 k.
You can use coticule not just put final edge but sharpen blade.
chinese usually for final edge very very slow stone.
hope this helps

Thanks for the help guys.
One more question. I've heard that you can use pasted strops as a replacement for a finishing stone (a 12k stone). I may have misunderstood though. So could I use one of the balsa strops that Ray sells in place of a 12k stone and hone the razor on a norton 4k/8k? Is this method not recommended for some reason?
Thanks in advance

Edit: So let me modify my questions to be more precise. In terms of first hones, I'm looking at the Naniwa 3k/8k combo and the balsa strop w/ crox. Would these be enough for work on razors that have been previously honed by a honemeister? Do I need a finishing stone like a barber's hone or a Naniwa 12k, or will the balsa be fine?

One last thing. I heard that this stone was a cheap recommended stone, so the hones I'd be thinking about would be:
3k/8k Naniwa
The 12k Chinese stone in the link
And perhaps a balsa strop with crox

Originally Posted by heirkb

Edit: So let me modify my questions to be more precise. In terms of first hones, I'm looking at the Naniwa 3k/8k combo and the balsa strop w/ crox. Would these be enough for work on razors that have been previously honed by a honemeister? Do I need a finishing stone like a barber's hone or a Naniwa 12k, or will the balsa be fine?

They are different issues in here.
if you want to keep previously honed razor shave ready you will need to have
barber hone or coticule or chinese 12.
balsa will not be helpful in this situation. it could help if you are willing to spen 1000 laps etc)
Now instead of chro2 you can use diamond pastes and do the above job but that will confuse you more.
Depends how much money you are willing to spend your choose will be
from less money to most
barber hone
chinses 12k
Belgian coticule.
spending less time on the stone will be
barber hone
Belgian coticule
chinese 12k
Getting better edges from best to worst if you know what you are doing then
coticule
barber hone(very important brand in this situation)
chinese 12.
Pastes chro2 used after final touch up stone just smooth the edge and usually no more then 20 laps .
As you can see depends what you like and how much money you are willing to spend.
There is Barber hones available will do the job and i always recommend it.
why because you will need to do only 2-4 strokes and your edge is back and less money spend and it is easy to use etc.
which barber hones is totally different animal too.
In the other hand Belgian coticule more expensive but it is forever.
etc so on.
hope this helps.

Welcome to SRP. I agree with Sham but thought I would mention that a Norton combo set which includes a 220/1000, a 4000/8000 and a flattening stone is another option that will run you in the neighborhood of $120.00 IIRC. It sounds like you might want to take your honing further and that will give you a good start.

With Naniwas I would go 1, 3, 5 and 8 single grit and a DMT D8C to lap them. Just what I would ..... and did do. If I was going for a coticule I would get an 8x2 or 8x3 natural blue and yellow combo with slurry stones and the above DMT D8C continuous diamond plate to flatten them.

Hi, The Coticule is a good choice. They are versatile as far as hones go. The Chinese 12k is slooooow. The Coticule is a finisher, but with a slurry, it becomes more aggresive.
There's lot's of info on them in the WIKI. If you have any other questions, feel free to drop me a PM...

Rich

I'll add one more vote for the coticule if you only want one stone. However, if you have any thoughts of buying on ebay, irrespective of the description, I'd recommend getting the Norton set discussed earlier too... It's a good set, relatively cheap, and will get 'er done. I'd also recommend getting a coticule or some other finisher too... But, that's just me and welcome to SRP!

I've heard that Naniwa's are much better than Nortons, so I figured I'd get the Naniwa 3k/8k instead of the Norton.
I was also gonna get a 1k Naniwa as well. In terms of the 5k, I read that you're able to skip the 5 even though it makes things easier, so I figured I'd skip it for now since I want to avoid spending too much.

In terms of finishing stones, I'm a little more confused though.
So a barber hone is one choice. A coticule is another it seems.
First, where can I get a good barber hone (good brand)? Also, if I were to get a coticule, would it be enough as a finishing stone? Would it be better than a barber hone?
So to summarize. Assuming I have an edge that needs some work but isn't too bad, I would need 1k, 3k/8k and a barber hone or coticule and then stropping? Do I not even need the balsa strop then?
I apologize for all the rapid fire questions, but despite reading all the guides on stones, I can't seem to figure these out and would like to know before I make an investment. I'd like to buy right the first time on stones so I can spend future money on straights (I know AD's will get me )
Thank you for all your responses