Thread: Best Sharpening Stone

Originally Posted by Duke

My concept then as of this minute is to use a cloth/leather strop before each shave and honing the razor about twice a year with a Norton. Does this sound about right? Other replies suggested pasted strops. Is that really necessary? Once again, your replies have given me a lot of food for thought. I'll digest it all and then come back for more. Thanks very much.

Duke

Well, Duke, I wish it was that simple... It is like asking what car is the best.

I can suggest going trough the posts on this site, and learning some more about straight razors and the meanings to keep them sharp. That way, you will be more educated about making your own desicion. We are all here about finding the great shave, and let me tell you, it takes time. Even senior and more experienced members are finding new hones and techniques for their use daily... If you want more consistent results, you might wanna stick with DE's. I understand there are some really nice blades, and ways of getting great shave with them.

have fun,
Nenad

Just to clarify the drill:

You will want to strop your blade on plain leather before every shave.

You will want to refresh your edge every couple of weeks or so with either a finishing hone or a pasted strop. Keep in mind that if you use a paddle strop then the pasted strop may be just one of the other sides of your everyday strop. You can use your main hone for refreshing duties, but the Norton is a bit of a bother to use for something that simple.

You will want to re-set the bevel using a stone every few months or so (maybe even six or more, depending on how tough your beard is, how many passes you do, how often you shave, how good your prep is, how good the steel is, your tolerance for pulling, etc). Most guys follow up the hone with a trip to a finishing hone or a pasted paddle to polish the edge and take some of the harshness out.

So you'll need
(a) hanging strop + finishing hone or pasted paddle + norton or
(b) paddle strop with one plain side and the others pasted + norton or
(c) hanging strop + pasted paddle + norton

Or some variation on this -- I've got a hanging strop, a small paddle with both an unpasted and a pasted (.5 micron) side, a big paddle with two pasted sides (1 and 3 microns), and a 4k/8k norton. I prefer using the hanging strop under normal circumstances, but if I have to go out of town I can take just the small paddle to do both the daily stropping and refresh the blade if it needs it.

If you're willing to send your razors out for re-honing, then you can get by without the norton.

Originally Posted by mparker762

So you'll need
(a) hanging strop + finishing hone or pasted paddle + norton or
(b) paddle strop with one plain side and the others pasted + norton or
(c) hanging strop + pasted paddle + norton

Or some variation on this -- I've got a hanging strop, a small paddle with both an unpasted and a pasted (.5 micron) side, a big paddle with two pasted sides (1 and 3 microns), and a 4k/8k norton. I prefer using the hanging strop under normal circumstances, but if I have to go out of town I can take just the small paddle to do both the daily stropping and refresh the blade if it needs it.

If you're willing to send your razors out for re-honing, then you can get by without the norton.

I don't know where you got the idea that you need to re-create an edge with any frequency. This is something that's done rarely, usually when there is damage to the edge. I have razors that I've been refreshing regulalry for over a year, and they show no sign of needing anything else.

I would say, get a two-sided paddle strop with the idea of maintaining your razors only. With 4-6 good quality razors, you'll need very infrequent honing, other than refreshing. Give it a try and see how often you need to touch up.

The next step would be to get a paddle, tablrtop or fine hanging strop and a starter set (three different grits) of hones. They're available from TIlly (redtrader99.com) at a very good price. With just a few razors to maintain, you may not have a need for the Norton. I have one and, unless I'm going to work on a bunch of razors I just don't want to bother with it.

Originally Posted by superfly

If you want more consistent results, you might wanna stick with DE's. I understand there are some really nice blades, and ways of getting great shave with them.

Or a compromise would be a str8 razor with renewable blades. That gives you the str8 shaving experience with the convenience of a DE. You can get them from Feather, Dovo (Shavette- uses a variety of blades), Fromm (Fromm shaper blades of Hess (uses injector blades.

Another possibility would be an injector razor. Nationwide Campus will be selling adjustable and fixed head injector razors by the end of the month. They are modeled after the last ones that Schick made.

Originally Posted by Joe Lerch

Or a compromise would be a str8 razor with renewable blades. That gives you the str8 shaving experience with the convenience of a DE. You can get them from Feather, Dovo (Shavette- uses a variety of blades), Fromm (Fromm shaper blades of Hess (uses injector blades.

Another possibility would be an injector razor. Nationwide Campus will be selling adjustable and fixed head injector razors by the end of the month. They are modeled after the last ones that Schick made.

Just be careful about starting out with the feather with the interchangeable blades... that thing is sharper than hell and not a super great idea for starting out with a str8. Speaking from personal experience (yeah, I bought one to start with)... I traded mine to Joe and made us both happy.

-- Gary F.

Originally Posted by Joe Lerch

I don't know where you got the idea that you need to re-create an edge with any frequency. This is something that's done rarely, usually when there is damage to the edge.

This idea is espoused fairly frequently on this forum, most recently here.

Originally Posted by Joe Lerch

I have razors that I've been refreshing regulalry for over a year, and they show no sign of needing anything else.

In all honesty, Joe, you're the only person I've ever heard pushing this theory. It may well work like a charm, or it may only work if you're refreshing with a barber's hone and not if you're refreshing with a pasted leather paddle. I don't know. But it's disengenuous of you to suggest to a newbie that he'll never need to hone his razor just because you don't, or that stone honing is "rare" or otherwise unusual, because lots of guys *do* need to use the stone occasionally.

I think what Joe was referring to was 'resetting the bevel', not taking the razor to a hone for a touch-up. The only time I've ever created/reset a bevel is either the first time out restoring a vintage blade or when the edge has somehow been damaged. Particularly with a razor that has not been used in some time, the edge oxidizes, is pitted and the fine edge becomes brittle. New steel has to be exposed for the blade to take and hold an edge. This is 'creating' a bevel.

Once a razor has been honed to shaving sharp. Regular use (assuming no damage to the blade by dropping it, hitting the faucet, etc...) will eventually dull the blade, but will do little to the geometry of the bevel. At this point you will need to revisit a hone, but only a very fine hone, and only for a touch-up. A swaty, coticule, escher will all work quite well and only a few strokes will be sufficient.

Just a matter of semantics,
Ed

duke,

if i might make a suggestion as im a begginner myself. take a look at the pictures posted here, look at the website of the people making high quality razors, read some of the posts that people state their favorite types of razors. ok, now that you've done this you will see there are similarities in what people say are the best makers and types of steel - sheffield / solingen...etc etc. now that you got the type of steel you want to see on the blade plus the makers that are respected, off you go to your local antique store or flea market. you will enjoy doing this as you will see a bunch of razors, talk to people who will tell you stories about razors and collections, some may not have them with them but they have them back home. remember they can only carry so much junk to a flea market. so ask and most will say they have some and will bring them next week ..etc etc.

so pick up a razor this way. check the razor out, get the maker/type of steel which is good and make sure the blade is in good condition. you don't want cracks or chips. buy the razor cheaply. most of these people you can talk down 25% off what they are asking..so you end up play 10$ maybe 20$ on the high end.

now you have your own razor that you picked. it may have a bit of rust on it, it prolly needs cleaning and it will definitely need honed. thats easy enough. there are plenty of people on this forum that will gladly clean and hone your razor for you in the price range of say 20$. so you take your 10$ purchase and send it off to these pro's to have it cleaned and honed to shaving perfection and you get back a 30$ beauty that you picked out and that you would prolly pay 100$ for off a website as a finished product. you will fall in love with your first razor that you pick out and have redone.

thats my take on it. you pick your own, you buy inexpensively at a flea market, you send it to one of these pro's so you get back a completed shave ready razor so you know what one is exactly and get to shave with it.

that is how i got my first razor. its a thing of beauty. that is my 2cents

~J

Duke,

I am also a newbie just starting out and wanting to keep the initial investment to a minimum. If I were starting out all over again, this is what I would do.

1)Buy a shave ready razor from a member here or buy a brand new razor and have it sent to Lynn to get it perfectly honed for 20 bucks. (this gets you the sharpness standard)
2) Go to Tony's website and buy either his hanging strop plus the 4 sided pasted strop OR buy the 4 sided combo paddle strop which has 3 pasted sides plus one unpasted side for daily stropping. If you have questions about his products, email Tony (contact info on his website) and he is very pompt and helpful with his replies.

Alternate to 2) would be the hanging strop plus some barber hones, which would definately be cheaper, but they do take a little more effort to learn than the pasted strop. My personal opinion is that if you want to learn how to use the barber hones, then you might as well go all in and get the Norton because that means you like the sharpening process itself (in my opinion, its part of the fun of the straight).

This would be ~50 for a new DOVO, 20 for proper honing, ~50 for the hanging strop and ~60 for the 4 sided pasted stop. A total of 180 bucks max. Since this would mean starting out with a truly sharp razor, you can learn the stropping/shaving technique. You will likely dull the razor on your daily strop at first because you are new, but since you have the pasted strop, you can touch up the edge (buying seconds from Tony may help you save money, also).

After a month or two, you should have the stropping and shaving techniques down pretty well, and then you can decide if you enjoy the sharpening process (its very satisfying getting something wicked sharp with your own two hands) and buy the ~70 dollar Norton, or you may hate sharpening, so you can mail your razor off for honing and save yourself the Norton purchase, or you can decide you hate the whole process and sell your whole kit to me for a discounted price...

Originally Posted by texan

Duke,
or you can decide you hate the whole process and sell your whole kit to me for a discounted price...

Tex,
You are evil man.