Thread: Noob wants to keep an edge on his blade. Pastes? Hones?

When I started out I had the Norton 4K/8K which is like the Chevy of Hones. Then I bought a Kitayama and for the longest time that was all I had and I managed to restore and keep sharp my razors. There are many ways to do it. You could get some vintage Barber Hones, you can use pasted strops, or you can go the hone route either synthetic or natural. The one thing you don't have to do is go crazy and spend a mint on all kinds of honing media.

I'm not sure about buying a high grit stone because it's harder to mess up an edge with that. If you start honing and really don't know what you are doing it doesn't take long to do some major damage no matter the hone you use. As a matter of fact with a low grit hone you would probably do fewer strokes because you can see the result as you hone. With a high grit hone it's not so apparent and some guys will just hone and hone and hone.