Thread: I am in Love, or I have lost my marbles

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I did a forum search in Hones forum and only found one post, a guy asking about the Gesshin. No replies. Then I did a google search and found it for sale on a Japanses knife site. Not a cheap stone. I didn't find much on the Watanabe stones. Their website and a thread on Kitchen Knife Forums that didn't review them.

The suggestion to soak the Gesshin stone brings to mind the Norton waterstones. These were the work horse on SRP when I first came around. The Shapton Pro stones were around (also knife stones primarily) and the glass stones hadn't showed up yet, nor the Naniwa Superstones.

All of these synthetic stones were made for sharpening tools, planes, chisels, or knives. They work well with razors if proper technique is used. So those stones may well work for your gold dollars when they get to you. Check out the stickies in the honing forum, videos and what have you.

JimmyHAD thank you so much for taking the time to search regarding the stones. I did my own search as well and it seems that the 8000 grit would work although it will not produce the smoothest edge and experience. In the end I will have to go to a natural stone if I want to have a really good edge.


Thank you again Jimmy

Originally Posted by Gasman

I hear that you need to correct the sholder on the Gold Dollar razors to be able to hone them correctly. Im new to honing so i cant say much about it but you should look into this correction before you start honing the GD razors. I have just got two ZY Razors to practice my honing on. 8 bucks each and they came on a slow boat from China but i got them now. Havent had time to practice yet but the good thing is they dont have a sholder to worry about.

Good luck on your long trip in learning to shave as this should be done first. Then after you know how to shave decently, without having any discomfort for a few weeks, then start down the road to learn honing a razor. This was told to me many times and im just getting to the point i feel good about my shaves. Its been 3 months now or more using a straight. Enjoy the trip.

Thank you Gasman, as intimidating as it seems on the steep learning curve, I am enjoying the experience (well maybe the first shave not so much but it will change)

Originally Posted by Casaluz

JimmyHAD thank you so much for taking the time to search regarding the stones. I did my own search as well and it seems that the 8000 grit would work although it will not produce the smoothest edge and experience. In the end I will have to go to a natural stone if I want to have a really good edge.


Thank you again Jimmy

I've been down that rabbit hole, or maybe call it a slippery slope, and IME it ain't necessarily so. Because of the vagaries of natural stones, the proverbial 'box of chocolates' celebrated by Forrest Gump, start with the synthetics, learn to hone from 1k to 8k, and get smooth shaves.

Once you've done that dip your foot in the waters of natural stones. Kind of like the great jazz saxophonist, Charlie 'Yardbird' Parker said, "Master your instrument, then forget all that stuff and play."