Looking at purchasing my 1st set of hones

Hi everyone,
After shaving with an SR for a little short of a year im now looking to expand my knowledge and move onto purchasing my 1st set of hones so i can start attempting to restore a few SR's.

My budget isnt the greatest for this so can anyone help point me in the right direction. Im looking for something cheap that gets tried and tested results.

I have seen these on the bay for a decent price:

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item...d=181199495615

Soes anyone use these hones? Would it be a good purchase?

Appreciate any advice.

Last year I purchased a Welsh slate stone from one of the members here; he said the source was AJ. I put it to the side; then last month used it to finish a razor of mine, coming off of an 8k. I put approx. 80 strokes on it, to end up with my most comfortable shave to date. Keep in mind this is only with one razor, a full hollow.

For the price, I don't see where you can go wrong. I had seen them advertised for quite a while & had no interest to get one from him. I'm glad I came across this one being resold in our classified.

I go here and look once in awhile but I have avoided the HAD. Others will churp in I am sure but this looks like 1 way to go. I been using a 4/8k Norton combo with great success for almost a year. Just now thinking about a finisher. The coin is still in the air on that decision. Hirlau is making me want to check my credit card limit :<0).

Those are probably pretty nice stones...but basically they are all finishers. If you are really looking to getting into restoring and honing razors then you will need a bevel setter. If price is also as you say an issue, then I would buy a King 1000 to set the bevel and a Norton 4000/8000 to sharpen and finish. The price for these three stones would be about what you would spend for the 3 Welsh stones: right around $100.

Do some looking around online and you can find some deals...

I have looked at those often. I know some people who have them and are very happy with them. I don't know if it is a good starting place or not. I started with and still use the Nortons. They are likely to be my next hone purchase.

That eBay link doesn't work for me, but I presume it's AJ's set of three Welsh slates?

I have the three, though I haven't really used them much yet, but I agree that they are mainly finishing stones (the Dragon's Tongue is more intermediate, with a claimed equivalent grit of around 8k, I think). The purple slate has given me a pretty good finish.

If you're planning to restore razors, you're going to need a bevel setter of around 1k - it will be your most important stone, and very likely something around 3/4k as a next step before you'd be ready to move to something like those slates.

It sounds to me like a 1k stone plus either the Norton 4/8k or Naniwa 3/8k (I have the latter) would be a better bet than the slate set. (And as an aside, the use of lather on the 8k was recommended to me as a way of getting a finer finish from it, and as a relative newbie I've had great success that way).

Naniwa, Norton, or Shapton GS.

1K for bevel setting, 3-4K for pre-polishing, 8K for polishing. Once you master those stones, you can look for a finisher. I personally don't recommend natural stones for learning to hone as each one is different...they synthetics don't vary in "grit". You can follow some excellent tutorials with the synthetics, with naturals you won't know what you have with your limited experience.

Perfect example is that I am on my 6th coticule, none of the others I have had would improve a synthetic 8K edge. Please do yourself a favor and learn the basics of honing from synthetics.

Thanks for all of your advice guys. I really appreciate it.

Im currently searching the web for good deals on the above mentioned hones... so far there appears to be much more availability and better prices from the USA. They appear much dearer here in the UK.

The hones on my ebay link are from a chap named AJ and i think i will still get a set so i have them to hand for the future (for £58 its a good deal IMO) but im definatley going for some of the above mentioned stones (its all down to the price to be honest).

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Originally Posted by shooter74743

I personally don't recommend natural stones for learning to hone as each one is different...they synthetics don't vary in "grit".

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I'm a honing newbie, and I definitely agree with that. Because I'm using Naniwa stones, they're predictable - and when I talk about my honing, people know exactly what I have and are better able to help.

(I'm also saving the slates until I'm happy I have it sorted on the Naniwa stones first - my next purchase is going to be a Naniwa 12k)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tbert33

Im currently searching the web for good deals on the above mentioned hones... so far there appears to be much more availability and better prices from the USA. They appear much dearer here in the UK.

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I got my Naniwa stones from Dieter Schmid in Germany - prices were better than UK sources, and shipping was reasonable and quick.

EdenWebShops has Naniwa stones at reasonable prices (they ship from Germany), but apart from the combination stones they only have them fixed to plastic bases - I didn't want that because I want to be able to use both sides, use the edges for warped blades, and use my own holder for all my stones (and apparently it's pretty much impossible to get them off). I have bought other things from them, and shipping is quick.

Norton stones are very hard to find in the UK, and the only place I found was Classic Hand Tools. I've no idea how quick they are or where they ship from, because I went for the Naniwa.

(No connection with any of these companies - just a customer of the first two).

Alan

Thanks Alan... im checking out the site links right now.

If you want to save time, money and grief, just buy a matched set of synthetic stones.

I'd also reccomend the naniwas. Good stones and a quality edge you can rely on. I have 1 - 10k but must admit I went for an esher as a finisher. I have 2 thuringians and only 1 is decent for finishing. No 2 naturals are the same. Good luck with your honing