Thread: Old School or New School?

Thanks Scott,
Your suggestion sounds like pure wisdom.

I was thinking about my starter set of hones today at work and realized that I don't have to go one way or the other. I can pick up a Naniwa SS 3k, 5k, 8k, DMT325, strop and start from there.
I can work on making the most of these stones then expand both directions later.
As Scott said "Learn to shave, learn to touch up, learn to hone"
My first challenge will be stroping then touch up. Should I pick up a barbers hone? Will it help in developing skill set or don't bother and just use the 8k.
I have to admit that I am fascinated by them, they just seem cool.

Originally Posted by RazorJunky

My first challenge will be stroping then touch up. Should I pick up a barbers hone? Will it help in developing skill set or don't bother and just use the 8k.
I have to admit that I am fascinated by them, they just seem cool.

Stropping is paramount in obtaining a good shave. I strop a minimum of 40x after a shave and 60 before a shave.

Swaty's are great barber hones & you can get one for a good price. A Naniwa 12K works well too for touching up, I personally use a Shapton GS 16 (my face can't tell the difference between 12K or 16K) regularly. Either will work just fine. I just like the Shapton's over the Naniwa's or Nortons.

I have to admit, anythign to do with straight shaving is cool, but the guy who knows how to use all the "stuff" is even cooler!

Years back I had Norton combo or what you call "Old School". Then I got rid of it got many naturals (that HAD is a ...) and Chocera 1000 and few SS as they were in. After long time I was not honing at all (call it laziness or temporary indisposition- HAD) realised that my skills were gone. What a horror. Tried on my new stones and it was uphill struggle. Decided to return back to simple basics and bought Norton 4/8000 again. I did not bother with 1000 as the Chocera is still weapon of choice of much better people than me. Sinifficant improvement was straight away in and I just continue raising. Not sure what will happen now after my Christmas shopping but I am going to continue on my rather embarrassing relearning.

In researching different hones I found a few different posts about the Naniwa "Snow White" and am intrigued by it because from what I have read the Super Stones feel softish and the Choseras feel hard and the Snow White is somewhere in-between, plus it polishes well.
I'm hoping that it will allow me to work on my light finishing strokes.
After reading up on it I went to Naniwa's website and found that the category that they classify it in is "Finishers". The only other stone in this category was a 4k, so I'm planning on buying one of each then get to work on a couple junkers I bought.
Ive been watching Glen's videos on using a Norton and will be applying the same technique.

I was also going to pick up a jewler's loop and then thought about a USB microscope ( I've seen that some guys here are using them). I can get one for between 30 and 60 dollars.
I know getting the bevel perfectly polished is not necessary, the edge is what cuts the hair, and the true test is on my face but i figure it will help in the learning process and eventually won't be needed.

Thank you guys for your advice so far. All wisdom is appreciated

My friend that got me into straight razor shaving has a norton 4/8 but it needed to be laped. I ordered a naniwa 2k green brick, naniwa 8k snow white and a Atoma 600.
My order arrived today so I got to work. I ran the Atoma on the corner of a piece of steel I had in the garage, cleaned it then laped all the stones.
I pulled out a 11/16" Boker King Cutter that is in good shape but not shave ready by any means. The bevels seemed ok but i wanted to start from the top. I did 20 cir on slr / 20 X on slr / 20 light strokes on 2K brick, nort 4k, nort 8k, snow wht 8k then 80 laps on the strop. It feels good so far. I don't have enough experience to know how good it is. It has been able to pop hairs through each step and feels sharper than my friends "shave ready" Dovo.
I also don't have a feel for hones but I will say I really enjoyed using the Snow White. It just felt so smooth. I almost felt like doing more laps on it but didn't want to "over hone".
I also ordered a USB microscope. It hasn't arrived yet. I'm planing on using it to help in knowing when an edge is ready to move from one hone to the next.
Planning on shaving with it in the morning. Fingers crossed on my first hone job.

What works for me is a Norton Combo set of 220/1K, 4k/8k, lapping stone.
Vintage Swaty Barbers hone,
Edlis Barbers hone.
Leather and Vinyl strop.
800/1200 DMT for raising a slurry on my Norton.
My honing skills have grown fast the last couple of months. I was always able to get a DFS off my stones, but recently have taken it even further.

Back to back barbers hones? The Edlis is a finer hone I'm assuming. I did a little bit of reading up on them. It sounded like they were all in the 8-10k range. I'm sure barbers hones are a world unto themselves. So much to learn...Do you use water or lather?

Water on the Edlis.
Check this post:http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...it-answer.html

they didn't let me in school, so i developed the habit from the wrong side-buying razors then learning to hone and shave at the same time. Tonight I pasted as strop for the first time. HOLY SMOKES, can't wait for the stubble to reappear!

I started with a coticule, then got the Norton setup, 30/60x MAGnification, and started getting good shaves off the 8k. Then learned how to USE coticule (Glen and Lynn "one stone honing" vids) hint: pressure and slurry variations. Picked up a barber hone (not tried it yet). Ordered a Zulu. And my Green Goo came today. The plan now is to set bevels on the Nortons/DMT as necessary, 4/8, and then Coticule and/or Zulu (this will likely vary depending on the feel of the blade, the humidity, the moon phase, and time since last nap).

THEN a few laps on the GG, and several laps on linen, leather. Test.

but that's just me, I'm still developing at a rapid rate. I started feeling differences on the leather tonight. nudgewink

It sounds like your a few steps ahead of me Wade.

So it's been a honefest at my house for the last few days. Luckily I have no shortage of razors to practice on.
The USB microscope arived. I had grandiose plans of documenting images of images from each razor after each stone... Well that plan went out the window.
Once I started honing, I was having to much fun to stop and go create files and mess with the microscope focus and lighting to get consistent snapshots.
The microscope is EXTREMELY helpful for me along the way and in time won't be needed at all once I get a feel for each step of honing. It's a great tool but a little bit of a PITA to set up and focus.
I'm going to order a jewler's loupe. Do you guys have any recommendations on what power I should get?

Back to what really matters... The hones... My friend that had the norton 4/8 also stopped by and surprised me. After talking with me about honing a couple weeks ago he got the bug as well. He bought a shave ready Heljestrand and a Naniwa SS 12k. He was raving about the Heljy how it's the smoothest shaving razor he has ever used. So now I have a properly honed razor to inspect and use. I shot a few micro pics of it for comparison then I shaved with it. It is VERY impressive!
The honing progression I've been using is...
2k Green Brick / 4k Norton / 8k Norton / 8k Snow White / 12k SS / Crox on bolsa / vintage cross hatched Russian strop / Horse hide strop.
I have been very careful to make sure I get the most out of each stone before I move onto the next.
So far I've successfully honed 13/16 Heljy square, 6/8 Boker square, 11/16 Henkel round, 9/16 Bergfeld round, 6/8 Canton square, 13/16 CH. SUY Louvain slight smile with round point. I did this one last because of the curve. I watched Glen's video a few times then started working on it, then back to the video, then back to the rock, video, rock, and now I'm pretty happy with it.
Now my problem is that I'm getting the cart before the horse. I've gotta put my effort into shaving. It's the first time since I was a kid that I want my face to grow faster.
I'm thinking of trying "miracle grow" as aftershave.

In all of my excitement of successfully honing. I got a slight case of HAD to go with my RAD.
I noticed that the Zulus are 35% off with a free slurry stone so I pulled the trigger.
I'm feeling a little guilty about it... Luckily the excitement cures that.