Thread: First setup

Hey guys,

I'm looking to get a basic setup to maintain a nice edge. I've been looking through the honing section for several weeks and I'm ready to pull the trigger. I'm brand new to this so I plan on buying a few gold dollar razors to practice on before attempting to sharpen my Dovo razor. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

-DMT D8C 8 inch Dia-Sharp Continuous Diamond Coarse

-Norton 4000/8000 OR Naniwa 12000


Thanks

Now I only really do refreshing on my blades, I let the professionals do the honing, especially with that all important initial honing to shave ready and the vital bevel set.

If you want to go the whole route, from bevel setting up to finishing, you'd have to start with a bevel setting stone, a 1k or something similar, now Lynn Abrams has a video that shows you how to bevel set with the Norton 4/8 and to the first point of getting a shave ready edge from an 8k stone.

The thinking is, you should be able to get a shave ready edge off an 8k before going any higher up the finishing ladder, for instance to a Nani 12k.

Personally, while I have the Norton 4/8k, it seems the farthest I've made it is to refresh a few of my blades using the Nani 12k, then some laps on my Escher, then crox, then leather.

IMO, and what works for me, I prefer to get my razors professionally honed, and then with proper care of the blade, refreshing with a Nani 12k or something similar will literally provide years of use before a total bevel set is required, but if you're new to this, we tend to bang up our edge a little more in the beginning.

The pro's will chime in soon, hope this helps....

If you want a minimalist setup for maintaining your blade, check Modines research on barbers hones at razor and stone and get a good one. They are way way cheaper than anything else and will do an excellent job on maintenance. You can keep an edge going for an in determinant time.

Thanks for the feedback.

If the edge is not damaged, why would the bevel need to be set?

If all you have done is shave and the edge is dulled from that and not damaged there is no need to bevel set. If you have no desire to do multiple restores there is little or no economical sense to getting a full honing set. Most people learn the full hone for the challenge I would expect. Or because their RAD had them with so many razors sending them all out for honing would have been a crazy cost. A pro honed edge can be maintained forever, unless it gets damaged from dropping or rolling the edge etc ect

Originally Posted by RezDog

If all you have done is shave and the edge is dulled from that and not damaged there is no need to bevel set. If you have no desire to do multiple restores there is little or no economical sense to getting a full honing set. Most people learn the full hone for the challenge I would expect. Or because their RAD had them with so many razors sending them all out for honing would have been a crazy cost. A pro honed edge can be maintained forever, unless it gets damaged from dropping or rolling the edge etc ect

Ok, that clears it up. At this point I'm just trying to learn the basics and refresh the blade every few months. I'll start reading about the barber hones that you mentioned in the previous post.

What RezDog said... but, with that said, I took a stonier route. I started with the Naniwa 12K and have to say, I would do it again.

Barber hones will require some research. Enjoyable research, really. There are so many and the variations... Let's just say, I'd been stuck on BHs and haven't gotten anywhere else since,,,, well, except researching Bonsai and veggie gardening. Thanks alot SRP

I think you are on the right track. To refresh good edges, a 12k Naniwa is excellent and is easier to get info on use on than the plethora of barber hones out there. A 4/8 Norton will become an old standby as you learn to do more. All you will actually need from there is a 1k stone as you learn to restore edges and set bevels. The DMT is indispensable for maintaining all of these hones.
Soak the Norton, don't soak the Naniwa, take a screwdriver shaft to the surface of the DMT as you get it to knock off loose, big diamonds. You will be set. JMO

I to am on this journey. I have recently acquired a 3 line swaty, a naniwa 12k, a c12k (cnat), and a DMT 325. Frankly I have plenty of finishers now. I also bought 3 gold dollars to practice on. So I see a bevel setter in my near future also. So yea I overdid it on the finishers but hopefully that's where I can learn to tell the difference and what my face likes. Its been a fun journey to this point.
I've only SR shaved about ten times and my improvements have been vast thanks to this site !

If you want to get the finishing under control you will only ned the 12k, i jumped in and bought a full set of nainiwa/ choseras and have barely used them in the 4 or 5 months i have owned them, with the exception of the finishers 10 and 12k, i have one at work and one at home, if i didnt work away i would just sell the 10k. The basics of any honing are the same so if you get a feel for your finisher and feel like you want to do more that would be when i would suggest buying more/ coarser stones.