Thread: My current collection of hones.

So, 4000/8000 is enough for honing my razor?

Its possible to shave from a 8000 stone but as a beginner i would additionally use a finishing stone (10-12000 or above) either natural or synthethic...

So 2 stones, 4k/8k and 10k/12k is the way to go.

All the experts I have talked to say don't go to a 12k until you feel you have gotten as much as you can from a 4/8k combo. After a year of straight shaving I embarked on learning to hone from bevel to shave ready on a King 1k for bevel setting and the Norton 4/8k combo. After running the same razor three times thru them and a second one time I finally started getting a decent, if not a little harsh shave after the 8k. When I can get a smooth shave from the 8k I'll think of investing in a 12 or 20k for extra smoothness. Close id the name of the game, smooth is an extra in my book.

Really, the only reason to have that many stones is if you are restoring razors and need to bring a dead one back to life. Just starting out with a SR, all you really need is a strop and a touch up stone like a Franz Swaty. This Forum is an Excellent source of information for learning HOW to shave with SR, but a terrible source of information overload on all the detritus that goes with it. Believe it or not, you CAN over hone a razor.

I have around 50 stones or so. I must honestly admit that several of them were totally ill-advised purchases. My advice is to do some deep research on any stone before you plunk down the cash. Disappointment abounds when HAD knocks on your door.

Choose wisely.

Originally Posted by Razorfeld

All the experts I have talked to say don't go to a 12k until you feel you have gotten as much as you can from a 4/8k combo. After a year of straight shaving I embarked on learning to hone from bevel to shave ready on a King 1k for bevel setting and the Norton 4/8k combo. After running the same razor three times thru them and a second one time I finally started getting a decent, if not a little harsh shave after the 8k. When I can get a smooth shave from the 8k I'll think of investing in a 12 or 20k for extra smoothness. Close id the name of the game, smooth is an extra in my book.

Yes there are many opinions around. I understand the sense behind it to really try and learn honing with a 8k stone before starting with other ones....

Otherway around, for a novice its not that easy to get a good edge with a 8k stone, especially as you wrote youll receive a kind of a harsh shave....

So why not using a finishing stone which is easy to use....

If you already have a well honed razor you did shave with at the beginning and then start honing and finish on a 8k and try your first shave youll be very highly disappointed...

And there are a lot of finishing stones around which do not have too high prizes (30-80USD)....

So its not too much money invested and you can try both ways paralell.

If you like to hone, buy them. If all you want is a shave, then get a small simple yet functional setup. Shaving/honing etc for me anyway is a hobby. WHen you think of it, we only need air, shelter, water and food. Everything else is unnecessary. I would advise anyone not to spend what they dont have for hones.

I must say enjoy sharpening every thing and the old course fine combo the old oil stones the fine side is a lot fine then the newer stuff.
So the old stuff is g great for getting a nice shine bevel on the blade. Which has become my go to bevel setters you can
sharpen a lot faster with oil to the point where one doesn't see the blade at every point in time. Then a hard piece
of Arkansas with a lot of cutting power then clear or a finer piece of hard Arkansas before that.
I fell my soft is a waste of time cause my hard sharpens a lot faster it seems.

To reply to doorsch the answer is one word, Challenge. Yes, I can get a 10, 12, 16, 20 or even a 30k stone and 'finish' my edges but I have learned nothing along the way in terms of really understanding what goes into getting to that stage. I'm not struggling to get there, I'm enjoying the fact of learning something new from the ground up. If there was an easy way out for everything we would all be millionaires with a large staff to do it for us.