Need some help with wetstone selection

[Gotea]

Hi Guys,
I need some new wetstones, the ones I have just aren't fine enough. Just pricing some Shapton stones on Amazon, yikes $380 total for 1000, 4000, 8000, 16,000 with the steelex stone holder. I do have some honing experience, and watched Lynns videos on razor sharpening. The finest stone I have is an Arkansas hard stone. The thumb pad test is good to go, arm hair mid shaft good to go, but razor to cheek... nope. WTG right cheek, nope. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out I was courting disaster. I stropped the heck out of my razor off the stone, but I do need better stones. $380, sigh... ouch, either I'm getting gouged by my razor or gouged by the price of decent wetstones. What are my alternatives? Reviews I've read on the Nortons are mixed in they're not flat out of the box, need laping? Do I need to go up to 16,000? Would a 4,000/8,000 Norton be enough? I've read some good reviews on the Kings... $130 for the 16,000 Shapton, ouch! Help

[feltspanky]

I only have experience using the Shaptons. Did you check ebay "shapton japan". A lot of the Shapton stones on ebay come from Japan instead of through the USA Shapton distribution network. With your location in Hawaii the shipping may be less.

[Proinsias]

I would assume any new stone needs lapping, just some more than others. Either way you're probably going to want to factor in a lapping method, a DMT D8C 325 is a nice lapping tool but you can keep things flat with a piece of glass/tile & some wet/dry abrasive paper.

I picked up a few Shapton Pro's from Tools from Japan a couple weeks back and found them to be pretty good value. I have the 1.5K for bevel setting and the 5K to transition to my coticule. Looks like something like 1.5k>5K>8K>12K could still shave $100 or so off the line up you mentioned above.

For bevel setting on the cheap a King 1K might be worth a look.

I've not used the Norton combo but if your stones top out at 8K or so chromium oxide or some of the other pastes/potions are a cheap and easy way to give a little extra refinement.

[guitstik]

You should be able to get a good shave ready razor off of what you currently own I would be looking at your honing technique. Are you laying the razor flat on the stones using the spine as your guide to keeping a good angle on the edge? Are you lifting the spine anywhere along the stroke? Another area I would be looking at is your stropping technique, you could easily be rolling the edge or damaging it in some other way. How long have you been SR shaving? Have you shaved with a properly honed razor from a honemeister? Lots of questions and not enough answers. I would suggest trying to find a Mentor in Hawaii and learning to strop, lather and shave and only move on to honing when you have mastered those areas. I know this is not what you want to hear but going off of what you have told us and the fact that the Arkansas stones should be giving you a good shave from a practiced hand then that is my advice.

[Steel]

I got rid of my synthetics and went with a "one stone hone". It takes a little effort to learn the stone but for $35 -$100 and the fun and rewarding experience I am glad I went this route. You could get a Guangxi (c12k) or a coticule along with a bevel setter (1k) and along with what you already have would be all you would need.

[DaveW]

What brand of hard do you have? Or what type?

Is it translucent or black? If not, it may be a newer grade hard (which is really not up to par with vintage stones or some of the newer stone cutters and mines, like dans or halls). Even a cheap hard, however, can be made to work with a razor, especially if you have a decent linen, but you may not want to invest the time to figure it out.

You need only one additional stone if you have a stone that isn't fine enough, not a whole set. And maybe only a paste or powder.

[Gotea]

Thanks for the lead on the ebay shaptons. I'm seeing the finest is the 12,000 besides the 30,000 which is $500. Do you guys think the 12,000 would be fine enough?

[Razorfeld]

It must be since a huge number of SRP members use one for finishing/smoothing their edges.

[Gotea]

Thank you all for the advise. they didn't quite have the grits I was looking for. I settled on the Shapton 1,000, 5,000, 8,000, 12,000. This was the cheaper way to go. I am from Oregon Razorfeld, thank you!

[Bram]

you could upload a few picktures of the hones you don't know and maybe someone here can tell you there is like a gazillion hone identification threats on here