Thread: A good 12k Hone

Hi there gentlemen

After a few weeks of thinking about it i have decided to try and hone my own straight. So i will be buying a Norton 4/8k water stone combo for me learn with on my muhle. If that is successful i would like a finishing hone, maybe a 12k grit but can anyone suggest a decent brand/make?

Naniwa superstone. I love mine.

I use a lynn mellilynn and a dragons toungefor final finish of a coti. use 100 licks on the fabric strop and 150 to 200 on leather and it tone down for a fine shave

Start with your Norton stones, and when you feel comfortable with them, get a finer one. The technique is much more important than the grit numbers.
And, if you need something finer, use some 0.5 micron CrOx paste on the back of your strop. You can't beat the feeling of good Chromium oxide, and, it's easy to use.
And, as you learn how to hone, you can then get your Naniwa 12ks, Chinese stones, Thuringians, Coticules, Japanese naturals etc.

I have to agree. A big mistake folks make is they start out and are just beginning to figure things out and they go rock crazy and buy a slew of hones. You need to work with one and be able to extract every bit of performance out of it including working with difficult razors and different techniques and then and only then you move on to the 12K and do the same with that.

You know the old saying about being a jack of all trades and a master of none. Well, you can be a jack of all hones and a master of none.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

I have to agree. A big mistake folks make is they start out and are just beginning to figure things out and they go rock crazy and buy a slew of hones. You need to work with one and be able to extract every bit of performance out of it including working with difficult razors and different techniques and then and only then you move on to the 12K and do the same with that.

You know the old saying about being a jack of all trades and a master of none. Well, you can be a jack of all hones and a master of none.

This is exactly what I did when I got started, and it impeded my progress rather than fast tracking it. If I had it to do over, and knew what I know now, I'd have stuck with the Norton starter set until I was proficient with that before going hog wild. Whether I would have went hog wild anyway ....... we'll never know.

It didn't hurt me one bit to use a 4/8 Norton for a year before getting anything else. If you can get nice shaves off the 4/8 then your ready to feel the difference when you add other finishers into the mix.

All good advice. Buy a few cheap razors and go at it!

I think a lot of people put a lot of money down on hones and then try to learn how to hone on crappy razors. There are some very nice razors that go for $30-50. When you are looking for something to learn on it should be a good blade with no geometry issues. Save the junk razors for a challenge sometime after you get your honing routine worked out. I too think that the Norton set was a good place to start.

The Naniwa 12k is a great consistent quality hone. That said learn the 8k first. Polishing poor work on lower grits will still mean a poor edge.