Thread: Seems to be so many stones for honing!

Okay, newbie question for doing research. I am in no way ready to buy a stone for honing because I am not there yet by any means. I need to go and watch some pros do it for one and ask questions until they throw me out!

So why so many stone options for honing and being a newb what do you think is best to begin with when I do get to that point?

Just so many and the head is spinning for sure!

Personal preference on how hones feel during honing, also speed, and finally some hype.

When you hone a few blades you probably do not care about speed and then you go for cost effective options such as 1k bevel setter, 4/8k norton , pasted strop.
From there if you feel the need for more, you can add a 12k or more finisher.

If you are honing many razors and need speed, then that may require tweaking the hone line up. Speed is also subjective so changing the hone line up may not be needed, figuring out those things come with practice.

If I were to start honing now, with my current knowledge of hones and what I like, my set up will look like this:

1k Naniwa Chosera (I think they are called professional now) -not the cheapest but works fast and will last you a life time
4/8k Norton -most cost effective for the performance you are getting


Pasted bench strop. Use CrO on leather, or 0.5 micron Diamond spray on hard felt. Those work right after the 8k honing.

Fabric/Leather hanging strop.

(Optional)
12k Super stone/16k Shapton Glass/20k Suehiro Gukomyo - those are optional till you leanr the 8k level and are able to get good edge at that level. Finishers are the hardest to get right, because the edge will feel different depending on the finisher assuming the previous stage of the honing was done right. I personally think the 20k is the best out there so far.

Keeping it simple means that there are more people to help you develop your honing skills!
1K( for sure), Norton 4K-8K or Ice Bear (bigger step here)4K/-6K; and some finer grit finisher if you wish.
Fancy high cost hones are nice, but they tend to get a person skipping around for a perfect bevel/ edge without learning how to get one. There are no short cuts to developing skill!
YMMV....but I do not think so.
~Richard

Norton 4/8. Naniwa 12k. You can bevel set on the 4k. It will take you a while but in the beginning you would do touch ups on the 12 k. Unless you are restoring razors you can get away without the 1k.

Or, get the chosera and finish your kitchen knives with it so it at least has some useful purpose when your razors have months to years of good shaves on them off the 12k.

There are a few ways you could approach it.
Since it is likely that you initial need would be to touch up a razor you have had honed already, a barbers hone to start my not be a bad idea but I am specific in my recommendation. I recommend an 8"Swaty. This is used like a bench stone, not like the more common hand held barbers hones, which wold be more like how you would do a full honing. Learning to touch up on this first might not be a bad way to go at all. Also this could be used as a finisher for you as well which leads into your next purchases.
A 1k for bevel setting and either a 4k/8k or 3k/8k combo. You can set your bevel with the 1k, progress to the 4k then 8k. Your goal should be to get a shavable edge off the 8k. Once achieved you have your 8"swaty that you can use to improve upon that 8k edge and it will work just fine as a finisher. After using these for a bit you can decide if you would like to pick up another finisher and have many options from there. I personally wouldnt get a 12k as it wouldnt improve upon the swaty edge so why bother. Id consider a 16k or 20k synthetic or possibly even one of the many natural finishers if you would like. The cool thing is you start with the swaty touching up edges, then it can serve dual purpose as your finisher as well. You could be great with just that or you can take it further and get another finisher in lieu of the swaty but it still wouldnt be wasted as it could be used as a touch up forever plus IMO it is just damn cool to have a vintage barbers hone.
my 2 cents....

So in a nutshell the consensus seems to be for starters when I get ready is a:

Norton 4k/8k which the 8k finishes off the blade or polishes it then to a plain strop or Cro paste like I do now.
Norton 1k stone for bevel setting if it needs it.

Just touch ups to the blades would require the every so often 4k/8k stone but for the most a leather strop until the blade pulls???

I also saw a video of a guy with a Nagura small stone for setting up the slurry. Do you guys suggest this little stone too????

And to maintain a lapped stone (even stone) use the Norton flattening stone as well???? I saw a video as well of someone using it to make sure the stone remain level/flat for when you hone str8-razors.

Thank you so far for the feedback to date. I am building a memory bank of what will be needed in the future and where I will need to be proficient in maintaining a blade(s).

Also I keep hearing folks talk about putting electrical tape on the spines when doing the honing. I know if you don't and pull the razor back and forth it will eventually grind down the spine but would not the electrical tape create a different angle to the factory set razors edge???? Just asking because I don't know how critical being such a finely sharpened thing like a razor this would effect. I may be overthinking this aspect but hey, unless you ask, you never know from the guys lilke you who have been doing this for a long time.

Totally agree with the barber hone as a finisher. For the last two months I've been finishing on a lakeside type hone (there are lots of them under different names), and have gotten edges just as sharp and maybe smoother than my jnat. And faster. Just 10 laps after the 8k does it, and I get at least 15-20 shaves. Just 4 passes for a touch up. So easy a caveman can do it [emoji4].

In my opinion there are two reasons to use tape. 1. To protect a decorative spine. 2. To produce a shaveable edge on a razor with a geometry or tempor issue, in which case the number of layers are determined by the individual razor.

There are about 1000 threads on that issue. Lynn doesn't use it; Gssixgun Glen) does. Watch their videos and decide.

I use tape because a) it makes it easier for me to feel the edge changes and b)I don't want to grind down the spines of my cherished razors (and I'm new at this honing thing.

Originally Posted by Michael70

Also I keep hearing folks talk about putting electrical tape on the spines when doing the honing. I know if you don't and pull the razor back and forth it will eventually grind down the spine but would not the electrical tape create a different angle to the factory set razors edge???? Just asking because I don't know how critical being such a finely sharpened thing like a razor this would effect. I may be overthinking this aspect but hey, unless you ask, you never know from the guys lilke you who have been doing this for a long time.