Thread: Newbie with questions about buying hones.

I guess I should give a little history first.
I've been wet shaving for about a year and a half. For the last 7-8 months I've been shaving with straight razors. (My wife says we can afford all the money I'm saving since I started wet shaving: sarcasm)
I've been touching up my blades with lapping film. I've never used stones. I just bought a used Shapton stone I belive to be 12k probably from the M5 series. I know grit rating doesn't mean anything from one manufacturer to the next.
My question is should I just add a norton 1k/4k or 4k/8k. Do I really need an 8k Do I need an 8k?

Or just be patient save to buy a shapton 1k and 5k.

Do you intend to do more than touching up blades? That is, do you intend to hone dull blades? If so, then how many would you intend to do?

If you only want to do touch ups, then you don't need anything more. If you only intend to hone a few dull blades, then you can do that with a more coarse lapping film. You really would only need the lower grit hones if you intend to do more.

You'll get a lot of different answers here. So Here's mine. I started out with razors honed by a pro. one of the best. but after acquiring so many razors I decided to start honing my self. So I watched all the honing videos I could and the one that really caught my attention was the one by Lynn Abram with the Naniwa stones. I started with the 3/8K naniwa and from there I added the 1K for a bevel set and the 12K for a finisher. Let me back up and say I did buy the 4/8 Norton. I really didn't like it and I really can't give a good reason why I just didn't like it. Now the Naniwa stones were different for me. They were a lot easier to us and I got a shaving edge quicker especially after watching Lynn on his videos. I since added a 5K I use between the 3 and the 8K and the progression is working. I also added the Seuhiro 20K for a better finisher. A little pricy but it's my hobby. What ever stones you decide on you will need a lapping system. a lot of folks use wet dry sand paper on a flat surface like granite counter tops or the like. Good luck and I hope this might help in some way. I really should also say that if all you want to do is touch then the 12K should do it or if you can find a barber hone like the swaty then you set. but if you want to really start from the bevel seting then what I suggested will do great or at least it did for me.

Yeap you need a 8 K and especialy the 8 K - it is the founding stone of the rasor honing . If you are not a pro dont buy a 5 k stone - 1 K bevell seting , 8 K refinement of the edge and 12 k finishing .
Onthe other hand i advise you to buy an very each hone you can aford to get , and to use it . Thats how you will see what will work for you , and sell the other hones . Or just buy a coticule with a BBW combi stone - 1K - BBW - Coti - 12 K . I think that this progresion, will work in most cases .

Originally Posted by rhensley

You'll get a lot of different answers here. So Here's mine. I started out with razors honed by a pro. one of the best. but after acquiring so many razors I decided to start honing my self. So I watched all the honing videos I could and the one that really caught my attention was the one by Lynn Abram with the Naniwa stones. I started with the 3/8K naniwa and from there I added the 1K for a bevel set and the 12K for a finisher. Let me back up and say I did buy the 4/8 Norton. I really didn't like it and I really can't give a good reason why I just didn't like it. Now the Naniwa stones were different for me. They were a lot easier to us and I got a shaving edge quicker especially after watching Lynn on his videos. I since added a 5K I use between the 3 and the 8K and the progression is working. I also added the Seuhiro 20K for a better finisher. A little pricy but it's my hobby. What ever stones you decide on you will need a lapping system. a lot of folks use wet dry sand paper on a flat surface like granite counter tops or the like. Good luck and I hope this might help in some way. I really should also say that if all you want to do is touch then the 12K should do it or if you can find a barber hone like the swaty then you set. but if you want to really start from the bevel seting then what I suggested will do great or at least it did for me.

I have a 1 inch thick glass table and 220 wet/dry I lapped this 12k on last night.
Do you know how nortons shapton and or naniwas grit ratings campare ?

Originally Posted by Utopian

Do you intend to do more than touching up blades? That is, do you intend to hone dull blades? If so, then how many would you intend to do?

If you only want to do touch ups, then you don't need anything more. If you only intend to hone a few dull blades, then you can do that with a more coarse lapping film. You really would only need the lower grit hones if you intend to do more.

I buy an eBay bread knife every one to three months.

There are many videos out there and there all very informative. Don't just jump into honing with out schooling yourself here and on the web. I would really pay attention the pros they've been at It for a long time and I'm not a pro but I learn from them and the good folks here.

Originally Posted by rhensley

There are many videos out there and there all very informative. I would really pay attention the pros they've been at It for a long time and I'm not a pro but I learn from them and the good folks here.

Thanks I have had the good fortune of receiving a few hours of instruction from Ken of RupRazors. He is a great guy and a wonderful teacher (actually a retired high school band teacher) and just great human being.
After I get my stones I'm sure I'll go back to Ken for more of his attention to details instructions.

If Ken is mentoring you… do what Ken says.

Really a 12K Super Stone and a 4/8k Norton is all you need.

You can easily set a bevel on a 4k and finish on the 8 or the 12K.

A 1k, any 1k will just speed up the bevel set, but really not by that much.

And you don’t have to breadknife every edge, there are breadknife edges and there are breadknife edges. Honing and Repairs, Lots of good video on doing it right.

The grits from Norton and Shapton are not different enough to worry about, but you really should find out for sure, what the grit of your stone is.

Does anybody know for sure if this is a 12k Shapton?

I couldn't upload both photos the face of the stone