Thread: Naniwa Economical Hones??

Only going to mention it once , so have an open mind , if money is tight it's a lot cheaper to just send them out to a real pro and get a great edge every time. Since I really learned to strop , my blades don't need to see a stone . So what stones I have really don't get used enough to justify the cost , the only one that sees anytime is the finisher and that's only 4-5 laps every 12-14 shaves , mostly it's the strop. Now if your restoring and selling and moving lots of razors it's a different game , but most don't we only shave with them, just a thought. Tc

I personally would avoid the Norton hones, as mentioned above the quality has really slipped as of late. I bought and returned two for grittiness before buying a set of Naniwa hones, which I really like. I have several of the superstones in high grits but do have the economy in lower grits (I think 400?) and they work well but seem to wear quicker.

Originally Posted by tcrideshd

Only going to mention it once , so have an open mind , if money is tight it's a lot cheaper to just send them out to a real pro and get a great edge every time. Since I really learned to strop , my blades don't need to see a stone . So what stones I have really don't get used enough to justify the cost , the only one that sees anytime is the finisher and that's only 4-5 laps every 12-14 shaves , mostly it's the strop. Now if your restoring and selling and moving lots of razors it's a different game , but most don't we only shave with them, just a thought. Tc

Any high quality razors will likely get sent to Gssixgun. I want to eventually do all of my own work on my razors and since I have a few razors that need a massive amount of work I decided that this winter when I was stuck hiding from the snow I would learn to hone and refurbish some of the cheap <$10 razors I see on eBay all the. I got a Wostenholm and a Wade and Butcher both in decent shape with bad scales but they were in lots with crummy chipped blades. For the fun of it I'm going to rebuild them all as a learning experience. I might have some 3/8 and 4/8 razors but that's ok.

Regarding the naniwa 1/3 combi stone, I had this hone before I started straight shaving for kitchen knives. When I first started with straights I got them honed professionally and just touched them up when they needed it with the naniwa 10k. After a while I brought razors that needed a bevel reset and used the combi stone to great effect. They are quite soft and can load up quite quickly but does what it needs to. Ive now got the chosera 1k but in all honesty the amount of bevel setting I do I could have stayed with the combi stone.

Originally Posted by Ernie1980

I personally would avoid the Norton hones, as mentioned above the quality has really slipped as of late. I bought and returned two for grittiness before buying a set of Naniwa hones, which I really like. I have several of the superstones in high grits but do have the economy in lower grits (I think 400?) and they work well but seem to wear quicker.

That's good news that the economy stones work well in a lower grit. It makes me hopeful for the combo stone.

Originally Posted by Ernie1980

I personally would avoid the Norton hones, as mentioned above the quality has really slipped as of late. I bought and returned two for grittiness before buying a set of Naniwa hones, which I really like. I have several of the superstones in high grits but do have the economy in lower grits (I think 400?) and they work well but seem to wear quicker.

I wonder what Lynn would have to say about this?

Originally Posted by markbignosekelly

Regarding the naniwa 1/3 combi stone, I had this hone before I started straight shaving for kitchen knives. When I first started with straights I got them honed professionally and just touched them up when they needed it with the naniwa 10k. After a while I brought razors that needed a bevel reset and used the combi stone to great effect. They are quite soft and can load up quite quickly but does what it needs to. Ive now got the chosera 1k but in all honesty the amount of bevel setting I do I could have stayed with the combi stone.

Great news for me. I think this will stay on my list now.

If you want a good, relatively inexpensive 1k/3k, I would recommend the Suehiro trad. synth combo. Beyond this, if you want to be a spendthrift, you could pick up an Inigo Jones piece of Welsh slate and call it a day. These will get you there. The rest is just lapping and stropping. Oh, and shaving... ;-)

I've seen that my reduced cost list is only $40 less then getting what was recommended to me by Gssixgun so I'll just stick to his recommendation and maybe later get the economical stones to play with on kitchen knives and shop tools. Thank you all for the replys.

Way I understand it , the economical series are just not the same thickness , which won't mean a thing to the man honing his own , and even those honing a bunch of them won't wear it out that fast , tc