Thread: with a can do atitude

My suggestion is Norton, King, Naniwa, or Shapton hones. For Norton you'd want the combination 4k/8k stone and either their 1K or another 1K hone. Naniwa and Shapton I'd look at 1, 2, 5 and 12K. A lot of people do 1,3,8,12 with Naniwa. Same ending point, just a different journey. And King would be 1, 6, and 8k stones because I'm not sure they've got much between 1K and 6k. These are all good hones, and while pricey will last most users a lifetime (or close to) if cared for. It would be better to set yourself up for success with tried and tested good quality hones, imo.

Anything else is either a gamble, or proven to be not very good for our purposes honing razors. I've not seen anyone using the set in that photo, so there's a possibility they could do OK. But there's also the possibility that you'll get them and find out they're not so great.

Aidee not a big brand but its in my price range and its available in South africa these stones are scarce and expensive the range I have are on Aliexpress

I was thinking of buying one of these for refreshing

with this specs

I would be very pleasantly surprised if a hone that sets you back less than 5 USD would be good enough to get a shaveable edge on a razor.
You may understand the Dutch saying: goedkoop is duurkoop, buy cheap buy twice.

With the set first mentioned in the male whats the seqeunce of grit I should ad first

Sequence is as mentioned before, the state of the bevel/cutting edge dictates what grit to start with.

Well, we know it's a Gold Dollar so it isn't going to be shaving sharp. 1K is going to be the starting point, unless you're willing to send it out to be honed first. If you do that, then you could purchase a good 8K, 10K, or 12K hone for refreshing and possibly be good indefinitely. Or work your way down grits as needed.

That little red and white (or green) hone has 2 small problems. First being that it's about half the length you'd want, the second being that the white/green natural material is literally the same material as the 2 white and green sticks you have on the way. I think the red may be the same as the 3K stick you've got inbound too. I've seen a few people insist on trying them out, but I've yet to hear any report back at all on them. I imagine if they got it to work they would've at least stopped by for an 'I told you so!' type post, so my guess is it didn't go their way.

Believe me, none of us liked paying $60 to $90 (or more) per hone, plus shipping. And we all love cheap rocks that work well. I'm not sure what the landscape is in Africa, but if they have what we call antique stores, and people sell old things at yard sales etc. maybe you can go through a few of them and see if they don't have an old coticule or similar hone up for sale on the cheap. A lot of folks here have had good luck getting some nice hones that way. Just need to research so you know what you're looking at and think outside the box a little bit. Most of the time we're on the look out for Coticules, Thuringians/Eschers, and Arkansas/Washita stones. Slates from the UK can also be good if you find the right one.

Just because a hone says it 6k,8k, 12k doesn't mean it will work on razors, grit rating is one part of it but also the binder has an effect not to mention the cheap not for razor hones may have 12k grit in there but no quality control to keep out the 5k grit, every body is trying nicely to tell you to get known razor hones, right now you have no clue how to hone a razor and your wanting to start with what is obviously sub par equipment. Buy a Norton 4/8 k and be den with it, from that stone you can (once you learn how to shave and strop) to hone,, it will do all that is needed for now, and if you can't shave from an 8k then your honing isn't good. But all your doing by buying this stuff is adding more cost cause you will need to buy twice. This place offers great advise, but if you don't head it your going to fight an uphill battle. I understand wanting to do it on the cheap, so stick with a DE razor and cheap blades. Tc

We have three antiqeu stores in ermelo but I'll have to verify they can charge a big fee for antiqeus in small towns.But I think I've lost round one ,next time I'll start with the hones but I will need to import for there arent that high grit online in South Africa.Maggard are a specialty and exports internationally .I picked up a thread on honing with sandpaper a gold dollar will be a good guinea pig