Thread: Advice on where to buy stones.

I'm looking to buy a starter set and wanting y'all's advise on where to purchase.
Thank you in advance.


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It would be helpful to know what your needs are. Are you looking to acquire natural or synthetic hones? Do you need a whole set from bevel set to finish?

Straight Razor Designs sells several different brands that should cover most of your options. I would look there first.

Greatest apologies. Bevel to finish synthetic.
Cheapest possible.


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Originally Posted by Leatherstockiings

Straight Razor Designs sells several different brands that should cover most of your options. I would look there first.

These guys are my go-to. They're within a few dollars of anywhere else I've looked. I went with Norton hones to save some coin, but that's relative. The biggest reason the single grit stones came in almost a hundred bucks cheaper than other brands is the 3 important hones from the Norton line are 1, 4, and 8K. Naniwa you'll be looking at 1, 3, 5, 8 10-12 or 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 if you're looking at Shapton hones. The extra hone to get you to 8K, and that finishing stone are typically going to cost you some coin.

Of course you can also get a pleasant shave from a Norton 8K, so it's all relative. You don't HAVE to invest in a higher grit hone. But a lot of us get that Hone Acquisition Disease and sometimes wind up with more hones than we have razors...

I'm also growing quite fond of the Shapton Kuromaku series. I have the 1, 2, 5, and 12K stones. But I want to spend more time with them before I consider recommending them. They work, I shaved with a razor honed with that set this morning and it was pleasant. But they're still new to me, so there may be foibles or flaws I just haven't experienced yet.

Awesome thank you Marshal for the in depth response. I will look into which way I should go.


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I started off with the norton set from srd like you I was trying to go cheap as possible.
What I learned for myself was that I would have been better off buying a shave ready razor and learning to maintain it than try to bring old razors back to life right out the gate.
The other thing was shaving off a norton 8 k was not for me I soon bought an appache strata and it was better but still left something to be desired. I then went to a jnat and their awesome. I bought a shobu from tomo nagura off Etsy for 130 2.2 in by 6 in and a Tenno and meirjo nagura from jns for $46 all be it a little more expensive it's not much and I've had way. Better results. Hope it helps for what it's worth

The cheapest set up I came up originally with was a Chosera 1K, Norton 4/8k combo, and a Naniwa 12k but that was a while ago. To me the 4/8 combo was the money saver.

Go with SRD and you'll be in good hands.

Originally Posted by Marshal

Naniwa you'll be looking at 1, 3, 5, 8 10-12 or 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 if you're looking at Shapton hones. The extra hone to get you to 8K, and that finishing stone are typically going to cost you some coin.

For the Naniwa SuperStone or Specialty series, I would recommend 1,2,5,8, and 12.

There are loads of options that work for honing, but none are going to work on the tightest of budgets.

Lapping film is probably the cheapest method. 3M do a range that you simply stick to something flat, like float glass. It comes in a wide selection of micron ratings and it does work. It's probably the best overall budget solution.

For hones you can get 1-6K on a tight budget. King make the icebear 1/6 combination stone. It works, It's reasonably priced. It will still need an 8K+ stone to act as a finisher. The disadvantage is it's smaller than most bench stones about 7x2 inches. There are loads of knife stones in the 1-6K category as well, but the king is about as cheap as I would be willing to go, Any lower price than that and you might be looking at Chinese re-branded stone that are labelled to appear as a finer grit.

Personally I'd get a naniwa 3/8 combination stone and a decent 1K stone naniwa/norton/king/shapton. It's going to cost in the region of $120-$140 for that setup. The 8K will finish to an acceptable standard, And once you have the 8K mastered adding the 12K is pretty painless. The 4/8 Norton is cheaper, but you have to soak them, Both manufacturers make good 1k stones, Norton however do not make a stone finer than 8K. So if you want all the stones to match you have to decide the product line with that in mind.

You don't need a stone holder, or a diamond plate to start with. Some fine wet and dry to flatten a stone is perfectly fine. And a face cloth on a bench will stop the stone moving when in use.

Originally Posted by Utopian

For the Naniwa SuperStone or Specialty series, I would recommend 1,2,5,8, and 12.

This is what I just bought. I already had the 12K and I went with the 1K Chosera and S.S. on the rest. I haven't had much of a chance to use them yet. Hoping to get some time tomorrow. I'm happy with my purchase. The cost wasn't cheep but this was my second purchase in stones. Have the Norton Combo stones fist. Still have them but not sure if they will ever get used again now that I have the Naniwa.
I bought from Sharpening Supplys dot com. Would have bought from SRD but they didn't have everything I wanted on hand. I would rather buy from SRD (our Godfather of this forum) but... Cost would have been the same. Some stone cost more but others were less. So it balanced out in the end in the cost. It came down to what I could get at the moment.

Good luck, And if your new to SR's I recommend as others have said, To learn to shave and strop first. Worry about honing later.