Thread: Beginner Hone Setup

Originally Posted by dazpope

So.....I just bought this as my razor wasn't taking anything off! After a few laps and a strop it seems ok but I feel some parts are sharper than others, thoughts? https://www.shavershop.com.au/wahl/h...rs-cut-throats

I hope the AU dollar is a lot weaker than USD, 'cause that looks like a pricey strop. In any case, it seems similar or identical to a certain stone/strop paddle coming out of Solingen. The latter appears to have a fairly unifiorm MST "Thuringian" stone on one side and cowhide on the other. The stone side is intended for routine touch-ups or edge maintenance rather than creating or restoring an edge. Keep working with your paddle stone to see if that helps; but if further work is needed, a King 1k/6k combo as mentioned above followed by the stone on your paddle should get you there.

Do i use the paddle stone with the blade like stropping or against like honing/restoring? ...and does it need to be wet?
Thanks for advice so far.

Originally Posted by dazpope

Do i use the paddle stone with the blade like stropping or against like honing/restoring? ...and does it need to be wet?
Thanks for advice so far.

It's a hone, I image it ought to be used like one. Edge leading strokes, opposite of what you would do for stropping is my recommendation. It should probably be wetted, but water is likely not a good choice. Might seep into the leather and worst case start to mold it or peel it up off the paddle as it wrinkles. Maybe a nice leather friendly oil like Ballistol? That's probably the route I would go with it. In either case I would do everything in my power to keep whatever I used for honing off the strop, even with Ballistol you can have too much of a good thing.

Might be worthwhile to tape the strop off before doing any touchups with the stone on the back, once you've got the hang of it you'll be using the strop far more than the stone anyway. Maybe every 20 shaves or so with good stropping.

Originally Posted by dazpope

Do i use the paddle stone with the blade like stropping or against like honing/restoring? ...and does it need to be wet?
Thanks for advice so far.

Originally Posted by Marshal

It's a hone, I image it ought to be used like one. Edge leading strokes, opposite of what you would do for stropping is my recommendation. It should probably be wetted, but water is likely not a good choice. Might seep into the leather and worst case start to mold it or peel it up off the paddle as it wrinkles. Maybe a nice leather friendly oil like Ballistol? That's probably the route I would go with it. In either case I would do everything in my power to keep whatever I used for honing off the strop, even with Ballistol you can have too much of a good thing.

Might be worthwhile to tape the strop off before doing any touchups with the stone on the back, once you've got the hang of it you'll be using the strop far more than the stone anyway. Maybe every 20 shaves or so with good stropping.

I have to say that the style of paddle in question has left me puzzled as to use. I discussed it with a dealer of an almost identical Boeker stone/leather paddle version a few years back, and he and I both concluded that using the stone with water would eventually be to the leather's detriment. From this, I'm inclined to think it should be used dry. Perhaps lap it to around 600x to smooth the surface and then treat it like a barber's hone. Just a handful of touch-up laps for starters, perhaps even spine-leading in the interests of caution. It follows the format of the pasted Solingen paddles, which are all used spine-leading. Less is probably more.

Thanks for the reply. Ive given it a go already using water and like you said it stained the leather so i stopped. Ill give it a go dry or maybe even lightly oil it with ballistol as mentioned previous.

Late in the conversation, but were you honing the blade wet then going straight to the strop? I always wipe the blade off to dry it and remove any possible sediment from the stone on the blade before stropping.
Except for actual leather conditioner I wouldn't want anything else getting in the strop.

Never too late for advice! So, in short I dropped it a while back and took a small chip (tiny) on the blade. Used a 1k/3k stone, dried the blade then stropped on paste then leather. I also have the aforementioned paddle leather slate strop, Im told the slate is equivalent to 30k. Just wondering the best way to use it really.