I bought a Chinese hone stone and I wonder how often should I use it?
Should I have bought "professional" hone stones on Amazon and played with an old cheaper razor to figure out the hone / strop combo?
Any advice?
Thanks
J
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I bought a Chinese hone stone and I wonder how often should I use it?
Should I have bought "professional" hone stones on Amazon and played with an old cheaper razor to figure out the hone / strop combo?
Any advice?
Thanks
J
Dive into the library here, and read the dickens out of it. I can tell by your questions, that you need to learn a lot more before spending more on honing gear.
After learning to shave with a straight (by learning to shave, I mean completing about 100 shaves), you will know when a razor needs to hit the stones. It simply won't perform the way it used to.
When the razor is pulling at whiskers and not slicing thru them is time for a touch up on the correct stone. A chinees stone? That dont tell us anything about the stone. It could be junk, it could be too low of a grit, it could be a stone made for tools and not razors.
Honing is something that takes a lot of time to learn and is best done with a cheap razor that you didnt buy to shave with as you will damage it learning to hone. The best thing to learn when starting out is to get a finishing stone like a 12k and do 5 to 8 laps and see if it helped the edge.
Ive been honing for a year now. Sometimes it goes good, other times i just dont get it right. Ive got a full set of profesional hones. Having quality hones are one thing. Learning to use them the right way is another story. You need to read up on honing. If your going to restore razors then buy a good set and learn the full process. If your just wanting to keep your razor going then one finish stone is all that is needed.
Starting with a razor that has been pro honed by hand is the best way about it. Then when it needs touched up, it can be done in 10 to 15 seconds and your done. Some folks dont own hones as after you have learned to shave well and strop well you can go 5 to 6 months before a razors needs honed. Then send it out and get a pro honning done and your good for another 6 months. The cost is less than the stone.
Read and learn about honing. Read about others learning to hone. Its takes time and a lot of efort to learn to do it and every razor is different on the stone so then you learn each razors needs on the stones.
I hope this is helping you some but the main thing that is repeated here is read and learn before spending the money on rocks!
What Jerry said, very sound advice Sir !!!!
Dear newbie, we’re glad you’re taking up straight razor shaving. You can get a adequate shave from modern cartridge razors. No? You want to take up the straight as a hobby? Don’t buy another thing until you’ve spent a month watching YouTube videos and then reading the library here. I could teach you to swim by just throwing you in. You may very well drown. They don’t call them cut throat razors for nothing.
I have two Chinese Guangxi hones. One of them polishes the edge similar to my Naniwa 12K. The second one of them leaves a scratch pattern more similar to an 8K Naniwa. I find the Naniwa 12K to produce a rather harsh edge, so I prefer the better Guangxi to the Naniwa for finishing. I would never try finishing on the other Guangxi, but it is a great prefinisher. I have since purchased other finishing hones that I prefer to the Guangxi hones.
Whenever my edges tug even a little bit, I first try to improve the edge by stropping, using pasted strops and clean fabric and leather. If that does not restore the edge, I then do about ten laps on my favorite finishing hone and then strop the edge. If that still does not get the edge where it needs to be, I go back to the hones, perhaps starting with a prefinisher.
My coarse, white beard is very hard on steel edges. It is unusual for me to get more than 4-5 shaves off an edge before it needs to be refreshed. Thus, I keep my finishing hone on the sink counter where I can grab it any time I need to improve the edge.
If you are young and have a fine beard, your edges will last a lot longer. Some people can go for weeks or even months between honings using nothing more than clean fabric and leather strops. For me, that ship sailed decades ago.
That's really hard to say, cause some just like to hone. I on the other hand have learned to shave right and strop. So my stiff hard to cut white beard doesn't damage my edge, I get months with just leather. So learn to shave and strop then you will find out how long. A barber used to get lots of shaves from just leather. Tc
Hone when the strop doesn't work anymore.
Using your hone to often wont hurt the shaving aspect but unnecessarily wear out the blade early.
Like everyone else has said, there are a ton of variables that will determine how long an edge goes before needing a refresh.
Once you are used to the feeling you get from shaving with a peticular razor that is properly honed...
You will know.
Pete <:-}
I wholeheartedly concur with RayClem's comments quoted above. To them, I will just add the following: the Chinese Guangxi hones are alleged to be good finishers, particularly the ones with the limited orange lines running parallel; one might try ten laps as recommended on the finisher first, and if that's not enough, perhaps 10 laps more, and then 10 laps more to see if this works before moving lower; and, if needed before the finishing stone, I like to use the Solingen red and black crayon pastes on dedicated Russian leather or vegetable-tanned leather sanded to around 180x to give it some tooth on the surface. Starting out with a "shave-ready" razor, a decent finishing stone and a two-component linen and leather strop should be all you need in the short run.Quote:
Originally Posted by RayClem
I currently have 16 straights in rotation and honed all of them at the beginning of 2017 and I shaved everyday for the whole year using a different razor everyday and just stropped so it came out to be about twice a month for each and even though they still shave very well I proceeded to tape the spine on each and have began to hone again from 4 k to JNAT finish just to see if there is a huge difference with a slightly different angle with tape so as far as shaving goes I have started to grow out a close cut beard and more than likely will only use a straight for my neck and keeping the hair line straight or until I break down and goes back to shaving everyday
I don't tolerate any degradation in the edge or performance. I polish to 20k and the edges cut effortlessly. As soon as I feel a change, I take it back to the stones for a few passes and bring it right back. Once you get into a groove, you know how your blades should feel. It gets more complex when your honing regimen and finishing stones are all over the place. All of my razors are honed and finished the same way in a very simple progression with no pastes. I see no point in waiting until the edge needs a lot more work. The shave experience is dropping off during this time.
My first line defense for a tugging razor is a CrOx paddle, if that doesn't work then off to the 8k or my finishing hone
Quote:
Originally Posted by RayClem
This right here! Although I don't use any type of pastes or spray, only a coticule. When I started straight shaving, I found that I could get 4-5, maybe 6 shaves before I could tell my edge was dropping off my inexpensive Dovo 5/8 hollowground. Recently I added a new 6/8 Brian Brown razor that came shave ready with a very nice Jnat edge, that to my face, was very comparable to my coticule edge. After 5-6 shaves, I felt I needed a touch-up as it was getting tougher to shave as close as I like on my chin area. I think that everyone is different, in how their beard is, shave prep, technique, etc, and there is really no definitive answer, other than what works well for you.
All that's been said is good advice. only thing i'd add is that a chinese hone is hit or miss as far as grit goes. I spent enough on them because i wanted to save money (and none worked for me) to buy a good Naniwa 12k which i ended up doing anyway. Hope you have better luck.