Thread: I should probably get started

Hooboy....Here it comes, MrZ!


(Chosera 1k, Norton 4/8, Naniwa 12k)

Start with one hone. I recommend either a barber hone, a coticule, or a Naniwa Specialty 12k, but really anything that can be used as a finisher. In general, use it as a touch up hone to start with. KEEPING a razor sharp with a hone is a good way to learn some of the most essential aspects of honing.

Another ideal option is to find someone close enough to you so that you can try their hones.

This is all true. In a recent thread on the subject, three people said they had only ever honed there own and only ever shaved with razors they had honed. You can do it all by yourself and everything will be just fine. The other 18 people that responded mostly had learned a little on there own and had gotten significant improvements in their edges and shaves after having met with others. While it is possible for you to be completely satisfied on your on, most prefer learning from others. I did everything backwards, because apparently that’s how I do things. Most find it easiest to do touch ups first and progress into more complex honing later. By touch ups, it is a razor that has been made shave ready by someone else and then you keep it sharp with a light honing routine. As Utopian mentioned, there are options for that. I beleive TC has a routine that after a certain number of shaves and before his edge is particularly deteriorated, he does a prescribed number of laps on his 12K Naniwa to bring it back to perfection. I have too many razors in rotation to be able to easily track those things, so I am much more disorganized. I wait until my razor is shaving poorly and then check it with a loupe, often drop down to an 8K and then go for the finisher.

Im in the same boat as Rez. But i do keep a running log of amount of shaves for each blade. But still wait for it to drag then go to the 8k and up. More fun.

And of corse utopian is right when it come to learning. He plays with the rocks, and has for a while, so he's always right.

Now if your a stubborn bastard like me, and just have to buy a set of stones and restore then the Corsera1k is the best 1k imo. Then a 3k, 5k, 8k, 12k in the super stone and you will be set. It will cost ya some greenbacks but you wont need any other stones for a while and those will last you forever if you dont want to play with naturals.
I couldnt wait, i barely knew how to shave and started buying stones and restoring. Learning everything at one time. It took me over a year but ive now got a good grasp on it all. It can be done, harder to learn, yes. But its possible.

Now open your wallet, blow out the dust bunnies and see if your CC is at its limit and buy some stones.

Gasman, trust me I frequently am wrong and like everyone else I'm still learning.

That said, I really wish more people would learn how to hone at first with just a barber hone. They are relatively cheap and can produce a perfectly good shave. If you cannot get a good shave off a hone like a Swaty, then more expensive hones will not make you a better honer.

I have to agree with Utopian on that you can get a very serviceable edge from a lot of barber hones. My first HAD outbreak was with barber hones and I bought about thirty of them in an attempt to get the very best one. There are a lot of good ones. A few of them produce a very soft and smooth shaving edge like some naturals. I don’t have any that produce bad edges. Most are kind of like a really good edge off of my 8K norton. Which does make great edges once you learn how to squeeze it just a little. At a meet Glen taught me how to get every last little bit from an 8K norton, and I spent the next three months squeezing that hone for everything I can. There are a lot of ways to skin this cat that’s for sure.

I went several years with 2 barber hones. One finer than the other.
Took a while, learned a LOT.

Still...To have known then what I do now..

Originally Posted by Utopian

Gasman, trust me I frequently am wrong and like everyone else I'm still learning.

That said, I really wish more people would learn how to hone at first with just a barber hone. They are relatively cheap and can produce a perfectly good shave. If you cannot get a good shave off a hone like a Swaty, then more expensive hones will not make you a better honer.

Mind sharing some more advice on maintaining with barber hones? Do you really need one of the best ones (Swaty, Carborundum) or the less famous ones work too?

I have two (a De-Fi and an anonymous Aloxite). Both weren't flat, so I've lapped one up to 400 grit SiC. The other one is a work in progress.

If it says Aloxite on it and is the color of a Swaty or the De-Fi, then it's probably a Carborundum. Were both sides not flat? Most of those hones are the same on each side so I prefer to use the non-imprint side because there is more surface area.

Since you already flattened them, you have exposed the coarse grit. Barber hones use relative large grit and only become fine in the same way Arkansas hones do--by burnishing. Use SIC powder or a diamond plate with increasingly finer grits. I think the SIC powder would be the better option. Eventually though you are going to have to rub steel on the hone to bring back the surface. The hones made by the American Hone Company were surface prepped with 100 grit SIC powder on a rotating 5' diameter steel plate. Absent such a plate you are going to have to do it by hand.

Do you need the best hone? No. Is the Norton barber hone better? Yes. Is a Swaty good? Yes. Does your De-Fi or Aloxite have the potential to be good? YES. It's more important that you figure out how to use it.

For maintenance, you either can do just a little on a regular basis or, what I do, just touch up an edge whenever you notice a reduction in the quality of the shave. I do 4 to 6 ultralight laps on a lightly lathered surface. That does not mean lather on the hone. That means I wet the surface of the hone with water and then touch a lathered brush to the water on the surface and then rub the surface with my finger to make a uniformly wet surface. Without the lather, the water on many barber hones will bead up and get pushed off the surface with the first stroke of the blade. The small bit of lather added to the water breaks the surface tension of the water and allows for uniform distribution. I have never liked honing on straight lather. Try it for yourself and you may have a different opinion.

Don't get carried away with more strokes. Too many can degrade the edge. Remember that the grit of barber hone is probably in the range of 400 to 600 or even bigger. This is why surface prep of the hone is critical.