Thread: The Hone stone Poll

king 1200, conk 2500?, king 8000, swaty 3 line, CrO strop

Shapton 500 (depending), 1k, 4k, 8k, 16k,

CrOx on a paddle

50 laps on stiff linen
50 laps on high draw leather
50 laps on horsehide

some times I use a 1k/4k norton and a coticule or a barbers hone I have. It just depends on what seems to make the most sense at the time. LOL.

-Rob

Finally nailed the bbw/coti natural combo route. I even managed to set a bevel with the coti recently.

[DMT1200] > Coticule > BBW > Coticule > Strop.

I recently bought 2 very different coticules (one fast, one slow) and changed my strop for a russian one. Before that, I used only one coticule (firts with slurry, after with plain water). DMT is in the mail.

I would vote for 220, 1K, 4K, 8K and then either 12K or 16K or Coticule or Escher or Nakayama followed by a .5 diamond spray on felt or a chromium oxide on felt or leather. This would be a common restoration sequence that is very consistent and reliable.

Lynn

I use the Shapton 1k,2k,4k,8k,15k,30k, then strop on unpasted canvas for the final edge, and for my touchups on my Sheffields I use a translucent arkansas followed by the canvas for the final edge.

Mostly the reason I use the Shaptons is because I already have them, and they're fast cutters and easy to use. I hone the heavy Sheffields on the translucent arkansas because it seems to cut them fast enough to be useful without the stickiness of the Shaptons, and produces a really brilliantly polished bevel (and those old Sheffields tend to have big bevels...). But I don't really have any strong feelings for any particular hone, not even my Shapton 30k or Nakayama Asagi since the Spyderco UF came out and does a similar job for a fraction of the cost. They will all do a fine job of removing steel and polishing.

Other: Shapton 1.5 K, 5 K, Coticule/Thuringian or Escher, finally Nakayama.

For the smiling razors I like a narrow Thuringian, if I want to remove some more metal I take the coticule. The Escher is for subtle touch-ups only.

Still new, but what has been working for me is:

DMT D8E (1200 grit)
Pyramid on Norton 4k/8k
Chinese 12k with slurry
Chinese 12k with just water
CrO on hanging cow-hide strop
Smooth Cotton strop
Red latigo strop

This has been giving me razors that shave me as comfortable as the "shave ready" razors I've purchased.

I'll use a combination of the following, depending on the job in hand & what i feel like.

DMT 1200
DMT 8k
BBW
Coticule
Chinese 12k
Thuringians
Pasted strop (Dovo red/black)

Mostly i use the BBW, then Coticule, then a Thuringian & finishing with the pasted strop ( because i'm still not good enough!!!!)_

All of the above.


Not being facetious here, I just own all combinations listed in the poll and use different things for different razors or moods (as Jimmy has said).

I'm afraid that may not be of help to newbies current and future, but the following nugget of wisdom should be:

If anyone were to purport or tout a single and specific group of hones as being THE BEST and also tries to argue that all others are crap; proceed with caution in taking their advice.

IMO if there was only one group of hones or one hone that would get the job done with straight razors I probably wouldn't be in this anymore. There are so many great ways and combinations to get great results which range from the inexpensive to opening your wallet and covering your ears for the enormous sucking sound you'll hear in going hog HAD wild.

Chris L