Thread: The Hone stone Poll

I've had 3 excellent shave with a 1 week old razor doing this:
(keep in mind, I'm new at this straight razor thing)

Zwilling J.A. Henckels Twin Finishing Stone (very soft rocks)
3000 / 8000 - i haven't used the 3000 yet

Shapton 16k about 15 - 20 passes

El Cheapo Jemico canvas backing(i lost count after 100 passes)
then about 20 passes (back and forth equals 1 pass) on the other leather side

i check with a 16x loupe then return to the canvas

I've noticed the more passes on leather, the more visible the canvas lines.
if the canvas lines show up after 20 leather passes I know I don't need the leather, I need to remove more metal.

i repeat the last 3 steps until I can't distinguish the canvas lines then leather 100 final passes.

check loupe for canvas lines. when they are gone I put 2 drops of oil on the blade for safety
Damn that thing is sharp!

I think for tomorrow's shave I'm gonna lower the leather passes. I'm not sure how dull the razor gets after 1 shave.

All you guys in the know, tell me if there is anything else I should consider.
I'm happy with the shaves, but I'm still working on light touches while shaving against the grain

sorry for the re-post:
I just remembered I own a Smith stone approx 900 - 1000 grit.
I bought it for kitchen and pocket knives

Can I use this if I get my hands on a razor that needs a little more work?

I figure I'll jump from that to the 3000 Henckels.

Originally Posted by Elon9669

I've had 3 excellent shave with a 1 week old razor doing this:
(keep in mind, I'm new at this straight razor thing)

Zwilling J.A. Henckels Twin Finishing Stone (very soft rocks)
3000 / 8000 - i haven't used the 3000 yet

Shapton 16k about 15 - 20 passes

El Cheapo Jemico canvas backing(i lost count after 100 passes)
then about 20 passes (back and forth equals 1 pass) on the other leather side

i check with a 16x loupe then return to the canvas

I've noticed the more passes on leather, the more visible the canvas lines.
if the canvas lines show up after 20 leather passes I know I don't need the leather, I need to remove more metal.

i repeat the last 3 steps until I can't distinguish the canvas lines then leather 100 final passes.

check loupe for canvas lines. when they are gone I put 2 drops of oil on the blade for safety
Damn that thing is sharp!

I think for tomorrow's shave I'm gonna lower the leather passes. I'm not sure how dull the razor gets after 1 shave.

All you guys in the know, tell me if there is anything else I should consider.
I'm happy with the shaves, but I'm still working on light touches while shaving against the grain

You should strop the razor before use, Canvas/Leather, etc...
I wouldn't hone it prior to each shave. The leather should be sufficient.
Unless I'm misunderstanding.....
When your razor starts to dull, then take out the rocks...

Naniwa 1K
Norton 4/8K
Naniwa 12K or just finish here on coticule and water.
if I used the naniwa 12K then finish on Escher/Oozuku Asagi

Escher is on a slurry with laps until the razor is sticky to the hone.
oozuku is on Tomonagura slurry, about 5 laps of circular strokes both sides about 20 reps each. Then lighter slurry and dilute to water using cricles and X strokes.

Originally Posted by Disburden

Naniwa 1K
Norton 4/8K
Naniwa 12K

I use this combination quite a lot myself, followed by 10 light X strokes on .5 diamond spray on felt. Works very well and is virtually flawless using the circle process in both reliability and consistency.

I do however, play around with the Natural stones a bunch in lieu of the Naniwa 12K, but from a performance standpoint, it is always right on.

Have fun,

Lynn

These days I'm typically using a Naniwa Chosera 1k, Naniwa SS 5k and 8k, and then finish on my Thurry or Asagi.

My main progression is Shapton Pro Ceramic 1k, 2k, 5k, 8k, 12k followed by Shapton glass backed 16k and 30k.
I got a Thuringian a little while ago and I'm getting good results using that after the Shapton 12k. I've got a Nakayama Asagi but I haven't yet figured out where that best fits so I'm still experimenting with it.
I've also got a Coticule and one of those Frankonian stones in the post.

Norton 1k, 4k, 8k, Silkvein, Shapton 16k, Japanese Natural, Diamond sprayed felt.

I estimate the silkvein to be more around 10k as it removes the scratches left by a Norton 8k. Adding it to my progression has added a notable difference when shaving. Most likely because the Shapton 16k was not able to polish out the previous scratches left by the Norton 8k.

The above progression with the USB microscope to see what is really going on, provides me with very smooth shaves.

If I had of replied when this thread started it would have been King 800, 1200, 4k, 8K - CH12k. Now most commonly I go Shapton GS up to 8k then Jnats but uncommonly I'll mix up all sorts of stuff from DMT & Atoma to Belgians to J-Nats, Diamond sprays or anything at hand