Thread: I'm confused

So I am on the lookout for my first hone, I know I'll need it eventually so I can hone my own razors. But there are so many different kinds of hones and such I have no clue what I need. I just want one that will service all my razors. What would ya'll recommend?

Norton 4/8 or Coti / BBW

Where it belongs and will get the attention it desreves....

What hone(s) do I need? - Straight Razor Place Wiki has some recommendations.

Originally Posted by singlewedge

Norton 4/8 or Coti / BBW

Those are both great choices. I went with the BBW/Coticule myself.
The coticule makes a fine polisher with water.

If you wanted something more affordable get a BBW & the Chinese (12k as it was formerly known!) hone. It's a very affordable polisher that can be made more versatile with the use of slurry.

Norton 4000/8000,Chinese 12k,DMT8C to lap them with.Maybe a 1000 stone later if you want to restore.

If your razors have been properly honed, a barber's hone can keep them shaving sharp indefinitely (unless something happens to the blade, like whacking it against the faucet).

Here's the deal. After doing a lot of research on this site about hones, the general concensus is for a beginner a Norton 4K/8K combo hone is a good place to start. Lynn has a good honing video and wiki article about how to hone with this stone.

If you want to go "natural", then another good choice is a Belgian Blue Whetstone and a Yellow Coticle (you can get a combo stone which is really expensive, or get them separately. The BBW is cheap, but the coticule is expensive). I personally went this route because I like the idea of natural stones. There is a good wiki article by Bart that explains the honing method with these hones.

I think you'll get a "sharper" edge with the norton, but a "smoother" edge with the coticlue. If you don't mind mixing synthetic with natural, then I think you would get an awesome edge by starting with the norton, then finishing with the coticule.

Either way, start with one and add the other if you want later. I've been able to get a pretty good edge with just the BBW and Coticule, but it took me awhile to get it down.

After that, there are about 10 million other stones/combos you can try for the quest for the impossibly sharp, yet comfortable, edge.

Happy honing!

-Chief

I have 4 old razors I got off Ebay that need to be restored. I think I can save $$$ by cleaning them up myself with some Brasso from Home Depot and then get me a stone to hone them myself. BUt the problem is that these are different razor types and honing stones are expensive, so I can only afford to get one that will have to do for all the razors I get.

One razor, I need to de-frown, one has a tiny chip on its edge, one just needs honing, and the other was supposed to be shave ready when I got it off classifieds but seems like it can use honing because it was very slow when I shaved ATG

You can get a BBW here: Ardennes Coticule which is the mine or at The perfect edge which is US based