Thread: Looking for a touch-up hone

Originally Posted by hi_bud_gl

i think you are confused a little.
Please understand this Fast cutting stone doesn't mean to has to be lower grit stones. All barber hones are synthetic hones and some fast cutting ones(not all of them) this will not mean they are going to move more metals and put deep scratches. it could be fast cutter and no deep scratches at all.

then what makes a stone a "fast cutter"? that it takes fewer strokes to get through a particular amount of metal? if so, then how does such a stone grind down more steel without eating more metal per stroke? more steel per stroke does not entail deep scratches, just that the steel "gives" more than the abrasive surface so the steel wears away faster.

i thought grit is the size of the particulate, not the sharpness or hardness of the abrasive particulate.

Originally Posted by Cove5440

If you finish on say a 30K for sake of discussion, why would you touch up on something thats at least have the grit? wouldn't it be less comfortable?

This is a fantastic point. Polish and finishing stones are much much higher grit than the average barber's hone. So then why would you rough up the edge with a grit half that of your polish and say that the lower grit gives a better edge than the polish stone? And that the JP stone gives a burger-at-a-chinese-joint edge?

Originally Posted by Cove5440

Maybe we're just thicker than most but I'm still in the understanding that any of the hones that Ichinichi have mentioned could be used for finishing or touching up. I'm not asking for scientific evidence, I'm asking for feel, what would feel the best?

The questions are simple:

1. all else being equal (i.e. skill level, pressure, blade, water hardness, ambient temperature) in say under 100 strokes, what can be done to an edge by a barber's hone that cannot be done to an edge on a JP natural?

We're being told that the answer is Nothing, except the JP will take more time/strokes than the barber's.

2. what is the mechanism by which a stone is "fast"?

Holy cow, this is getting WAAAAY too controversial.

1.) A barber's hone is a perfectly satisfactory solution to the problem you are having, as that is what it is designed for.
2.) It is most definitely NOT the only solution for what you want--other people in the past have used, with great succes, any number of things such as a Coticle (YES THEY HAVE, guys...), a pasted strop, and yes, even a Nakayama.

It sounds to me like you think the Nakayama would be best. It sounds to me, in fact, like you really want to buy one. So do it. Jimbo, our friendly Roo strop maker, apparently uses a Nakayama as a touch up hone, and my barber does as well. Why not?

Man, do what you think best, just remember that the path less traveled means there are fewer maps to follow.

Originally Posted by Ichinichi

I appreciate the patience, but cannot source the exasperation.

Sorry about that, tone comes through wrong on forums from time to time. My only exasperation is that I felt like I was repeating myself, which I didn't want to continue doing because it would sound, well, it would sound the way it appears I sounded anyway.

My opinion on the subject certainly isn't gospel, but it is what it is. IMO, if you have the choice between two tools to do a job, one was specifically made to do that exact job and the other was not, you use the one that was made for the job.

In the interest of adding info to an already overburdened theme, here is a link to a thread I started a while back exploring just this kind of thing. It might help. Or it might just confuse matters.

Originally Posted by JimR

In the interest of adding info to an already overburdened theme, here is a link to a thread I started a while back exploring just this kind of thing. It might help. Or it might just confuse matters.

Thanks for digging up that older thread Jim, I remember that one well. I sure got a laugh from certain members who only had one or two hones back then and now have an entire arsenal at their disposal.

Reading my responses back then I realized my routine hasn't changed, nor has my set-up. Yellow coticule and chrome does the trick for me.

I want to thank everyone for their information and advice. I've ended up buying two hones. A barber hone:
Vintage KING MIDAS Straight Razor Dbl. Sided HONE Stone on eBay.ca (item 360178092505 end time 14-Aug-09 19:40:38 EDT)

It's a lot better than it looks there. It needed a good wash. It was covered in what I think was lather. It's very smooth aside from the chips and they are even smaller than they look on the bay pictures. Not sure why the pictures came out SOO bad, but I'm happy! There's enough surface to avoid the chips, just limited until I can lap it on the front. The back has one chip but the rest of the surface is very smooth after I cleaned it.

I also picked up a Chinese water hone(refered to as a 12K by some).

Now that I have both, I'd recommend the barber hone for newbs. I think the Chinese hone will be great for finishing on, but I think you could get by without it if you had a barber hone.

Still need to learn how to use them properly, but I've had my first shave after a touch up on the barber hone and then to the chinese then to the strop. It was so much smoother, but I think my razor was less sharp than I had originally thought. It's more comfortable now, but not sharp enough. Will tune it up a little and see where we go from there.

Thanks again for everyone who added info to this!!!!

This is a pretty cool thread. As Bart said in JimR's link 'any advice given here will only ever be akin to a light beacon in the mist and no newcomer is ever excused from doing their own homework'. Maybe time for some good old trial and error.GL