Thread: POLL! What is your single favorite go-to touch-up stone?

I have both the Nani 12k and the Shapton 16k, which by the way are basically equal in grit size, and tend to use the Shapton more than the Nani. The reason is I seem to get better feedback and repeatable results from the Shapton than from the Nani. The 12K and 8K Nani also seem to have an issue of creating little black dots on the surface during usage that normally I wouldn't worry about, except these black dots seem to cause the blade to skip during the stroke, and re-surfacing is required to stop it. I try to eliminate both 8K and the 12K Nani because of this issue. As a final note, I sometimes use my Spyderco UF as a final polishing stone, for an incredibly smooth and polished surface, before using paste and then stropping.

Ray

great guys! keep the votes coming!

Just buy the nakayama. Its pretty obvious that is what you want

Originally Posted by Slartibartfast

Just buy the nakayama. Its pretty obvious that is what you want

Yeah but which one ? That is my stumbling block with those inscrutable stones. Should I spend between $25 to $50 on a Swaty or $350 and up for a stone with some kanji on it ? I know I will eventually take the plunge but I have to pay for the Naniwa set first.

You didn't include thuringens/Eschers!?!?!?!?
The Thury and J nat are my two favourites, tied.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Yeah but which one ? That is my stumbling block with those inscrutable stones. Should I spend between $25 to $50 on a Swaty or $350 and up for a stone with some kanji on it ? I know I will eventually take the plunge but I have to pay for the Naniwa set first.

BINGO. I'm thinking I would like to finish off a really fine J-Nat after a coticule. The few shaves I ahve had off that combination have been fantastic. Right now I finish with a C12K, and it is good....but one of them fancy kanji stones simply MUST work better (and it will feed my developing HAD!!)

Someone tell me which J-Nat finisher to get!! And where to get it.

Edit: Oh, to answer your particular question, for quick touch ups, I use the a barber's hone that I picked up. However, I very rarely DO quick touch ups. If a razor isn't perfect, I use one that I know is. then, I go back to the coticule, and the C12K.

I'm currently learning to use my new Japanese kiita natural.

"Touch up" vs. "Refresh". Do they mean the same thing? Does refreshing an edge mean just doing literally a few laps on something prior to strop and shave whereas "touching up" an edge may mean doing some actual minimal work on a high grit finishing medium (stone, hone or pasted strop); so, doing a tad more "work" on the edge then refreshing? Do I think about this stuff too much?

I consider "refreshing" a shaving edge to be passing it over something other than a plain leather strop just a few passes to get it back to right where it needs to be when it loses that something. Without question for me, that "something" is a chrome ox pasted balsa paddle. To me for the purposes of refreshing an edge, I wouldn't even think of "dropping down" to a stone, be it my Asagi or my Shapton 16k, Chinese 12k, etc.

If an edge needs more than the chrome ox (I haven't found any of my current shaving rotation razors to need more than chrome ox, but it could be necessary at some point I suppose, then I'd pick my Shapton 16k at this point. I may say Asagi in the future, but I have not explored the wonders of the Asagi sufficiently.

Chris L

I use a Hand American bench hone for touch-ups. Usually a pasted leather pad with either Boron Carbide, or Chromium Oxide...depending on the razor.

Hard to choose, but the Vintage Thuringian just pipped the Coticule for me.