Thread: Tri hone anybody? Latigo Leather?

I was wondering if you could use one of those $80 tri-hones they used for knife honing? It's one of those where it has the hard grit, then the medium grit, then the fine marble type grit. I use it for my knives of course but could it essentially be used for a straight razor supposing your following proper technique?


Also, I have some red latigo leather I was using to make a baseball glove. It's pretty thick, a little strechable. Could I possibly make that into a strop? Thanks for any help folks!!!!!

You can use only one side to set bevel . rest you will need more hones. The best option if you are new to whole honing start with norton 4/8k. hope this helps.
There is a lot more options available but this is the simplest and easiest to start.

Ok cool. What exactally does "setting the bevel" mean. Is it like with the knife where I'm just getting the burs and impurities out of the beginning edge before I actually PUT an edge on it? I've seen some videos but "setting the bevel" was not really explained.

I'm no expert on strop leather, but I've got a red latigo strop hanging in my bathroom that I purchased. So I'd think you could make a strop with the leather you have. Here's a howto if you haven't seen it yet.

Making a (very) home-made strop - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Have fun and post pictures, if and when you get it made.

Originally Posted by topherloaf

Ok cool. What exactally does "setting the bevel" mean. Is it like with the knife where I'm just getting the burs and impurities out of the beginning edge before I actually PUT an edge on it? I've seen some videos but "setting the bevel" was not really explained.

This explains it better than I could.

Bevel-setting in theory and practice - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Setting the bevel is essentially sharpening the razor. It is important to get the razor very sharp before proceeding to using finer stones to "hone" the edge (create a uniform and extremely fine edge) to shaving sharpness. If the initial bevel-setting step isn't completed carefully and completely first, then the final honing will either take a loooong time, or seem to be sharp at places on the razor, but not others.

Incidentally, if one of the stones is truly a fine stone, like a hard arkansas, then you can use that to do the honing. But the Norton 4000/8000 combination water stone is a lot easier to use. Experts like hi_bud_gl are familiar with the Norton stone, and can give you pointers on how to use it to maximum benefit.

Cheers,
Jeff

setting the bevel is the first process while you sharpen straight razor's.
Most people do use 1000 grit stone or sandpaper etc.
It depends what type razor you have. if you have brand new razor you may not need to have 1k . if you got your razor from bay you will need to have 1k stone.
Most razor will have small chips and when you hone at first you need to take that chips out.
By doing this your edge gets straight line and bevel sets(my best explanation sorry) Bevel when you look the blade you will see the shiny spot from the heel to the tip. that is a bevel. After that you can start to sharpen your razor.
using what stone is avaialable.
straight razor 's differ from knifes etc. you will need more finer stones as i mention early 4/8 k.
Again you can choose a lot more different set up example NANIWA'S, Coticule.etc etc.
I think norton is the easiest and safest for starters.
hope this helps.

I really appreciate the help folks! I'm going to buy a norton 1k and the combo 4/8k. I've got some ebay razors coming I hope I can work on.