Originally Posted by
mosley59
I just looked long and hard at my finances, and I think I won't be getting any new hones until July (my birthday) due to needing a lot of stuff, and hones being an optional extra (I can just use my DE until I can afford hones, should my straights become too dull to use). If you're willing to wait a bit, I'm still happy to PIF you the hone(s), but you may have to get the razor honed by a pro during that time while you wait, so yo don't end up buying a hone that will later prove to be extraneous.
Reading back over the thread, I see you're currently sanding a blade down with 80 grit paper - you'll definitely need a coarse hone (200 -1K) to set the bevel after finishing the sanding, as you'll have damaged or destroyed whatever bevel happened to be there, and will have to work from scratch as a result. Search the forum for "grit comparison chart" - there's a .pdf file somewhere that compares various brands so you know what stones are equivalent to each other - very useful if you're looking for a hone but have multiple brands to choose from.