Thread: Question about future honing

Hi everyone,

I'm no where close to needing to hone, nor do I possess the skills to hone yet, but I've been thinking that in the future I would like to be able to clean up the edge on my own razors.

So my question is this, what kind of stone will I need to just do some touch up work on my blades. I'm not really interested in doing restoration, or correcting severe edge damage, I just want to put an edge on my razor when stropping no longer does the trick.

If you could throws some tips or suggestions my way, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Any finisher would work as a touchup hone. Some popular choices seem to be coticules, naniwa 12k, shapton 16k, jnats, eschers/thuringians, barber hones, C12k... Probably others that I'm leaving out. As for which would suit you the best, well you'd have to read up on the hones and weight what others are saying against the price.

I've used barber hones, coticules, naniwa 12k, an asagi (jnat), a vintage thuringian and a C12k. Of those, I have the least experience with the naniwa 12k. I don't like barber hones because they are short. I'm not huge on coti's as finishers because I think other hones give sharper edges. I don't use the C12k anymore because it's so slow. I can't really tell the difference between my asagi and thurry yet because I've not done any direct comparisons, but these two are my favorites (for now).

As Holli pointed out, You have lot's of choices. Your bank account, or budget will dictate what you can afford. Japanese Naturals, I.E. Nakayama are among the best stones for keeping your blade, "Razor sharp" They are expensive, but IMHO, probably the best out there, Then Escher, also expensive, if you can find one... The Chinese 12k at the other end of the spectrum is dirt cheap, around 20 bucks and slooooow. Usually too slow for a novice. Too much room for error.
I was never a big fan of the Shapton, I do however own a Shapton 16k which gives good results. Lately, I've been a big fan of the Naniwa hones. They are synthetic, fast, and require no soaking. The Naniwa superstone series comes mounted to a plastic base with rubber feet. The 12k is a great hone. You can keep your blade up with that. They range from 200k to 12k

Also, keep your eyes open on our classifieds for a Barber hone. These little hones are great for keeping your blade sharp. Normally, 3-5 passes prior to your shave, will keep you from needing honing for some time...

I've never taken that "just a finisher" approach so I wouldn't know what to tell you. I like being able to go from start to finish in the event I needed to. The better safe than sorry philosophy so I would say get a Norton 4/8 and if you want to go up from there a naniwa 12k and you'll be ready for almost anything.

Good advice above. Do note that the different hones will result in a different amount of smoothness and require different amounts of time to achieve the same amount of metal removal. Another option is paste on canvas, felt or leather. Chromium Oxide and diamond paste or spray and used by many here on SRP as are other abrasives.

Ask the person that honed your razor what they finished the honing with. If you are comfortable with the feel the same hone or paste can be used for touch ups with a time variable. Also note that the duller your razor is before touch up the longer it will take to get it back to normal. The Chinese natural will probably take the longest for re freshing the edge.

Originally Posted by Joed

Also note that the duller your razor is before touch up the longer it will take to get it back to normal.

Huge +1 here, and I think this is why many barber hones say you only need 5 strokes or less. If you are so sensitive to dulling that you go to the hone at the slightest sign of pulling, then you really will only need 5 strokes. If you wait until your razor is really not shaving well, 5 strokes ain't gonna cut it no mo.

wow, thats a lot to digest. I think I have much more reading to do. I saw a video of Lynn using the norton 4/8, and it looked like a great product. But is the 8K side the type of thing you would use to finish the edge, or would it need to be run over a higher grit stone, like a barber hone, before it was ready to be stropped and shave tested?

The Norton 4/8 is a fantastic tool, but it's not typically considered a finishing hone. You can get great shaves off the 8k, but it seems most members go (or talk about going) to higher grit hones for their normal shavers. A barber hone, followed by stropping, would certainly do the trick.

Many guys get great shaves with an 8k, me among them. I do like to go beyond the 8k but if a 4/8 was all I had I wouldn't feel deprived. I just like old Ben Franklin's admonition that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

If I had a 12k naniwa for example it would be fine for touching up a sharp razor that was falling off a bit. In the event that I had waited too long or rolled the edge on the strop .... whatever. The 4/8 could restore the edge to the point where the 12k could finish it. Just good to have more than less but I'm an HAD sufferer and misery loves company.

Thank you all for the great information. As a new comer I found it very overwhelming looking into other threads about honing, where I typically found people honing to restore a totally mangled edge.

One more question. What grit is a typical barber stone. 12K and up?