Thread: New to honing, which stones are better?

OK,

so i have been looking at sending my old blade out for honing and found that by the time I paid for shipping there and back plus the hone i could afford a stone, now I already own a 8k .3micro D8EE DMT. My local provider sells Shapton Glass hones and Naniwa Stone hones as well as Belgian coticule. What stones should I get and at what micron / grit. Opinion on 20k and 30k for finishing? Also would prefer stones that would not require soaking only wet and go stones.


James

James, I happen to like the Naniwa line best. Some like the coticule. The 30k is a very expensive stone and for advanced practitioners IMO. The 1k, 5k, 8k and 12k are the naniwas I would recommend. Also a DMT D8C continuous plate to flatten the stones. You'll probably get a lot of differing points of view as most all of the quality hones will do the job and different favorites for one person or another. That is what I would recommend anyhow. I think you should also send out one razor for pro honing. Having at least one pro honed razor will give you a benchmark to judge your own efforts with other razors as well as a truly shave ready razor to shave with. Just IMHO.

Those stones you mentioned are all wet-and-go stones. A 1k-4k-16k set of Shapton GS or 1k-3k-12k set of Naniwa works great. The Coticule is very nice too, you can throw that in after the 3k-4k stones.

what grit is a coticule?

Originally Posted by James1983

what grit is a coticule?

It is hard to define the grit of a natural stone. Most people seem to rate it at 8 to 10k I think. With slurry it can cut much faster and may be effectively like a 4k. In either case it is generally slower than a comparable synthetic but offers a very pleasing shaving edge in skilled hands. Just IMHO.

I like the Naniwa's myself. No soaking, Fast cutting, Good all around hones. 1, 5, 8 and 12k is a good set up. I didn't like the D8EE, but that's me. When I got it, I couldn't tell one side from the other, if it wasn't stamped, I wouldn't have known at all. That's the only hone I ever sent back. I have DMT's XX, C, E, and F. I use them for lapping quite a bit, no so much on the honing. A lot of guys swear by them and the Diamond lapping film.

Coticules are an entirely different animal. Not really a beginner's hone IMHO. They take practice to master, Each one is different, Some are fast, some slow, some are better cutters, and other's are better finisher's. As Jimmy stated, they are rated at 8k. The Belgian Blue is rated at 4k, according to the quarry.

Shapton's are kind of a high end Japanese synthetic hone. Again, many of our members love them. I've only used the 16k, which is OK. I didn't want to buy all the gear that goes along with them, DGLP, Pond, etc...You can buy the whole Naniwa line for that amount of money and get a great edge.

As far the 30k shapton goes, I've heard mixed reviews, again, I'm sure some guys love it. I've never used one, I like and use Nakayama's which are Japanese Natural hones. High end Naturals, and some of the best finishers out there IMHO.

Another option for you in 20 and 30k range would be Diamond paste or spray's. Even Crox will slap a nice smooth finish on freshly honed blade.