Thread: Ebay stones

Hi
I have just started to use straight razors and bought this cheap set of water stones off ebay.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/3-Piece-Sharpening-Set-/360226823337?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&ha sh=item53df311ca9

I have honed my razor and got it able to shave by using these and a pasted strop but my edge did not feel that smooth .My first question is have anybody used these stones and got a smooth shave after and is it my honing inexperience to blame.

My second question is they came with just a sticker to state the grit size but the 5000 feels smoother to the touch than the 8000 could the wrong sticker have been put on them.

3) I have a bit of money to spend and was thinking of buying a naniwa stone either 8000 or 10,000 grit or a yellow corticule to further refine my edge. Which would be better for a newcomer

Thanks
Any replies from experienced honers would be appreciated.

My advice would be to box those hones up and learn how to shave with a straight razor first. Trying to hone razors without having the required skills to effectively use them afterwards is, in my opinion, an exercise in complication that will only make your learning experience unnecessarily hard.

Regards,
Robin

If I am not wrong Sham tested the 5/8k stones and said good things about them. But Sham has a ton of experience with honing and can get max out of a hone, unlike a person just starting to hone.

As Robin pointed out learn shaving techniques, razor maintenance, and touch up to keep your razor in shape before jumping into honing.

If you really want to hone, get a shave ready razor for your shaves, and a vintage razor from eBay or antique store to learn on, using your shave ready razor as a baseline to compare against.

I have done exactley what you have stated mainaman . I have been shaving for the last 8 months with a new dovo special which came pre honed and the shaves i get from this razor are good ony using a pasted strop on a few occasions . I have a bismarck razor that i bought off ebay to practice on .

If you mean that the hone feels more coarse on your fingertips I don't know what to tell you. If it feels more coarse in terms of feedback with the razor on the hone that doesn't necessarily mean that it is more coarse. The way to tell is to look at the scratch pattern on the bevel under magnification off of the 5k and then off of the 8k and see if the 8 will smooth out the scratches left by the 5k. Just IMHO.

Even though it's slow, the Chinese hone is a perfectly viable finisher. It looks like you are falling into the common mistake so many of us have made before you. You're not sure about your honing or your hones but you're looking for the finer hones to fix the problem.

The fact that you're not certain which is the 5k and which is the 8k should be of greater concern. Jimmy's suggestion is right, but if you don't have access to magnification, then just shave off of each hone. That is, use the 5k and the 8k as you normally would in a honing progression and then do a test shave. The next day, do 10 or 20 strokes on the 5k and see if the shave is better or worse. If the 5k is actually the 5k, then the shave should be worse. Going back and forth between the two hones should allow you to figure out which is which. Only then should you put in the time on the Chinese hone, or consider getting a different finisher.

Further, if you plan on any more ebay razors, I'd invest in a decent 1k hone for bevel setting before bothering with anything on the other end of the spectrum. The bevel is the most important part of honing.

Originally Posted by Utopian

Further, if you plan on any more ebay razors, I'd invest in a decent 1k hone for bevel setting before bothering with anything on the other end of the spectrum. The bevel is the most important part of honing.

I was thinking the same thing. Working on an ebay (oops eBay) razor, I doubt the razor was ever ready for a C12K without a lower grit hone in the 1K range. If it was ready for a C12K, it would have taken a long time to get there.

I know some people don't like their aggressiveness, but I really like 1200 diamond plates. They get a razor in shape for the higher grit hones in short order.

As Stefan Mentioned i have test that stones.
what you have experienced is correct. 5k feels smoother then 8k. in reality it is not. 8 k will act similar to 7k level compare to norton 8k.
if you can buy naniwa 10k or 12k you would be in great condition to finish up your honing.
of course we don't count bad condition blade which you will need 1k level stone to set bevel .
hope this helps.

I have the same hones. the chinese hone is pre-lapped. the 5000 and 8000 are not. I can tell which one is which by how much they grab my blade., probably when i was putting too much pressure. (now i know.weight of blade.)

Mine tend to get dirty<steel residue?> real quick from the blade.even with just weight of the blade.

I also bought the DOVO"best quality" 5/8 hollow ground.

Same results. I can shave, but not real smooth. more practice.

Make sure you lap the chinese stone with a diamond type plate.