Thread: budget hone setup for vintage razors.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Absolutely. It is great for lapping any waterstones. (except for the 220) Best accomplished in the sink with a trickle of water running down on the work. Here is a tutorial Josh Earl did on lapping awhile back. Also a good kitchen knife sharpener.

$150 isn't really a cheap investment. i mean, razor sharpening is the only thing i'm going to be using this for. that's a little bit of change for it's use.

Originally Posted by RonPopeil

$150 isn't really a cheap investment. i mean, razor sharpening is the only thing i'm going to be using this for. that's a little bit of change for it's use.

Honing is not for everyone. You can make do fine with a swaty forever for about 20 bucks. Honing is an art for those that want to take a razor from the junk box to shave ready.

I'm not learning honing because I have to, but because I want to... I may eventually want to do more intensive restores with buffers and scaling. That all remains to be seen.... I love the great looking restores that I've seen here.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Get the two combo stones and the DMT D8C 325 to lap them. The norton lapping stone is nowhere near as good and will need to be flattened itself soon if not right away.

I agree, one of the best investments I've made is the DMT 220/325 combination. The 325 is perfect for waterstones, and the 220 laughs in the faces of hard ceramic barber hones. (Which I then finish with a few quick passes on the 325 side.) Life is good with DMT.

Me =)

A suggestion:

Rather than stones, use sandpaper (available down to 2000 grit), microabrasive sheets, and pastes.

You can buy those materials for less than a decent stone -- SiCarbide "wet-or-dry" sandpaper costs about $1/sheet, retail. In the long run, stones may be cheaper. But you may be dead before then.

There's a good piece on the Wiki about this:

Using micro abrasive film - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Charles

I agree with Jeffegg2. Buy a barber's hone. Used properly, with proper stropping, your razor will keep a keen edge for a long time. When you think you need to, send it off to a honemeister for a new edge. Honing yourself only leads to time, trouble, and expense! (HAD)! Don't succumb to HAD, and better if you avoid straight razor forums. HAD leads to RAD, and that can be nearly fatal.

Originally Posted by RonPopeil

$150 isn't really a cheap investment. i mean, razor sharpening is the only thing i'm going to be using this for. that's a little bit of change for it's use.

We never promised you a rose garden. You asked what a good 'cheap' honing setup would be. What I proposed is my opinion on a basic setup for tackling any razor you get your hands on. There are cheaper alternatives but knowing what I know now I stand by my recommendation. Having the razors pro honed and maintaining with a barber hone and your strop is also an alternative as others have mentioned. If you are going to be buying ebay and antique store razors, learning to hone I think you'd be better off going for the $150.00. Best of luck with whatever you decide to do.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

We never promised you a rose garden. You asked what a good 'cheap' honing setup would be. What I proposed is my opinion on a basic setup for tackling any razor you get your hands on. There are cheaper alternatives but knowing what I know now I stand by my recommendation. Having the razors pro honed and maintaining with a barber hone and your strop is also an alternative as others have mentioned. If you are going to be buying ebay and antique store razors, learning to hone I think you'd be better off going for the $150.00. Best of luck with whatever you decide to do.

i see. thanks for the info through out this thread. i was expecting a little less investment to get this hobby kick started. supposed to be a cheap alternative to my other interests (computers, cars, stereos, etc). le sigh. i'll probably just bite the bullet.

in regards to the Norton 220/1000 combo stone, it seems that many feel 220 is far too low grit for use on razors. would swapping that out for a DMT 1200 or Naniwa 1k be wise? it seems to work out to around the same price and many are talking about how either of those stones are invaluable to them. seems like i'd end up upgrading anyway. ya know?

right now i'm thinking:

DMT 8 325g = $43.99 @ SRD
Naniwa 1k = $29.99 @ sharpeningsupplies.com
norton 4/8 = $78 @ amazon.com

makes $152 and seems to cover all bases aside from finishing.