Maintaning a razor: hones and pastes

I have some questions about hones and pastes:

I am looking to find something to keep the edge on a straight razor. I am unsure about what level of sharpening stone to use. Should I get a barber hone or finishing stone, and do I need to add some pastes? I was thinking of getting a barber hone at Whippeddog.com or some other place.

I read the Wiki, but still am unsure about pastes. At Whippeddog they have 0.3 Chromium Oxide and 0.1 Ferrous Oxide. Would this be alright, or is this too fine? Any other suggestions? What kinds of material would I use as a base to apply this?

I also want to get a sharpening hones for my knives. There is a Lee Valley where I live (don't know of another place locally): http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/pag...71&cat=1,43072 They sell Norton and Japanese water stones (there is no brand name, so don't know the quality. The person I talked to said they were made for them). There is also Knifewear who sell Naniwa and Chosera. I think the ones at Lee Valley are more economical, but don't know if they would be better. Will probably be going to 1000 grit, so around 250 and 1000 grit for stones. Comments or suggestions?

I appreciate any advice. Thanks

You must first know that I am WhippedDog! Everything I say is biased. :)

The chromium oxide is 0.3 micron particle size instead of the usually used 0.5 micron particle size most often seen. I don't consider this significant. More later.

The 0.1 micron ferrous oxide, at first glance, might seem odd. While I am not aware of many others using it, ferrous oxide has a long history of use as an abrasive for straight razors. Dovo Red, for example. Basically, it is jewelers rouge. The only odd thing about its use is that it has grown out of fashion somewhat.

The 0.1 micron ferrous oxide comes from Kremer Pigments and is very pure in particle size.

A little theory. You really don't need either chromium oxide or ferrous oxide or diamond or any of the many other abrasives and surfaces used. You can go straight from the barbers hone to the untreated with abrasives leather strop. I did that recently, just for old times sake. It works.

But, what works isn't always best. And, in this case, I think you do best using "something" between a hone and the leather strop. If for no other reason, it certainly saves you stropping time!

You don't want to jump from a 1K hone to a 12K hone! But, there is no reason not to do so if you have the time. Similarly, although less dramatically, going from a hone to a leather strop, in my opinion, is a little quick a jump in particle size.

Back to the ferrous oxide and chromium oxide.

The ferrous oxide is completely unnecessary in that it is not mandatory. However, I like it very much. You can go from hone to chromium to ferrous to leather quite quickly, and end up with a very sharp and polished and quite tame bevel. Also, if you want to touch up your blade, a pass or two on the ferrous oxide works wonders.

Thanks Larry for the response. I think I understand a little better. How high a hone would I need before I go to the 0.3 micron chromium oxide?

Thanks

A quality barber hone and a strop is all you need. Barber hones are not listed by grit as their performance is dependent upon more factors than grit size but most of them are for fine maintenance. Examples include the Swatys, the low 100 range Carborundums, the Panama hone, the frictionites, and many others!