Thread: beginner looking for stone

Looking to get a single stone for refreshing my straight razor strictly, can I get away with one stone and what would you recommend?

wrong section sorry!

If your looking strictly to refresh an already honed razor a barber home is probably your most cost effective option. Though if you ever plan on picking up honing there may be better options, wait till more more experianced members chime in.

While a barber's hone is a very inexpensive and suitable option, I feel that someone new to honing will have difficulty as they are not user friendly. They are typically very small in comparison to other stones and therefore the stroke is awkward and "x stroking" is that much more important. A barber hone will run you around $25 - $40 depending on the quality. I would recommend spending the $70 or so dollars and going for a naniwa 12k. I have used it to touch up all my razors and the thing basically hones the razors by itself.

If you are familiar with honing, the barber hone probably works well. For a newb, I think the ease of use the naniwa provides is priceless. For me it was.

If you want both a natural stone, and flexibility, I would say go with a coticule. One coticule along with one little bout for raising a slurry (not 100% sure but I believe if you get a stone from Ardennes Coticule they may come with a slurry stone) can take you from building up a bevel off of a ~1k DMT all the way up to finishing/polishing (with just water). No other stone or hone I'm aware of can do that - e.g. j-nats would, at the very least, require a few different nagura (slurry stones)... eschers, thungarians, barber hones, chinese 12Ks, etc. are for finishing ONLY... and synthetics would obviously require several hones of varying grits to accomplish the range of edge building.

So, if you ever decide you want to do more than just 'finishing/refreshing' you would be able to do it without having to acquire another stone(s).

They have a little bit of a learning curve but there's so much info out there on using them (check out www.coticule.be for starters) that a couple hours of interesting reading and a month or two of practice can get you to a point where you can get a blade passing HHT with ease.

Like any hone, it's just a matter of practicing until you get the hang of it. With coticules, it may take a little more time than say, a set of naniwas, but in return you can accomplish much more with one stone. And, while a high end/high-grit-equivalent j-nat may put a slightly smoother, more polished bevel on a razor than a coti can, edges off a coti are still most certainly very good shavers.

In the end, it will all boil down to what you enjoy using/working on the most.

Good luck and enjoy the journey.

I've moved this one to the hones section.

Originally Posted by Malacoda

If you want both a natural stone, and flexibility, I would say go with a coticule. One coticule along with one little bout for raising a slurry (not 100% sure but I believe if you get a stone from Ardennes Coticule they may come with a slurry stone) can take you from building up a bevel off of a ~1k DMT all the way up to finishing/polishing (with just water). No other stone or hone I'm aware of can do that - e.g. j-nats would, at the very least, require a few different nagura (slurry stones)... eschers, thungarians, barber hones, chinese 12Ks, etc. are for finishing ONLY... and synthetics would obviously require several hones of varying grits to accomplish the range of edge building.

That is just a myth my friend, you can do the exact same thing on just about any stone that you can shave comfortably off of....and almost every one that you listed

In fact the "One Coticule" honing is becoming more of a myth now too, since most Coticule users are buying two, one to set bevels and one to finish with..

The trick is most people don't like burning up expensive naturals to accomplish it, or wasting time on one synthetic...

Any of these you listed are an option if you are only doing this on only a few razors though...You have the time to mess with that one stone, and your not doing enough razors to wear it out fast...
The truth of the matter is I started in 1981 with two razors and a very good Arkansas stone, I used only that until around 1999-2000 when I dropped the second razor... I didn't need all the fancy stones until I found SRP and started honing for others, I used that same Arkansas and a Norton 4/8 for quite awhile for my own razors...

Your best value will come from either a Naniwa ss 10 or 12K or a Coticule in my opinion. The only Naniwa i have is the ss1000 for bevels. I use a coticule beyond that up to and including finishing. I have other finishers but they are a luxury not a necessity. A decent coticule with a size you can use comfortably can be had starting around $80 that will do everything you need unless you start refurbing Ebay specials.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

In fact the "One Coticule" honing is becoming more of a myth now too, since most Coticule users are buying two, one to set bevels and one to finish with..

Strangely, that's the part of the post (all good) that I most agree and disagree with. This Coticule user only refines bevels on them now. For true setting, Naniwa 1k. There's usually a barber's hone and a vintage Thuringian in the progression too.

You can get by with just one hone for touching up shaveready razors but there are a lot of vintage and new synthetic and natural hones to choose from. To make matters worse each natural stone is unique.

I would recommand to do some reading and then decide for yourself. You can also visit a few local antique stores to see if they have anything to offer.