Do I need a finishing hone?

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Originally Posted by Kees

You hone them every day! So what do you mean when you say: "...do not requiire honing that often."?

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Point taken.

I mean, I don't have to break out my Nortons, or Naniwa's or Coticule, or what have you and do a full blown honing session, that you would normally do with a dull blade....3 lapps on Swaty imo, is like a PM, Preventative Maintenance, and it does work. It keeps my blades shave ready, as I said, for well over a year.

TBH, I haven't done it for a while now, because I never get to use my other hones. I've been using Glen's Naniwa system with very good results...Whatever works for you. In any case, That's not what this thread is about.....

Let's get this back on track, and help the OP.

The shave hasn't been very good IMO. There's definitely plenty of pulling and it doesn't yield a very close shave (when compared to a disposable).

I'd probably want to stay under or just around the $100 range.

If there is plenty of pulling, you probably need to go down to at least the 4k or 5k level, if not the 1k.

(note, this does depend on how you define "plenty of pulling.")

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Originally Posted by shooter74743

Everyone needs to quit quit with all of the "tests", especially those who are newer to our sport...the only REAL test is the shave test. A razor either shaves well or doesn't. If it doesn't, it needs touched up.

Sorry for the rant, but it is true.

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Amen. Give the hair a rest. Cut whiskers. Be careful out there. Pleeeease.

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Originally Posted by holli4pirating

If there is plenty of pulling, you probably need to go down to at least the 4k or 5k level, if not the 1k.

(note, this does depend on how you define "plenty of pulling.")

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It's all relative, but a definitely a few notches above "uncomfortable".

I can't do real smooth strokes like I've seen in videos. Even in less-dense areas, I have to do a lot of repeated mini-strokes (I don't know what you'd call it) over the same area, and it's still bordering on painful.

Yup, then I'd say start off by dropping back to the 4k range and work back up.

Thanks for the input!

I don't want to go secondhand for this and I've been unable to find any info on favored dealers for this kind of stuff.

I'm thinking about this hone from Nashville Knife Shop:

Norton 4000 / 8000 Grit Waterstone - Straight Razors

It seems economical to get a 2-in-1 hone (for some reason, they seem to cost around the same as a single-grit hone), and this is in my price range.

I'm not being naive in my choice of dealer or product here am I?

I've never used it but that hone used to be the de facto recommendation and there's a wealth of info on this forum relating to it. You'll have to lap it first. Do a search and you'll get loads of hits.

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Originally Posted by shooter74743

Everyone needs to quit quit with all of the "tests", especially those who are newer to our sport...the only REAL test is the shave test. A razor either shaves well or doesn't. If it doesn't, it needs touched up.

Sorry for the rant, but it is true.

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Yes, this is true, but we were all new once, with little to go on. Because we're resurrecting an art that has skipped one or two generations, only the luckiest beginner has someone to show them "This is how a shave should feel." So people read about "objective" tests that actually aren't objective, try to use them, and post questions about them.

Maybe we need a sticky at the top of the Beginner's forum about how a shave should feel, an intro to sharpness tests, and how you may not have a single hair on your body that will make the HHT work for you. Between the Wiki and great posts in the threads, we could come up with a sticky that could redirect this whole question.

The best description I've seen of how a shave should feel came up a couple of days ago... Fbones24 wrote "Try to just gently wipe the hair off of your face and that is probably still too much pressure."

That's where we should start, I think. It may not be useful to ask a HHT questioner "How does your razor shave," because they may not know how well it CAN or SHOULD shave. The best first question might be "Does your razor shave as if it's just wiping the hair off your face?"

That's my .02

A collague of mine shaves 3 times per week with a straight I sold him. He uses a Tony Miller pasted paddle strop. Nothing else. And apart from the one time a long time ago when he broke off his edge and I fixed it, the blade has never again seen a hone in 2 years time. And this guy has steel whiskers.

So no, you don't need a finishing hone. A pasted paddle or perhaps a barber hone will do just fine if you want to just maintain an edge that already shaves.