Thread: My first hone ?

Originally Posted by recurvist22

Ok, i just bought my first straight razor, a decent looking Butcher Brothers Sheffield. I had a small little pocket hone that seems to have a fairly fine grit, though i'm not sure of the exact grit, after reading a few articles here, i started honing. It actually got fairly sharp fairly quick, just a little uneven, the end of the blade will actually shave, but the base of blade is still kind of dull. I'm thinking this is partly due to the fact that the stone is 1" by 4", and mainly due to the fact that i'm a complete newbie to this. My question is, what is a good hone to start with? I have a strop, and my budget is pretty small, and I'm noticing that alot of hones are pretty pricey. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

A good razor hone is a bit expensive.
The workhorse hone for years has been a Norton 4K/8K
combo hone. I like mine...

The price of a professional honing is
on the order of $25 in the US and is highly recommended.
For sure at least once so you can enjoy a well honed blade.

A 1x4 hone if it is fine enough can do the job. With a
narrow hone like this you use an X stroke. You set the razor
down at one end heal first and as you slide the razor
across the hone you shift the razor so the entire bevel heel to toe
spends equal time on the hone. It sounds like you are
not giving equal time to the heel of the razor so as you
slowly glide the razor spend more time on the heel.

A hone can be tricked into acting finer than it is by
using a thin layer of lather on the hone with a light
touch. Five or six hone strokes -- strop and shave test.

The reason for the five or six hone strokes is that
you do not want to raise a burr. A visit to a canvas
plus leather strop will not remove a bad burr so
sneak up on sharp.

I would recommend your razor make one visit to a honemaster.
In the next three to six months shop for a hone
if you want...

ok guys, i can't tell you how much i appreciate all the info, who on here would you recommend me sending it to to have it sharpened?

Look in the classifieds under Member services first...


also here is the updated version of the hone guide from the Wiki
I just updated again LOL

The more recent version for you
Some thoughts on honing razors..
Aspiring honers are often not clear about what they are trying to accomplish when it comes to honing razors. In particular, they are often unsure of what they are doing and how often they should be doing it. Some questions you might want to answer for yourself before you start buying hones: this also means that if you are not sure of the answer here, you should shave more, and wait to buy hones until you can answer these questions.... I normally recommend 6 months of shaving before even thinking about honing

■ Are you an "end-user"; someone who only hones a previously shave-ready blade back to shave-ready?
■ Are you a hobbyist who is chasing the absolute finest edge that may be obtained where money is no object?
■ Are you a frugal shaver who is after the cheapest way to complete your morning shave?
■ Are you a collector who needs to take E-bay specials from butt-ugly to shave-ready?
■ Are you a Honemiester; someone who gets paid to do all of these things for others?
■ Are you a razor restorer who needs to take damaged blades and bring them back to life and shave-readiness?

Each of these types of honer profiles have different requirements for the stones they will own. Theoretically, you can survive using the "one stone" approach, but each razor does have an optimum stone set - and more importantly, a technique for using the required hones. So generally, when somebody asks what stone or how to use what stone, the question to ask them is: "What are you trying to accomplish with the stone(S)?"

Refreshing vs. Starting from Scratch:

The types of hones required depends first and foremost on the type of honing you want to do.

Hones needed for refreshing a dull blade:

If the only task you want to perform is refreshing edges that have previously been established by a Honemiester (the process is often referred to as "touching up"), you need only get a fine grit finishing stone or a barber's hone for this. Either of these hones can be used to keep your razor(s) shave-ready for years.

Hones needed for restoring razors:

If you want to set a bevel, or have many different types of razors, you will need a full set of hones.


A bevel setting stone approximately 1k

DMT's 325 600 1200, Shapton 500, 1K and 2K, Coticules with slurry, Norton 1k, Naniwa 1k, King 1k

A sharpening stone approximately 4k

Norton 4K, Shapton 4K Naniwa 3k or 5k, Belgian Blue with slurry, Coticule with slurry, King 4k or 6kTam o Shanter, Dragon's Tongue

A polishing stone approximately 8k

Norton 8k, Shapton 8k, Naniwa 8k, Yellow Coticule, Water of Ayre

A finishing stone 10k and above (this is often subject to debate, however)

Shapton GS 16k-30k Shapton 15k Naniwa SS 10k-12k or Chosera 10k, Thuringens, Escher's, Many different natural Japanese finishers, Charlney Forest, Extra Fine Coticule, even some of the Arkansas stones...

You have several choices of how to accomplish this setup whether you use natural, man-made stone, or a Diamond-style stone, even honing films, but you are going to have to be able to cover those 4 grit ranges. There really is no true shortcut here if you expect to take razors acquired in need of restoration from butter knife dull (or damaged) to shaving sharp: You are going to end up needing these types of stones.


Pastes can be used after the hones and before the final stropping also these can be used for re-freshing the edge before going back to the hones for a touch-up... Some shavers even use pastes to "sharpen" the razor after the bevel set has been done...

A few different types

Dovo Pastes:

Green 5-8 micron
Red 3-5 micron
Black 1-3 micron
Dovo pastes are a much more mild cutter then say a diamond paste of the same micron size...

Diamond Paste:

From 3 micron down to actually .10 micron if you really wanted to...
These pastes are fast and many people use them incorrectly and manage too get a harsh edge, when used correctly and on the right razor steel these will most likely be the sharpest edge you will ever feel...

Diamond sprays:

Mostly found in 1.0 .50 and .25 micron watch the Carat content here, the higher the better (SRD has the best I have found and yes Lynn and Don are friends of mine, but heck it is still the best spray I have found)

Chromium Oxide Paste/Powder .50 micron (CrOx)
Probably the most universal of the pastes, get the most pure you can find, and no the bars at Woodcrafters are not pure...

Cerium Oxide Paste/Powder (approx).25 micron (CeOx)

Super fine, super soft, and super smooth, polishing media...The bar at Woodcrafter's is of unknown quality at this time

Other Pastes and Powders:

Iron Oxide
Aluminum Oxide

Both of these can also be used again be very careful when buying this stuff as the purity and the micron sizes are very important...

Carbon blacking/lamp black:

This might be the oldest of all the sharpening "pastes" when used on a leather strop it increases draw

Wood Ash:

Another old fashioned one very slightly abrasive when used on Linen strops and Leather strops..

White chalk:

Can be rubbed on a linen strop to increase the abrasive qualities

Newspaper:

The ink itself is a very fine abrasive and so is the paper..

Keep in mind that different razor steels like/dislike different pastes, and the different media that is used to apply it including Balsa, Linen, Leather (paddle) Leather (hanger) and Felt paddle and hanger all give different results on different razor steels....


The above are only my personal opinions and observations... There are no set rules in Razordom

No rules in Razordom? Then I'm lost here for sure.
With no guidance for my actions, how will I endure?
With no rules to lead my way, I'll certainly be lost
and hone feverishly, with bad results, and a high cost.

Can I start with the sidewalk and hone "up" from there?
If I go from there to 30K will I be able to cut hanging hair?
Must I watch endless boring shaving videos on You Tube?
Will I shave without benefit of rules, forever a noob?

Will I hack away at my face forever, producing weepers?
I'll never distinguish the bad blades from the keepers!
Will I endure 5 o'clock shadows before every noon?
I fear that this course will exhaust my styptic real soon.