Hello everyone,
As a newbie I didn't intend to dive into the honing forum just yet (I'm still working on the shaves!), but an interesting discovery changed my mind.
After only a month of dedicated interest in straight razors, I was rummaging through my garage searching for sharpening stones to touch up my pocket knife. In an old box of family hand-me-down tools was an Escher Water Hone (images at bottom). The wiki article tells me this is a good find, and the grain is around 12k.
With this, of course, comes questions:
First, it has some chips along the margins, so it looks like some restoration work would need to be done to get it in working order. Is a lapping stone all that is needed, or is there more?
Second, it appears that I would need to supplement this with coarser stones such as a Norton 4k/8k in order to get the full complement of honing stages needed to both re-bevel and finish a razor's edge. Is a 4k/8k/12k the most common grain sequence for a good set of honing stones?
Third, the label mentions working up a lather on the stone. I've read other threads that describe these stones as coming included with a smaller lathering stone, which this has none. Is a lathering stone necessary for its proper usage?
Any info would be a great help, and I am already indebted to the expertise of the membership here.
Best,
Kurt
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