Thread: DMT-E diamond hone--need clarification!

Yes, I'd say that's the stone--I have the smaller of the two. Flattening the stone--? I've never done so. I've seen Norton (and "Japanese") flattening stones advertised. They seem to run about $45-60. After examining my stone a few minutes ago, I'd say it's relatively flat, but not super flat. And I'm slowly becoming concerned about trying to sharpen a nice straight edge using it. Your word "usable" about the stone concerns me. I'm getting the sense that I should invest in a new suite of stones, which, of course, I've been resisting because of the cost. Yet like all of us I want razors that are super sharp and excellent shavers. Unfortunately, I suspect that 'you get what you pay for' applies here as well as elsewhere, and I need to grit my teeth and buy the best. :-)

Hello pcg,

you obviously have a lot to learn before you can begin sharpening your daily razor.
I would recommend you send your razor to one of our honemeisters to get it in tip top condition again.
This way you will know how it is supposed to be. Then I suggest you buy a halfway decent razor on ebay, or our classifields
and learn how to sharpen not on your daily razor but another one. Learning to sharpen can be difficult and you will not always get satisfactory results
wich is not good if your experimenting on your only razor.

The King brand 1k/4k is not the best stone out there, it is the lowest quality I could recommend to anyone who really is on a budget
or wants to start learning with minimum of investment. Like mentioned above, the most common and recommended sharpening systems is Naniwa (Superstones), Norton and Shapton (Glasstones as well as Professional Stones)

These are highly regarded among sharpeners worldwide. Btw. the 1.000 side of your king stone is considered to be absolutely fine for razors,
it´s merely the 4.000 side that is below averagre quality.

Flattening a stone every now and then is an important factor in the game.
Especially old stones and soft stones like King brand need flattening.
There is a section in the Wiki regarding this subject.
All you need to know is here:
Hone Lapping 101 - Straight Razor Place Wiki

you get what you pay for

That´s absolutely true, but it won´t be necessary to go as far as we crazy people do.
You can get perfectly fine results with a good foundation, a 8.000 finish and a nice polishing compound
like TI-paste, 0.5µm diamond on felt, 0.5µm chromium oxide or the quite new 0.5µm CBN

Thanks to you both for the good advice. Nothing offered that isn't excellent advice. You guys are great!

As a followup, I did order a Norton 3k/8k stone last night. That, combined with the King 1k, should do it! I'll then strop w/ the TI-paste. Whew.

if you ordered the norton 4/8 it will need to be lapped they arent usable until you lap them.

Hello pcg, and welcome to the world of honing! If someone else suggested this, silly me... but you should also pick up a 325-grit DMT for flattening your other stones. It's also nice to have if you've got a really ratty blade that needs some aggressive reshaping or pit removal.

Take advantage of the first chance you get to go to an SRP meetup. The best way to learn honing is to see it done. There are lots of videos on the site, too... give 'em a watch.

Good luck and best wishes.

Yes, looking forward to a meetup! Nothing beats a show & tell. I'm in the Boston area, so will have to see if anything local is in the works. From checking geographic locations, I note there are a bunch of SRP members in this area!