Thread: Please suggest a finishing stone

Originally Posted by Blix

No you don't need the Shapton lapping stone, a DMT 325 works perfectly fine with them.

Same here. I lap my Shapton Ceramic Pro stones on a DMT325 without any problems. I lapped a 16k and 30k glass backed with it as well.

Originally Posted by Slur

I am into razor honing for about 6-8 months. So I am a newbie.

If you've been honing razors for 6-8 months more or less regularly, I wouldn't consider you a honing expert but far from a newbie too. Don't underestimate your skills.

Originally Posted by zib

I think a Naniwa 12k or Shapton 16k GS meets your criteria. Both are synthetics, but good stones with solid reputations. Most natural finishers are expensive, Coticules, J Nats, Charnley and Escher. Yes, you can get a less expensive Coticule or J Nat, but it'd be a small piece for less than 100.00. Not even sure you can find a J nat under 100.00

A coticule under/around $100 will be around the 4x15 cm / 5x10 cm mark, IMHO ideal razor hone sizes. My bout, ca. 4x12 cm was around $70 incl. shipping within Europe, US would be some $10-$15 on top of that, so around $90 for a good sized natural combination hone. Which would be the same as a naniwa super 12k incl. shipping I reckon.

I don't quite understand the need for 6x20 cm hones, just as I don't quite understand the need for 3" strops, but those are two completely different discussions that have no place here, so I'll shut up before I start yapping.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

The skill of the Honer is but one variable, the quality of the Coticule is the other....

Or to draw those two together: the skill of the honer on his particular coticule (since their characteristics vary), unless you're talking about coticules with other mineral inclusions, which will damage your edge and are unusable. But again, a completely unrelated topic. So again, I'll stop yapping (after of course saying something on it Forgive me my mild hypocrisy ).

Originally Posted by JimR

Listen, you're going to get tons of opinions on this, and no clarity will come of it. The thing you should be asking is, what finishing stone should you NOT buy. The answer is: a cheap ugly Japanese stone off eBay.

Pretty much anything else will do you fine.

I think this is pretty much your answer. There are many affordable options for around $100 or less, including but not limited to thuringians, naniwa's, shaptons, coticules, a variety of miscallaneous natural stones (I'm not including pastes, since Slur made it quite clear he wants a stone and is not in need of anything). It's really what holds your fancy, you'll get a good shaving edge off of all of these, even though the edges (and hones, of course) may differ in character.

I have only 3 hones, but I think it would be hard to beat a Franz Swaty. You can get one for a reasonable price on ebay. I didn't see any comments here about them, but it seems to be all i would ever need in a finishing hone

Originally Posted by Zeus

I have only 3 hones, but I think it would be hard to beat a Franz Swaty. You can get one for a reasonable price on ebay. I didn't see any comments here about them, but it seems to be all i would ever need in a finishing hone

The reason a Swaty wasn't mentioned is because it's a barber's hone and generally well below the 12k-16k range that is being discussed as a new finisher option...

It is also small, not too predictable, and most likely you will have to lap the hell out of it to get it in nice conditon. Much better options out there imo. You can even get a small coti for that money, and it will be a better finisher.

I have never seen a real definitive answer about what grit a Swaty may be, but it has to be near 10K. Am I wrong? Admittedly my knowledge here is limited, but it seems to give a really good edge. I have read that an 8k would be the minimum to use. Surely a swaty is finer than that. Maybe there is a better option for me. I just came across a hone at an antique store that seems to be a slate type hone. Gives a great edge, though.

Originally Posted by Zeus

I have only 3 hones, but I think it would be hard to beat a Franz Swaty. You can get one for a reasonable price on ebay. I didn't see any comments here about them, but it seems to be all i would ever need in a finishing hone

Many of us have splurged on more expensive hones and use them so we report on them. I have a bunch of barber's hones but never use them because of the other hones I have available. Many a people have been shaved off Swaty honed razors and survived the experience. When I first started into straight razors only a few years ago, the 8k Norton is what most of us used as a finishing hone and a few of use had Coticules as finishers. Times have changed quickly and the bar has been raised in the finished smoothness of straight razors. This does not knock the Swaty or it capabilities as a finisher hone. As I often say, if you are happy with the results and are having fun you are on the right road.

Originally Posted by Zeus

I have never seen a real definitive answer about what grit a Swaty may be, but it has to be near 10K. Am I wrong? Admittedly my knowledge here is limited, but it seems to give a really good edge. I have read that an 8k would be the minimum to use. Surely a swaty is finer than that. .

For many moons Barber's Hones and many others were rated pretty low... then the Shapton system gained popularity in our circles and the next thing we saw was wild eyed claims for grit guesses

Go back in the archives if you don't believe this...

This was pre Shapton grit guesses

Barber's hone = 6-8
Coticule = 6-8
BBW = 4
Escher = 10-12
Japanese (ig: )= 12
Thuringens (ig: ) = 8-10
Chinese =
Charnely Forest = 10
TOS = 6
WOA = 8
These were just some of the ones I remember and I am pretty sure of the old grit guesses...
After the Shapton 16k and 30k became widely used everyone's pet stone all of a sudden started to go up in the grit guessing game...

What any of them really are is always just a guess...although the guess of 50k that I recently saw from an e-bay honester was about laughable..

Originally Posted by Zeus

I have only 3 hones, but I think it would be hard to beat a Franz Swaty. You can get one for a reasonable price on ebay. I didn't see any comments here about them, but it seems to be all i would ever need in a finishing hone

I have a swaty but I don’t consider it a finishing stone.

Originally Posted by jeness

most likely you will have to lap the hell out of it to get it in nice conditon.

+1
It is really very hard to flatten.

So a barber hone like a Swaty would be a 6-8 k, but mine sure seems a whole lot finer and smoother than a 6k stone I have. It seems very smooth and slick, and I always get smooth and close shaves.