Thread: My first hone

Originally Posted by Servant4Christ

Looks nice!

I'm right behind ya, plan on picking up my first hones here in the next month or so. I'll probably go with the set that is sold on WhippedDog.com. It comes with 1/2 hones in the 4k/8k combo to learn on......

Good luck!

Joshua

Larry at Whippeddog provides a great service providing starter blades to the community and I recommend his razors without hesitation. However, I don't think anyone should try to learn honing on a half hone. A Norton is a great tool and its dimensions allow good heel to toe support of the blade (3") and a productive stroke length (8"). Half of a good tool is less than what it sounds like.

There are lots of shorter and narrower hones in use, barber's hones and coticules and rare old finishers, and they work just fine. But I think if you pinch your pennies just a little longer and get a full-sized Norton, you'll have a far better learning experience and a more useful lifelong tool.

Best wishes

Eflat,

Others may correct me here, but I have both slate-backed and natural combo - that looks like slate to me.

The urge to dive into all facets of owning/maintaining/restoring razors is almost irresitable. It was for me too. I ignored the counsel to first learn the shave, then learn to hone. I suffered quite a bit for it. At the risk of sounding like a wet blanket on your well justified enthusiam, I wish I had listened to that counsel about the shave first. Glen's thread last month was golden (as usual).
Straight Razor Place - Beginners Tips: October 2011
I get mail and write many new shavers. Its hard to write - probably even harder to hear - that learning the shave first will help you in all the other parts of honing. If you don't know what a good edge feels like, how do you know if you've succeeded or not with your developing skills?

Having a couple blades - don't have to be expensive, allows you to keep shaving while one is out being touched-up by someone competent on the stones. Many will hone for free (myself included) - just to gain more and more experience from having done hundreds of blades. This allows you to enjoy the shaves with proper edges and let you know that a 'good' edge feels like. With that knowledge, you can post your questions, enjoy the kind help of many highly skilled guys here (as I have) and zero in on that 'feel' that you've learned to enjoy.

I hope which ever way you chose to go, you continue enjoying your shaves. When learning to hone, keep your sense of humor nearby - its a challenge. You'll do it fine. There's just some dues to be paid.

I appreciate Lynn's constant reminder to have fun at it.

Originally Posted by eflatminor

A couple of follow up questions:
1) Any advice on "when to slurry, when to thin the slurry, when to lose the slurry"?
2) Is a "rubbing/slurry stone" simply another smaller stone like I already have? I figured the action of honing the blade would create a slurry. Is the idea of a slurry stone to create that slurry before honing? Do you have to do that every time or just the first time?
3) The nicks on the edge of the stone, what should I use to sand them out? Regular sand paper?

Thanks again gents...

1) When an edge needs a little touch up I use a light misty slurry 15 strokes, add a few drops of water do another 15, then again a few drops and water, then I do about 40 strokes on just water. If the blade needs more work I start with a milky slurry and 30-40 strokes then dilute as before. However coticules are natural stones some are fast some are slow so you need to see what works for your stone as far as number of stokes are concerned by trial ad error. Too thick a slurry (muddy or thick cream consistency) can blunt a blade so milky is where to start.
2) yes a rubbing stone is a stone of the same type used to create a slurry, equally you can use a cheap diamond plate to raise a slurry and also for lapping.
3) I chamfered the edge of my coticule with the same diamond plate I used to lap it. If using paper I would use wet and dry as it doesn't release particles like sand paper.

Originally Posted by eflatminor

....snip....
A couple of follow up questions:
1) Any advice on "when to slurry, when to thin the slurry, when to lose the slurry"?
2) Is a "rubbing/slurry stone" simply another smaller stone like I already have? I figured the
action of honing the blade would create a slurry. Is the idea of a slurry stone to create that slurry before honing?
Do you have to do that every time or just the first time?
....snip....

Start with slurry and use it to the point that the edge develops.
If the edge was dull this can be quite a while. Slurry makes
the hone act coarser and faster.

Dilute the slurry when the heavy slurry gets grey... and you
want to begin polishing the edge.

More and more water to the point that clear water on the
hone is the final step.

Since each hone and razor is different guidelines only...
but 20 laps slurry, 20 diluted slurry, 20 clear water.

If the razor shave OK recently clear water even lather
may be all you need.

A slurry stone is icing on the cake and is going
to be almost exactly like your hone... just smaller.
It can be used to worry down the high bits and keep
the hone close to flat.

A DMT will generate slurry. Do not waste your hone
just lap half a sheet of paper from the hone leave
the mud/ slurry on the hone and begin. A rubbing stone
will break down the largish bits that a DMT might dig out
and reduce them to a better grit size for honing.

For what it is worth I honed my first three razors on a
Coticle for 20+ years and never had a rubbing stone
or a DMT. I rinsed it, honed lightly, stropped and
shaved. Most of those years I had a full beard so I was
just shaving the "difficult" neck bits. Coticles have
a lot of fans for a reason...

Thanks again to everyone that gave advice. I've set aside one straight razor to practice honing...the other has been honed professionally so I'll know the difference. I picked up today a small "Abrasive Rub Stone", which I'm expecting will allow me to lap the hone flat, take care of the little nicks on the edge, and work up a slurry as needed. How much slurry, how many strokes...all that stuff will have to come from trial and error...but I'm looking forward to learning. Anyway, here's a picture of the little stone I picked up today:

Where did you find that rubstone? It goes with a very good barber's hone, the Frictionite. It's intended to deglaze the Frictionite. I don't know what sort of grit it would leave if used as a slurry stone; could leave something far coarser than you want. Back when I honed reed knives on my Frictionite, I used the rubstone quite a lot. I'd say it's too soft for lapping--mine thinned down pretty quickly.

If you could find the barber's hone this was paired with you'd be in good luck. Probably out a pretty penny too.

To flatten your hones, use some 300-grit wet/dry sandpaper on a marble tile, or treat yourself to a 325-grit DMT plate. The DMT plate is also the standard tool for raising slurry if you don't have a slurry stone for your hone.

Normally, the slurry stone is just a small piece of the same stone as the hone itself. DMTs are nice neutral slurry-raisers, because they do not shed any grit onto the source stone.

don't forget to lap!

Originally Posted by roughkype

Where did you find that rubstone? It goes with a very good barber's hone, the Frictionite. It's intended to deglaze the Frictionite. I don't know what sort of grit it would leave if used as a slurry stone; could leave something far coarser than you want. Back when I honed reed knives on my Frictionite, I used the rubstone quite a lot. I'd say it's too soft for lapping--mine thinned down pretty quickly.

If you could find the barber's hone this was paired with you'd be in good luck. Probably out a pretty penny too.

To flatten your hones, use some 300-grit wet/dry sandpaper on a marble tile, or treat yourself to a 325-grit DMT plate. The DMT plate is also the standard tool for raising slurry if you don't have a slurry stone for your hone.

Normally, the slurry stone is just a small piece of the same stone as the hone itself. Nagura stones might be os are a different source, but they're a special case. DMTs are nice neutral slurry-raisers, because they do not shed any grit onto the source stone.

Actually, I was JUST telling my lady that I should really lap with wet/dry sandpaper as I seems much more fool proof. Anyway, I got the rubstone from a barber supply and knife store in downtown LA called Ross. One of the owners recommended it as a slurry stone (he has a box of them under the counter) and something I could use to clean up the little nicks on the edge of my new coticule hone. Since it is new and already pretty darn flat, I'm guessing that's why he said it could use it as a lapping stone as well...since I wouldn't have far to go. That said, I will absolutely look out grit using it as a slurry stone.

I'll also check out this DMT 325 plate.

Question: Won't the action of honing the razor create its own slurry? How often do you typically turn to a slurry stone if you're starting with professionally honed, shave-ready razors?

I didn't see the Frictionite hone but I'll ask the next time I'm there.

You honed reed knives? Are you a player?

Originally Posted by canuckblade

don't forget to lap!

I promise!

Originally Posted by eflatminor

I promise!

Promise to ask here before you buy more hones, so far all you got is slurry stones...