Thread: My first hone

Originally Posted by roughkype

...treat yourself to a 325-grit DMT plate.

Any recommendations on where to find one? It doesn't appear to be available at Home Depot or Lowes types stores (I checked their websites). Where do you typically find them?

Originally Posted by Blix

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

I'm not sure I follow...but then I'm new to all this. Is it the size of the coticule stone I picked up? It is 5 1/2" x 1 1/2". It seemed plenty large enough in my hands and when the store owner demonstrated how to use it, he had absolutely no problem.

Originally Posted by eflatminor

I'm not sure I follow...but then I'm new to all this. Is it the size of the coticule stone I picked up? It is 5 1/2" x 1 1/2". It seemed plenty large enough in my hands and when the store owner demonstrated how to use it, he had absolutely no problem.

Hehe just poking some fun at you, I have an even smaller coti I use as a finisher...

Originally Posted by eflatminor

You honed reed knives? Are you a player?

Yep, back in my untethered youth I was an oboe playa, Yo!

You can get a DMT plate from most of the vendors who sell hones. I've also seen them at well-stocked hardware stores, like Ace or True Value. The knife place where you got the rubstone might also have them. The 325 grit is what DMT calls Coarse, and I think they color-code it blue. They come in continuous plates or with a perforated plate mounted on a plastic base. The continuous ones are cheaper, and a little better for lapping and slurry-raising. 2"x6" is a fine size, even for lapping hones larger than it is.

The nicest thing about a DMT plate rather than the sandpaper option is that all the action can take place conveniently in your sink, under running water.

Best wishes.

Originally Posted by Blix

Hehe just poking some fun at you, I have an even smaller coti I use as a finisher...

The guy at the store was telling me about a really large piece they had years ago, on display in the front window. It was stolen during the LA riots in '92. He also showed me the coticule the store has been using to hone razors since they bought the business in 1964. It's still going strong! It was long, maybe 8" or more but very narrow, less than 1 1/2" I'm guessing.

The dark side of your hone appears to be a non abrasive slate which is not suitable for honing.

The rubbing stone is far to coarse to use for generating slurry. The grit size used to make that rubbing stone is rated at either 1F or 2F, very coarse. If any of it stayed on the hone mixed in with the slurry it would micro-chip your edge.

You use that coticule when your razor starts to pull a bit. A lite slurry simply makes the hone work faster, then dilute down to water for a finishing edge. Then strop & shave. Repeat if necessary.

Hope this helps,

Originally Posted by randydance062449

The dark side of your hone appears to be a non abrasive slate which is not suitable for honing.

The rubbing stone is far to coarse to use for generating slurry. The grit size used to make that rubbing stone is rated at either 1F or 2F, very coarse. If any of it stayed on the hone mixed in with the slurry it would micro-chip your edge.

You use that coticule when your razor starts to pull a bit. A lite slurry simply makes the hone work faster, then dilute down to water for a finishing edge. Then strop & shave. Repeat if necessary.

Hope this helps,

Thanks for your help. Your post highlights just how divergent advice can be. The old fellow that owns the barber supply shop told me the dark side of the stone is indeed slate...and that I could use it as a final honing stage stone, once lapped, though he also suggested that wouldn't be necessary if I got the right slurry going and used proper honing technique on the regular coticule side.

He also thought the little rubbing stone would make, in his words, a "perfect" slurry stone. That said, he suggested that for the kind of honing I'm doing (touching up previously shave-ready razors), the razor itself would create the needed slurry and I really didn't need another stone.

I can't image him intentionally misleading me or having an alternative motive because he gave me the rubbing stone for free...

Not doubting you! I don't have any experience to judge either way, but it is interesting how different advice on such issues can be.

That said, I'm looking into the DMT plate...

This is a coticle....
Just hone the razor clear water ten strokes.
Strop and shave test...

If the razor was sharp enough to shave with
recently then just use it like a barber hone.

A couple laps strop then shave.
The silly things just work... you may have to revisit
the hone often at first while the bevel on the razor
and on the hone line up but little by little they will.

I've also seen them at well-stocked hardware stores, like Ace or True Value.

Remember when looking at Ace (not sure about Tru-Value), it's a franchised operation. My local Ace has absolutely nothing I need. I used to get really frustrated because members would say go to Ace, and my Ace didn't have any of the things the members said. Point is, if one Ace doesn't have it, the Ace in the next town still might. That's probably why Roughkype said "well stocked" hardware stores. I'd suggest calling ahead, because Ace online isn't really representative of what the individual stores carry. The happy ending of course, is that I found an Ace just a few miles away that stocked everything I was looking for. Sorry for the thread hijack, if I'm taking this the wrong direction.

Hey RegularJoe,

You're dead on; that's exactly what I meant by well-stocked. It goes for Ace, True-Value, any of the chains.

Another place to look for the DMT hones is a dedicated woodworking store, like Woodcraft or Rockler. They'll have 1k waterstones for sure, and sometimes Norton 4/8ks.