buying a decent set of hones...

Hi Guys,

I hope this is the right place for this post. I'm just starting to get the hang of my stainless Dovo (but I've nicked the blade, so I guess it's time to get into honing).

I've been looking at a set of Naniwa hones, but I'm not sure which ones to get. Should I get the complete set of 9 hones and a lapping stone or only a 5k, 8k and 12k with lapping stone.

Are these the best hones to get? I want to be able to put the best possible edge on a stainless blade - from what I can gather than natural stones are not any better than synthetic hones.

For the experts out there, what's your dream set of hones? I don't plan on collecting a 100 hones, I'd rather pay a bit more up front but have something I'll never get sick of! It does seem like I'm in this game for the long haul anyways...

I have a DMT D11C; King 1k 4k 6k and a PHIG as well as an aloxite barber hone.
I REALLY want a coticule. The blades that I've sent out that came back after a Coti are smooth as silk. One was finished on the Coti one on a PHIG.
I think the Norton 4/8k combo is better than the Kings but I was on a tight budget when I got my stones.
I've hears nothing but praise for the Naniwa's, though.

The Naniwa 5, 8, 12k are a good combination if the bevel is set and your doing moderate to light touch up and refreshing. I think you'll also need a bevel setting stone and I would recommend the Norton 220/1000 combo stone. For lapping I would disregard the standard lapping stones and get a DMT 325 diamond. It will lap all of these stones many times and it never needs lapped itself being a steel plate w/diamond. Depending on the extent of the nick in your blade the 220 if it's bad or the 1000 if not to significant will certainly make cleaning up the edge and resetting the bevel much easier. it could be done on a 5000, but you'd better have plenty of time depending on the nick. Hope this helps. I'm sure the big guns will pickup on this thread soon and provide some very beneficial and extensive expertise. Regards, Howard

Not a dream set but my set, and it works fine:

DMT 325
Norton 220
Norton 1K
Norton 4K
Norton 8K
Naniwa SS 12K
Shapton 16K
Shapton 30K (very rarely used unless I really want to cut myself up :) )

I'd forgo the Naniwa set and get a good 1k bevel setter (Chosera 1k, Shapton Pro 1.5, Naniwa 1k), a DMT 325 (for lapping), and a Coticule. You could actually set the bevel on a Coticule, but it'd require more work. The beauty of the Coticule is that it can also be used for touching up your razors in the future, and is usually easy to travel with. The downside to this approach is that it is slightly more difficult for new honers to user natural stones, in this case being the Coticule.

Is it worth investing in a set of Shapton hones then? Also what grit is the Coticule stones? This seems to be more of an art than I realised.

Where would I buy said stones on the internet at a decent price?