Thread: If I were to buy just one hone...

Originally Posted by Disburden

Ive been maintaining all my razors with barber hones and a strop with cerium oxide for several months now. I havent needed anything else since!

Dude, you can't make slurry on a swaty! where did you go wrong? )

You said that you don't need a 4k now, but you will need it in the future. Everyone messes up sometimes, new and experienced people alike, and in that case a 4k/8k Norton would be a good choice. If you insist on only one hone to maintain shave-ready razors, than I would go with a 12k nani, thuri, or 16k Shapton, and some crox pasted strop. They are easy to use, give nice edges, and are on the cheaper side.

I'd prefer not to have to deal with pastes and multiple strops. I'm leaning more toward a coticle or a barber hone. More so for the coticle. Is there a huge learning curve for coticles?

Ahhh their are so many options its confusing. Maybe I'm thinking too
Much into this. I think the 4k/8k stone maybe best for me right now since I'm new. After reading other posts on coticles learning on a 4/8 would be better. then maybe later getting a 12k to finish. Like I said I don't want to get extra strops and use pastes, so how many passes on the 8k side will give me a nice shave from a razor that pulls slightly

I say if you're going to start to maintain, use the 12k Naniwa or 16k shapton glass, then buy the norton combo 4/8. If you are careful with your edge, you can get away with the finisher. No dings, don't let the edge degrade to much before going to the finisher, and so on.
Yes, there is a lot to learn and remember, there is more than one way to skin a cat. Pick one method and learn it before trying different things. Double O

Alright nani 12k it Is!! Thank you guys, your a great help

You'll be happy with that. It's fast, like a barber's hone would be. Plus it's wide and long, like a barber's hone would not be. I've got one and love it.

Good luck sticking with one hone, many have tried and failed

If I was to restrict myself to 1 hone it would be a large natural finisher with a bunch of slurry stones of different grit.

Originally Posted by Piet

Good luck sticking with one hone, many have tried and failed

If I was to restrict myself to 1 hone it would be a large natural finisher with a bunch of slurry stones of different grit.

If I were stuck with one hone, it'd be an Escher and a rubbing stone or this new South African Zulu hone.

Seriously, To the OP. I think I would have stuck with the Norton 4/8, and picked up a cheap Chinese 12k from woodcraft here:Buy Natural Water Stone 8 x 2 x 1 at Woodcraft If you check out the page, there's also an 8x2 3/4 size as well.

The Naniwa 12k is a lot more expensive, If it's within your means, it's a much better stone. The The chinese 12k will get you there, it's just slow, so you create a slurry. If your going to maintain your own blades. You need a sharpener, 4k, a finisher, 8k, and 12k is like the icing on the cake.

You can maintain your blades with 12k's and pastes, but eventually you'll need something more, believe me, especially if you just use pastes. It's very easy to roll the edge of a blade by just using pastes. Balsa or a paddle would be the way to go there, but that's up to you....

Most experienced honer's can look at an edge, and tell if you've been using just pastes to refresh. Eventually you'll need the rocks.

These are my opinions.

Which stone is a hard choice.
I starting to think i rather have the wider stones so
i can do parrelle strokes with the razor.
and not to do The X strokes.