Gentlemen...Thoughts?

I have not yet gotten into the venerable art of Honing, and in all honesty it scares me a bit. However, I am intrigued enough to consider attempting it and will need some stones to use... I don't have enough basic knowledge as yet to know what to purchase except for the standard answer everyone will give and end up with a Norton 4k/8k, i found this online and was interested enough that I thought I would put it up here and see what ya'll had to say about it...
Free Shipping Wider Welsh Slate Tri Hone Razor Sharpening Stone Set 3 Hones | eBay

So let me know any Ideas or thoughts you may have, Also I have A couple of barbers Hones which I understand are used as a Touch up after 20 or so shaves and will not work to put an edge on my Vintage blades that need a full sharpening.

The old workhorse norton 4/8 is indeed often recommend. Not without good reason. It is not sexy, not exotic but at one time it was virtually the only viable game in town. Along came Shaptons, naniwas and a whole plethora of naturals from the four corners of the world.

I was a hone freak/junkie and at one time had something like 60 of them. I still have a few naturals that I use for final finishing but my only synthetics, after having the other well known synthetics, are the norton 4/8 and a chosera 1k for bevel setting.

So if anyone asks me for a honing setup I always recommend the chosera 1k, norton 4/8 and a Dia-Sharp DMT D8C 325 for lapping the waterstones and sharpening your kitchen knives or whatever. There is a large knowledge base on these stones in the SRP library and in prior forum posts. I have to say that the knowledge base also exists for the other hones, where in past years it did not. Anyhow, after 5 years of doing it that is what I've kept for my razors. Sold the rest. Not that they weren't good, just that the nortons were better for me personally.

Similar to JimmyHAD apart from that i have few more of those hones still in situ. I made mistake that i sold my Norton and now I am thinking to buy another one just for consistency of work and info available.

I have heard good things about the welsh stones; however, learning to hone on naturals can be pretty hit or miss, and learning to work the slurry, diluting, learning how to properly set a bevel...well, it's a lot to choke down in one go, and a lot to try and back track when something doesn't go right the first time. I agree w/ Jimmy, the nortons and my favorite, the naniwas aren't sexy and exotic, but they get the job done well, and are much easier to learn with than naturals. Plus, there is a wealth of info on both sets, and a heap of guys to help you with learning the nortons and naniwas as you go.

I own the Welsh stones trio as well as a Norton 4/8, and I would say go with the Norton. The Welsh stones are nice & put a good edge on the razor, but the Norton is a better all-around stone; more consistent, easier to use, and plenty of info readily available on it...

The Norton is consistent and versitile I love mine and would never sell it. It's the one stone I always go back to when my naturals are being fickle.

I started on the Naniwa SS with my old King 1000 which I had for bevel setting, I am pleased with the consitencey out of the Naniwa 8 different razors honed to point.
I did seriously consider the norton 4/8 the determining factor for me was getting the 10 or 12 (I went with the 12) in the same brand and type.

Woodstock SteelX Japanese water stone 1000 - 6000. Excellent stone for the beginner . 1/2 the cost of the Norton.

You might also consider a barbers hone. If you have have razors with good bevels then it maybe less expensive to see what it's like. I went Norton 4/8 myself and later got a King 250/1k for fixing e-bay blades. I would also suggest you get a razor to learn on if you only have a few you use and love. It has a learning curve just like using a straight but you can do it. I have been using a straight for only 6 months and have not gone out and bought a 12k because I am just now beginning to feel I would notice the difference. Where do you see yourself going down the road is a big question. Just honing 5 to 10 razors a year or getting into do more. Plan ahead saves more in the end.

If you've already got a couple of barber hones and some vintage blades in need of full sharpening I'd be looking for something around the 1000 grit mark for setting new bevels and then something to bridge the gap to the barbers barber hone(s).

You may find the welsh stone set covers similar ground to the barber hones you already have, you may not. Both the Welsh naturals and barber hones can be quite variable.

I like my King 1k/6k for setting new bevels and getting a razor ready for a final polish. I have went from butter knife dull to shaving sharp going 1k>6k>barber hone, but I ditched my barbers hone in favour of my naturals.

I'm new to honing, about 8 months of trying to learn. I wouldn't think of learning on anything but the Norton 4k / 8k. I also recommend the Chosera 1k for setting the bevel. I got a lot better results when I used the Chosera 1k for setting the bevel. I'm in no way an expert but I can tell you for me that 90% of honing is setting the bevel correctly. If the bevel isn't good then I don't care what kind of stone you have or what high grit stone you have you won't like the results. In my opinion the sharpness comes from the bevel and the smoothness comes from all of the high grit stones everyone is talking about. Don't get me wrong, guys like Lynn could probably use a brick from start to finish and get great results. The rest of us are human (lol).

Chosera 1K for bevel setting, Naniwa (3/8K), Norton (4/8K), or Shapton(4/8K). Get to where you can shave off 8k comfortably, then add a finisher. Sure, you can get cheaper...but you can't get much better. I've learned all three & prefer the later...but it's all personal preference.

Chosera 1k, Norton 4/8 DMT 325...

Once you have that and can use it effectively, then you can go any direction you want to.

The Norton 4/8 can be substituted with a Naniwa 3/8 or Shapton 4/8

You can substitute in just about any 1k for the Chosera, but it really is that much better :)


Basically +1 to what Jimmy said in the first post :)
I do own the Welsh Slates and they are a great set for the money, but they are two Finishers and a (questionable) Medium grit.. They are a fun set to own latter down the road, I would never recommend them as a basic honing setup...


:p Scott and I were typing at the same time