Thread: First hone will be a finisher, but what to get?

Sitting at the Meetup in Yakima this past weekend it was pretty funny to listen to most of the guys there all say the same thing, "Man I wish I had just bought the Naniwa 12k in the beginning it would have saved time and money"

It is pretty hard to beat at any price, let alone at the price it is...

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Sitting at the Meetup in Yakima this past weekend it was pretty funny to listen to most of the guys there all say the same thing, "Man I wish I had just bought the Naniwa 12k in the beginning it would have saved time and money"

It is pretty hard to beat at any price, let alone at the price it is...

I'll second that. I have a number of stones, but I rarely use anything other than the Naniwa 12K SS.
If you're starting out with "good" edges, it's perfect for touch-ups, IMHO.

A good barber's hone is fine, too, but its nice to have the longer and wider working surface of a
full-sized stone.

I don't think that you can go wrong with the Naniwa 12K SS, but it will definitely need to be lapped...
at least initially. Perhaps a friend of yours has a DMT 325 and could help you out. Or there's always
wet/dry sandpaper.

Ok. Looks like more votes for Naniwa. Although still, perhaps irrationally, I am seduced by the idea of a coticule. Honestly, if I can shave comfortably off just a stone, without having to deal with different pasted strop set-ups, I'm sold. I hate a harsh edge, and it seems that using a Naniwa for touch-ups, I'd have to follow with chromox or something to smooth it out. Right?

As an added testament to the general "love" for a Naniwa 12K, I have not been able to find anyone who has one that's collecting dust and would be willing to sell it. I guess it just works. I found it very interesting what gssixgun said about everyone's hindsight.

Originally Posted by PaulKidd

I'll second that. I have a number of stones, but I rarely use anything other than the Naniwa 12K SS.
If you're starting out with "good" edges, it's perfect for touch-ups, IMHO.

A good barber's hone is fine, too, but its nice to have the longer and wider working surface of a
full-sized stone.

I don't think that you can go wrong with the Naniwa 12K SS, but it will definitely need to be lapped...
at least initially. Perhaps a friend of yours has a DMT 325 and could help you out. Or there's always
wet/dry sandpaper.

I have only the Norton lapping stone.
Is it really that bad to use it on the Naniwa 12k or do i need to really invest in the DMT 325?

You also have to think about the razors you have had honed, what types they are, what hones you have liked the shave from..

This is just one of the many reasons we always say don't start honing until you have been shaving for at least 6 months..

Have you tried several different types of steel honed on both ????
What razors are you planning on honing???
Also don't get suckered into that a Coticule is a magical stone that can go from bevel to finish and is the only one that can do it most anything you can shave off of can do the same..

I have every Naniwa SS they make because they are just that good. From straights to knives they do a fine job no matter what the price(just dont soak them too long they like to warp if you do that). I would like to +1 on this thread. It does not matter what hone you get, skill with the hone will give you a good edge. Watch videos, have your freind sit down with you and show you a thing or two, and just do it, what ever hone you get. There will be some sort of learning curve. The more razors you put across your properly prepped hone with good technique the more skill you will develop. You may even end up with a coticul or two or three you never know.Good luck-

Traps 38: Your lapping stone will work fine as long as it is flat. I know alot of people who use high grits on their finishers when they lap them to keep them as smooth as possible.

i almost got the Chinese12k stone as a finisher & in between stone for when my Zulu Grey arrives and i was trying to cut cost ... after much reading on here of the opnions on both i scratched up the few extra bucks and took a drive to SRD and ended up grabbing the nani12k ... couldnt be happier with the choice

gssixgun - good info. I'm not interested in a "one-stone-hone" approach yet. I just need a good finisher for touch-ups to get started. I only have one razor (a Boker King Cutter-2 years old) and I want to maintain it the best and longest I can. I look at coticules only because the first razor I bought (a vintage Henckels) I had honed by a local member of the forum who used a coticule. It was the smoothest edge I've use, if not necessarily the sharpest. I've had edges finished on diamond and Chromox, that I don't find very comfortable.

One thing for sure is that the Naniwai 12k is a very easy stone to use. If you're new to all of this, easy is good. Ten passes across it....15, that's plenty. Just a those few passes and you'll see results. I recently added a natural stone to my collection and its been much more difficult to learn. Its a slow stone and leaves you guessing as to what is really happening. But the Naniwai delivers results quickly. If you're new, I think this is the way to go since it can provide you with good results with little effort. You can always branch out later into something more exotic. I also feel that early success helps boost confidence. And that can be important.

I dont have a coticule or other natural. Im assuming coticule honed blades get the crox or paste? does anybody shave right off the coticule without further refining of the edge? Ive done it off my norton 8k. Felt good then til i got the 12, now i use sub micron film paste and slurry or crox. Every time i went up in refining the edge i got a smoother better shaver IMO.