What Finishing Stone to Buy

Hi All,

I am planning on switching soon from a Shavette to a real straight. Since my first straight razor (or razors) will be professionally honed, I am wondering about what type of finishing stone would be appropriate to maintain the edge. Would a 4000/8000 grit Norton or a 12,000 grit stone work? In particular, I was looking at the 12,000 grit stone sold by Classic Shaving (Natural Polishing Water Stone (12,000 Grit)), has anyone had experience with this particular stone? Any input is much appreciated.

Icarus

A very usual recommendation is the Naniwa 12K, which I have, and haven't been very happy with. I've been reading a lot of people recently saying they prefer the Naniwa 10K to the 12K, so I wonder what people will be saying in answer to your question.

Me, I've been using a King 8000 gold stone, and have been preferring it to the 12K. By finishing using a very light stropping motion (backstroke) on the completely dry 8000 I've been getting better results than with the 12K Naniwa, and quicker.

I haven't found happiness with the Chinese stone you link to, but I'm still working on that one, and have some hope for it. So far I'm finding mine works best if I use it between the 8000 wet and the 8000 dry. People seem to have reported variable results with it, depending on the particular stone they get.

I don't own one, but that is a natural and I've heard around here that there is significant variation from stone to stone. If you're looking for something just to maintain an edge on, the Naniwa 12k may be a decent option.

Try and find a local "honing friend".
Start of with known synthetics to be able to get good and proper help.
Don't be afraid to mess up, we've all done it.

Or

Go for a Nakayama Iwasaki choice, they're lovely even tho I can't afford to use it right now, it's expensive to having rainwater shipped from Japan!

Kind of a tricky question to try and answer. I guess it really depends on how far the edge has deteriorated. If nothing serious happens to the blade like getting it chipped you should be able to get away with something like a Nani 12K or even a Crox pasted balsa strop for quite a long while. As a finisher I have found the my Zulu Grey stone gives a smoother edge than my Nani 12 K and use that for touch ups when needed.

Bob

The line goes out the door and around the block. Ive used 12k cnat and 12k naniwa and 1 micron dia film(14k equivalent). I got rid of the 12k cnat. You could definitely shave off the 8 side of a norton 4/8k and use pasted strops to refine it further if you wish. Ive shaved off the 8k many times. Although not lately since I have the film and the naniwa 12k. And then there are naturals that i know nothing about except the cnat. I went to the store to buy my wife socks ONCE! Never again, too many choices, so I guess thats what we are dealing with here.

There's a lot of choices when it comes to finishers. If your new to honing, I'd go with a synthetic hone, and get proficient with that before I'd venture into naturals. That Chinese 12k, or Natural wet stone at Classic, is also available at Woodcraft. They're not bad. A slurry helps out a lot. They're slow, and they do vary from stone to stone, but they all work. The Naniwa 12k, synthetic, is good too.

What you might want to try is a Barber's hone. I used one for about a year to maintain about 10 razors with great success. I would do about 3-5 swipes on each blade every other shave with that blade, so every 20 days. I saw no hone wear, and every razor stayed shave ready. I used a Swaty.

These days I have and use an Escher. It's great for touch ups. They are expensive, but worth it.

Buy Natural Water Stone 8 x 2-3 4 x 1-1 4 at Woodcraft

And there is a smaller version for less

Ebay is even cheaper... Make no mistake these are all the same stone, we call them PHIG's the 12,ooo grit is at best a guess, watchout on e-bay the grit numbers get even more ridicules...


PHIG = People's Hone of Indeterminate Grit...


Here is a thread we did a few years back about them
http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...nese-hone.html


As to which to buy :shrug: I wouldn't advise anything as of yet, get your new razor ask the guy that honed it to tell you what he used at least between Synthetic vs Natural then see what you think...
To buy a hone without even experiencing a SR shave yet is putting the cart before the horse :hmmm:

I strongly recommend the Zulu Grey from SRP member MichaelC. It has put a very keen and SMOOTH edge on each type of razor that I use; German, British, and Swedish steel, as well as different grinds -- 1/2, 1/4, and full hollows.
I do,however, finish on the Zulu after a progression from Belgian Blue coticule, Belgian Yellow coticule, and a purple Lynn Melynllyn.
For me, progression has been very important-- because its like Pop always said, "You can't polish a turd," and your finisher is really just a polisher.
Hope this helps!

Welcome to the SRP, good luck, have fun, and enjoy the experience!

Footnote: As a beginner you can always follow gssixgun's advice-- I did and it worked for me.

I'm fairly new also to the whole sr game, I have actually gotten pretty ok at honing with lots of pratice and time behind the hones reading etc.. I just got my nani 12 k and can't say anything bad about it.. All my honing was done with a king 1 k for bevel then the norton 4 /8 then was just diamond spray and the strops to finish ..now with the nani I went back and touched up a lot of razors I just finished honing.. All I can say is wow it smoothed up my shaves significantly.. It's priced right alot of guys have them so lots of,info...

Get the norton 4k/8k or Naniwa 3k/8k, and don't get anything higher until you can get a comfortable edge off the 8k. if you can't get a decent edge off the 8, there's no point moving up any higher. Or so I've heard, but I am just a humble noob and will happily stand corrected if this is not sound advice! but this is what I've done so far although I have been collecting a variety of stones I haven't touched anything higher than 8k apart from a brief trial of the c12k [which I would not recommend for your FIRST finishing stone regardless, but it isn't a big hit to the wallet anyway which is how I saw it when I got mine, but I still ended up buying more and more stones afterwards anyway so the money saving factor doesn't really apply anymore]

You will find many threads recommending finish stones on this website. Plenty of reading to help you make a good decision for your purchases.

Just for reference, here is a short list of finishers that I have had success with.

Belgian Yellow Coticule
Dragon's Tongue
Thuringian
Lynn Melynllynn
LG Escher
Salm Coticule
Various Japanese Naturals
Transluscent Arkansas
ZULU GREY

The above are all naturals stones mined from the earth.
As far as synthetic stones are concerned, here are a few I use intermittently.

Norton 8k
Naniwa 8k
Shapton 8k
Naniwa 12k
Shapton 16k
Gokumyo GMN-200


All the above will give you a decent shave if you begin by setting a proper bevel with the 1k stone.
You've got the rest of your life to experiment. Have fun.

Jerry
____

as cheap stone that work there is CHinese stone,however you can buy without problem a naniwa 12k.
Another cheap solution that work fine(better then chinese) is paste on leather strop....but you must be careful

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Icarus

Hi All,

I am planning on switching soon from a Shavette to a real straight. Since my first straight razor (or razors) will be professionally honed, I am wondering about what type of finishing stone would be appropriate to maintain the edge.

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What about a leather & linen strop & the skill to use it ? ;)
Seriously, if the razor is pre-honed. It won't even need a stone for a while, accidents & tungsten beards not withstanding.

Re stones. Some will recommend various stones for various reasons but mostly it's due to familiarity. Not a bad thing in some cases but a limitation in others. Almost any finisher will do when it comes down to it but you have to drive it. Take your time learn to strop & shave & do some more research. Eventually choose something with a known good track record for razors like the Norton Shapton or Naniwa etc.
My personal choice in stones will not likely be yours so when time comes think about what you need from a stone, then find which stone fills those needs.

Thanks to all for the advice!

Icarus