Thread: No worse....just different

I just started straight shaving about a month ago, so if this is common knowlege forgive me.

When I got my first razor I got one as a baseline for sharp. I got it from one of the guys on here so that I would know what I was shooting for. I also picked up a few ebay specials for about 15 dollars a pop. I already had some water stones that I use on my woodworking tools. I had a 1k and an 8k grit so I figured instead of the norton combo I would just get a 4k to round out the collection. They are "king Stones" by the name on the plastic bases, but they are pretty much the store brand from Lee Valley.

Well, I set out honing and was not getting very good results using the pyramids on Lees video. I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong when I watched the video for probably the 15th time. Then I noticed that he mentioned on it that the norton is a very fast cutter. I figured that my king stones maybe were not as fast. So I upped the pyramid to a 1/10 combination for the last one after the 1/5. Pow there it was. The razors I have off ebay are now going through my beard like butter.

I am glad actually that I have these stones that seem to cut a hair more slowly than the norton (pun intended). I was afraid of overhoning at the beginning, but now I am a little more confident that there is some wiggle room to expirement without destroying the edge. Truly an Ah-ha moment!

Alright -- so the honing is now clicking for you too -- great! You're certainly doing well for the time you've invested.

I took the same pragmatic approach. I probably have the same combo stone you have. I purchased it from Lee Valley about 15 years ago for my woodworking adventures. I did get a Lithide hone for my final finisher and I really like it.

Congrats on the honing success.

Yeah chris, It seems to be coming along pretty well. I just hope that the honing wasnt just beginners luck! Having the timor has been excellent to help me learn because I always have a blade that I havent screwed up!