Honing Method: Water Stone vs. 4-Sided Paddle Strop

Hey guys,

Tony suggested that I could hone my razor by paddle strop as well. I was wondering what you all prefer, a 4-sided paddle strop or the water stone?

Are there many pro's and con's with each?

Thanks a lot.

You can't really get a dull blade shave-ready by just using a paddle strop. It's not practical. Strops loaded with abrasives are used to give the edge a final polish, this getting them a bit sharper and to touch them up, thus maintaining the sharpness. There are really fine hones (like Shapton's 15k and 30k, equivalent to 1.0 and 0.5 micron pastes) but they're REALLY expensive and I've been getting great results taking my blades from the Norton8k to the bench hone (like an extra long/wide paddle strop loaded with paste) with 0.5 micron chromium oxide.

I love my Tony pasted paddle. But like Ilija, I use my in conjunction with my Norton. I find it a lot easier to polish and fine tune the edge with the pastes. That Chromium Oxide is some amazing stuff.

Matt

I think I suggested that you could keep it sharp with a paddle but for the most part a hone is needed at least once a year if not more.

I will say though that every shave ready razor I sold until last August was done completely on pasted paddles with 9.0 through 0.5 diamond abrasives but don't suggest that customers do that in place of a hone.

Tony