would you ever need anything other than a 12 k stone ?

I've been scratching my head for a few days thinking of a reason why I would need any of my other stones besides the 12k for my razor.

Beyond repairing damage is there any reason why you would ever take a razor back to say a 1k stone, resetting the bevel and working back up through the grits ?

Is there any benifit of resetting the bevel every year or so ?

I just can't see me ever letting the edge get in such a state to require any of the lower grit stones as I would imagine at that stage the shave would be very uncomfortable.

So is it just a case of refreshing the blade every so often on the 12k or am I missing a trick ?

Help me obi wan shaving komunity your my only hope :)

In theory if nothing bad ever happened to your razor a strop and a finishing hone or a barbers hone should be all you ever need. The rest is pretty much either restoration or chasing the perfect edge also known as chasing your tail. So my answer is probably not.

+1 on RezDog

In a perfect World I don't think you would need anything else.
Now, seeing as none of us are perfect (despite what I tell SWMBO)
You MIGHT need something else someday.

Yup, you are right on… except…

A novice will most likely muck up an edge before they learn to strop, true the damage can most likely be corrected with a 12K and some knowledge, but most novices are lacking in both.

Really all you need is a strop, and some kind of finish hone, hence the barber hone proliferation of the 1900.

If you are careful and patient you can maintain a razor with a leather strop and high grit finish hone indefinitely… many folks did for hundreds of years, which is why there are so many pristine old razors with very little if any hone ware.

Is it just me, of does the world seem in short supply of the patient’s part? Faster is better…?

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Originally Posted by Euclid440

Yup, you are right on… except…

A novice will most likely muck up an edge before they learn to strop, true the damage can most likely be corrected with a 12K and some knowledge, but most novices are lacking in both.

Really all you need is a strop, and some kind of finish hone, hence the barber hone proliferation of the 1900.

If you are careful and patient you can maintain a razor with a leather strop and high grit finish hone indefinitely… many folks did for hundreds of years, which is why there are so many pristine old razors with very little if any hone ware.

Is it just me, of does the world seem in short supply of the patient’s part? Faster is better…?

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It sure seems like everyone wants everything faster and cheaper. That is actually one of the things I love about S/R shaving. There is no rushing, there is no higher standard. I take my sweet time and the results are outstanding.

If all you have is a 12k and you have an oops, you are going to wish you have a set of stones. I have seen a thread on here where gssixgun honed a razor from bevel to finish with an 8k. Maybe someone who knows where that is will post it.

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Originally Posted by RezDog

The rest is pretty much either restoration or chasing the perfect edge also known as chasing your tail.

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Ain't it the truth!!;)

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Originally Posted by stonebraker

If all you have is a 12k and you have an oops, you are going to wish you have a set of stones. I have seen a thread on here where gssixgun honed a razor from bevel to finish with an 8k. Maybe someone who knows where that is will post it.

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I do have a set of other stones that I use for knives. My usual line up is an 8" DMT course (300 grit) an extra fine 8" DMT (1200 grit) then come a mixture of chisora and naniwa stones in 2k 3k 5k 8k and the recently added 12k :)

Tucked away are also some natura stones, a Belgian blue stone, an ardanes yellow and an Arkansas stone but to be honest I've never really got to grips with the natural stones. Maybe I should buy a cheep eBay razor and dust them off to give them another go.

Back on topic though; so there is no practical reason to ever reset / renew the bevel unless of course the blade gets damaged ?

Thank you all for the advice its much appricated I'm still very new to this game but I do love my edged tools :)

I don't think this reasoning is flawed but I'm always willing to learn. If taking a razor to a stone to hone (even with a 12K) by definition removes steel and there is only so much steel at an edge and within a bevel that will support a quality edge then should you not reach a point where there is not enough there to have the geometry of a good edge without a new bevel? Does a polishing/finishing stone remove so little that this can go on indefinitely?

Thanks for your answers

The finishing stone like any stone does not remove metal from just the edge, it removes metal from the whole bevel.

So the bevel width stays the same or pretty close to it.