advice on stone purchase needed....
After having my norton 4k/8k and following heavyduties recomendations i am ready to get a finishing/polishing stone, i was considering 2 options, i can not decide due to lack of experience honing so i decided i will blindly follow your advice( all you gents from the forum).
I have 2 options.
-Kitayama stone 12.000 grit for $90 dollars.
-belgium stone brand new from a reputable barber collector for $200 dollars, he had told me that after many years experience this is the best stone to sharpen your razor on earth...period. he couldnt give me the grit number...could he be right?..i kind of feel he knows what he is talking about....
i just want to get a stone that will get the job done.....
i will apreciate your comments .....heavyduty..are you there..????
Choosing stones: what to do?
There is so much information about stones and so many good stones out there that I really feel for the guy who is just starting out and wants to just get a great shave. First, let me thank everyone here for tooting my horn as it saves me the trouble! heh, heh, jusssssst kidding! The coticule is and has been the standard for barbers for a really long time. It's not that other stones won't do the job either. It just seems that is what they've settled on. The Tim Zowada study has given us some insight as to why and if you haven't seen his photos yet, by all means go to www.tzknives.com and study them.
In my personal collection of Hones of Planet Earth, I have about 300 - 400 stones from pretty much everywhere. I've tried them all and of course tried them on razors and anything else that has an edge including sheep shears, reel lawn mowers, drawknives, Randall knives, scythes, etc. I used to love the Arkansas stones and used them extensively until I found the Belgians. The yellow belgian coticule is said to be an 8000 grit waterstone but many feel it acts more like a 10k; the blue belgian is a 4000 grit but acts more like a 6000 grit. Unless I've got a really dull eBay or yard sale razor, I use the coticule then a natural leather strop. If I've got a razor someone had been using to cut open cardboard boxes, I go to a DMT 1200 to reestablish the edge, then a blue and then a coticule and strop.
As you pursue your interest in this (and I hope you do) you'll find different razors react differently to different stones and honing techniques. My best advice? Get yourself some high quality stones like the belgians, thuringians, eschers, etc. and start honing. No amount of advice will get you to expert status better than your hands, ears, and whiskers informing your honing. I even use my nose! Some stones have a particular scent when you rub them hard with the heel of your hand and once you know what that scent is, you can pick it up sometimes when you're honing.
Good luck, keep practicing, and keep shaving as that's the best technique for testing your abilities.