Thread: Pros and cons and methodology

I wouldn't say I'm anywhere near being a honemeiser. I can sharpen a blade. I've been using film, a swaty and white pasted strop with acceptable results for me.
I'm looking to upgrade. I'm sure every has their own prefernce as what stone the love much like their preference to a soap.
So... Norton, dmt, what the hell is a slury, do you have to home in a sink or water bath? Let's not even get started on nats. I'm looking for minimal fuss and muss, no dedicated honing stations, or taking a bath with stones.
Thanks for the input.

What hone(s), paste(s), or spray(s) do I need? - Straight Razor Place Library

Read this first - most of your questions will be answered here - then tell us where you live - I'm sure a member near you would be happy to help

There is no one answer to your question just a lot of good suggestions

1k 4k 8k King, Norton or Naniwa. The old standard basic set up and all you will ever NEED really.

Originally Posted by 10Pups

1k 4k 8k King, Norton or Naniwa. The old standard basic set up and all you will ever NEED really.

If all he wants is razor maintenance, he's already got all he NEEDS.

This is clearly about wants.

I would say, do what I didn't do. Start with a good finisher, and an 8K of which ever brand you choose. Start learning to hone from there down. If you (as a new honer) take one of your razors to a 1K hone it could be a long, long time before you get it shave ready again. Ask me how I found that out...

Take it in small bites. Maybe a Norton or Naniwa 8K, and a finisher of your choice (typically a 12K or 16K). Read around and learn to prep the surface of your hones. I tend to treat all mine at least a little like naturals - I lap on a Norton flattening stone, then polish them up to 2K (depending on grit) with wet or dry sand paper. You kind of have to with the Norton flattening stone because it leaves some fairly deep scratches and my experience says those need to be gone. Which brings me to my next point - get a DMT for lapping. The 325 mesh will save you a lot of headaches. Learn to touch up on the 8k, then finish your edge. Once you've got that down, pick up a 4K and learn to use that with blades that need more work than the 8K can handle in a timely fashion. The last phase would be picking up a 1K hone and learning to set a bevel.

I don't have a dedicated honing station, just an old tool box my hones sleep in when not in use. Nothing stays in water, I toss 'em in a bucket for a 5-10 minute soak while I'm setting up (turning on the tunes, fishing out the pan, and cracking a beer - the most important part of honing!) I have an old baking pan dedicated to honing - contains the mess and makes clean up easier. I have the Norton system, 220/1K and 4K/8K combination hones. Will probably trade those in for single grit 1K, 4K, and 8K hones. The 1k and 8K have grown on me, I used to have a pretty strong dislike for them. The 4K...well in all fairness I screwed mine up by lapping it sloped, and then wearing it away trying to fix it, which only made the problem exponentially worse. I may buy another single grit just to start fresh and give it a fair shake. Still on the fence on that decision, but they do work.

Originally Posted by Clayglen

I wouldn't say I'm anywhere near being a honemeiser. I can sharpen a blade. I've been using film, a swaty and white pasted strop with acceptable results for me.
I'm looking to upgrade. I'm sure every has their own prefernce as what stone the love much like their preference to a soap.
So... Norton, dmt, what the hell is a slury, do you have to home in a sink or water bath? Let's not even get started on nats. I'm looking for minimal fuss and muss, no dedicated honing stations, or taking a bath with stones.
Thanks for the input.

From a minimalist perspective, your Swaty is all you need. Since you want to "upgrade," let's get started.

Okay, so naturals are out. Despite centuries of honers using coticules, we'll toss those out right off the bat.

It would help if you would give a better sense of the upgrade you are seeking. What are you looking to do? Are you just maintaining your current razors or are you looking to hone more razors? Will you just be touching up previously sharp razors or starting from a re-set of the bevels? Are you looking for a single hone or a progressive series of grits of hones?

If you want just a single hone for better edge maintenance, it really is hard to beat the Naniwa Specialty 12k. If you want more recommendations, please give a better sense of what you are looking to do.

What do you mean by upgrade? If you are getting good results and you should be with film, better than only a handful of stones, what improvement are you looking for?

Forget the Swaty, it is 6-8k at best, film goes up to 60K.

Stick to one system and learn it, not many 60k stones… Honing is only as complicated as you make it.

Oh, and you might want to find out what your "White Paste" is, you may just be going backwards.

It is as ridiculous to assign a grit rating to a Swaty as it is to assign one to a natural hone. The size of the grit used in the Swaty has no bearing on its ability to create a shave-able edge. The simple question is, are you happy with the shaves you get from the Swaty's edges?

Since you are looking to upgrade, is this due to what you have read here or from a dissatisfaction from your current shaves?

I'm doing a few restores and the lapping film works fine. I have a question in my mind as to when a new sheet is needed. An upgrade on my film surface is needed to continue. A bit of lapped marble tile that needs to be trimmed to size a bit better.
An upgrade, in my mind, is more permanent than film, is more handy than swapping sheets back and forth, doesn't large amounts of work space or water tanks, baths, maintenance to the stone, costs less than my first car.
My first thought was a Norton 4k/8k. One stone, plus paste stropping on blue jeans for finish.
Swatty works fine honestly. Not exactly a finish stone but the white paste (original on my double duck strop) seems to smooth things out, with a stropping.
Just ready to take it all to the next level. 8k DMT seems like less fuss than the Norton.
I have no understanding of slury. Naturals would be fine if there was some way of judging them, in my mind. There is no contention on what a Norton 8k is. A natural is a natural stone. Could be 8k could be 10k, could be awesome could be a lemon. Yes buy it from a reputable dealer, etc.
That's where I'm at.
Thanks

Well you really cannot go wrong with the Norton 4/8 for the intermediate honing progression. Then would come something like the swaty I guess, and after that there are a heap of options for finishers.

James.

So as I understand the Norton, you soak it, then keep it wet? Can this be done on the couch while the gf watches her shows?