Thread: Honing a Gold Dollar is hard!

Nortons are a non contender in the UK/Europe Mr Marshal. Exchange rates make them overpriced. £85-£130! $120-$188! For the 4/8.

King are well priced. The 1000/6000 icebear can be had for under £40 from amazon. It's not a finishing stone and the 6K side is on the rougher end of the 6K spectrum. But if you have other stones to work from it then it'll work.

There is a rock I keep meaning to pick up for testing. It's a 2000/5000 grit stone from eden. I have no idea how well they perform but at £20 it might be a decent gamble.

Eden Quality Combi Waterstone grain 2000 / 5000 | knivesandtools.co.uk

It will bevel set on the 2K side, and give a mid grit polish on the 5K side. This 5K edge probably won't be a comfortable shave as the polish isn't that high. But it's £20 that represents 50% of a rotation on the cheap.

Add in a 8K naniwa superstone and you have a shave-able rotation.

Naniwa Specialty Stone, SP-480, grit: 8000 | knivesandtools.co.uk

And then the logical progression is to add a 12K superstone at a later date.


The problem you are currently facing is Slow Chinese stones of unknown grits, poor quality razor with possible grinding flaws, and a cheap strop.

The Chinese stones will always be a bug of contention, they may work very well. The trouble is naturals are generally slow, and you have a razor that may need serious tweaking to get right. You can hone for hours on those Chinese rocks and get no-where, or even worse go backwards due to getting frustrated.

The razor flaws can be pulled out with a lower grit faster stone. The razor will not look pretty afterwards, but should take an edge. Often the grinding needed will leave an uneven bevel, and pretty major spine flattening. It's a £10 razor, use it to play.

The strop is simply a money thing. I don't advise spending big money on a strop at all. It needs to be leather, in good condition, and have a decent hanging method that lets you keep it drum tight. If the cheap strop you have does all of that then spending £100 on a strop at this point is a waste. If it doesn't do that then there are cheap options.


There is a fantastic man over in Nottingham, called Garry Haywood. He runs a little barbers shop, and sells straight razor gear.

This is his webshop.

The Straight Razor Specialist - Razor Sharpening, Honing, Whetstones and Strops. Razor Sharpening UK, Razor Honing UK, Razor Sharpening Nottingham, Razor Honing Nottingham

He sells a shave ready gold dollar 66 for £20. He's already reground it, and put on a shaving edge, you also get a free second honing with him. It'll give you a benchmark for your own gold dollar in terms of sharpness. And it'll let you shave correctly, a blunt razor is dangerous as you use more force. Sharp means less force, and less force means you can't slip and fillet your face.

He also sells some really well priced decent strops when he has them in stock.



Straights don't need to be expensive. There are limits on how cheap you can go before the gear becomes problematic. Cheap razors are generally flawed, and they cause some frustration on the forums. People buy them expecting a razor, and what you actually get is something that looks like a razor but isn't quite finished. They can shave very well, and some people take great pride in getting one to shave superbly. To get them to that stage takes work, time, and some skill. Going this route is unfortunately very common and it dissuades people from shaving with a straight. Don't be put off if you can't get the GD to shaving spec. The cheapest budget razor that is recommended is the Dovo best quality. They retail at about £60. Even then out of the box they don't shave. You need to have them honed. A good selection of sellers do this and advertise it. Ebay sellers and store type shops don't. And it adds to the cost when you then have to send it out to be honed.

Cheap hones can have similar problems. At lower grits 1000-5000 grit this isn't a problem as these hones are not finishing stones. As you progress to a shaving edge 8000-12000 then things start to change. You pay for the brands because those companies grade the abrasives correctly. And it's the grading you pay for, a badly graded 8K stone is good for nothing, It'll ruin the edge, and cost you much frustration and time.

Cheap strops are only a problem if not leather, or if poor quality leather and hangers. Leather is leather, and for someone who is wanting to learn a cheap working strop that can be damaged without costing much is worth far more that something expensive that you have to handle with kid gloves.

Oh and go buy some cheap highstreet soaps and brushes.

Savers - erasmic boar brush
Wilko - wilkinson sword boar brush, palmolive shave stick
Superdrug - ingram cream
Bodyshop - maccaroot shave cream

All of those products are cheap enough and work. Special praise to the palmolive stick. It's 50p normally and is superb.