Thread: Honing made simple

Originally Posted by Marshal

Which brings up another good point. Regardless of what you're finishing with, strop and test shave when you think you're done with the 8k. If it doesn't shave without tugging, there's no point going further.

Do you have any idea this is also the case for a cheap 15$ chinese 8k stone? Or shouldn't I have bought it and saved a little longer to buy let's say a norton 4/8k?

Human, yes and additionally most of those stones are not anywhere near the touted grits.

To begin with no natural stone can be grit rated, it was made in nature, who knows what is in it.

Now on the bright side, some will finish, but usually after burnishing and with a lot of laps.

Get with a local mentor and do some hands on learning, you will cut your learning curve and possibly save some money and buy just what you need to maintain a razor, it is not much.

Originally Posted by Humanalien

Do you have any idea this is also the case for a cheap 15$ chinese 8k stone? Or shouldn't I have bought it and saved a little longer to buy let's say a norton 4/8k?

It still should apply for your chinese 8k. I say that without ever trying one simply because you can shave off of a properly honed 1k edge. Such an edge is sharp enough to shave but comfort will increase at you progress up higher grits. I highly recommend that you do experiment with shaving off of the edge from each grit. It will give you a better appreciation of what each grit contributes.

Whether or not you should have saved up to buy the Nortons is pointless speculation for now. You've got the cheap ones so you might as well experiment with them. The problem is that you may continue to wonder if the Nortons are better. If you can find someone near you who has them, that would give you a chance to compare them and decide if you want to buy again.

If you end up getting good shaves from those hones then the answer is that the Norton wasn't any better unless it was just faster or easier to use.

Remember, no one here (as far as I know) has used them so that might tell you that they aren't all that good or it might just tell you that you are asking people who haven't used them.

I have seen people ask about them before. I've also seen those same people confirm that they did buy them, against common recommendation to stick to known good hones. Those same people have also ceased posting. Their hones may be serving them well, or they may be regretting their purchase. There's really no way to know. I've been meaning to buy one of the finer grit 8K-10K hones to try myself, but this last go around my 'cheap gamble' was a ZY razor hone.

Cheaper than the Weiwei hones, and I got a good edge off it. Not half bad for a gamble on a cheap natural.

My coticule on the other hand I am currently less than pleased with. Probably just need more time figuring out what it likes, but at current my face isn't liking it.