Thread: What Grit / Micron Size Is Required to Enjoy a Good Shave?

As Doc says, theres nothing wrong with that. If your not getting into restoring or collecting many many razors, send them out when they need touched up. No shame in that and you will know they are dont correctly. An edge should last a long time when done correctly and stropped correctly. No need to go up to 20k or .3 micron strop powders or creams on a strop. Its just the fun of chasing that perfect edge.
If i stopped buying razors now id have no need to have a razors honed for years. But wheres the fun it that.

Jerry theres lots of fun in that,, instead of honing I,m riding one of my Harleys or playing with the grandkids! Tc

The type of hones, strops, pastes, and sprays that will work for you are largely dependent upon your face, your beard, and your skills shaving, honing, and stropping. If you have tender skin and a coarse beard, you will need a much better edge than if you have tough skin and a fine beard. Thus, no one can really predict what will work for you. They can only give you recommendations

Also remember that grit size is only one characteristic of an abrasive. For example, 0.5 micron diamond, chromium oxide and cubic boron nitride are all of similar size, but are of different particle shapes and characteristics, so they each will produce a razor edge that will feel different when shaving. What works for me might not work for you.

Shaver vs hobbyist, need vs want.

I was told 3 years ago that entry level sharpness for a comfortable shave is an 8K stone. Since then I've done the 1K shave challenge, and shaved off every hone I've got between 1K and 8K stropped on nothing but linen and leather - no pastes. By and large in my experience, this has proven true. 8K is entry level sharpness for a comfortable shave.

I've got a slew of razors prepped with Welsh slates, Arkansas stones, a coticule, 5 dfferent barber hones, and one that's been honed on a 12K then stropped up to .1 micron FeOx. The experiments never cease. But if you asked me what the best edges were I'd say it' s a toss up between the Arkansas stones, Welsh slates, and my Jnat. I think I need to change the strop for the FeOx, that blade was actually a little tuggy the last time I shaved and I think it's because I ruined the linen on my Illinois 835.

But just to get a good shave? I could live happily with my Norton stones or any one of the barber hones and a leather strop. I don't need anything beyond that, it's just fun to play with the many stones I have available to tinker with. There's a reason I keep a Dovo on hand honed up by a Swaty, which is about an 8K stone. It works fine, and when I have a new razor or other experiment that I'm not sure will shave right I'll carry my Dovo and Swaty into the shave den as a back up. If for some reason the new razor or new honing method doesn't work, the Dovo will. And if by chance it won't, 5 to 10 licks across the swaty and all's well.

It also keeps me grounded. Having one blade in the shave rotation that hasn't been honed up to 30K and stropped on every super fine paste imaginable means at any given time I can pick that blade up and remember that the difference is literally minuscule.

Today I managed to get up a tad early and thought more and more about the article I had read so I took the Boker King Cutter that I used for todays shave and ran it over my 4K Shapton GS stone to reset a firm bevel, I have recently have been looking at edges under a loupe coming of the 1K and have finally accepted that a 1K is really not necessary unless the edge needs a lot of work as it really leaves deep scratches that take some work to get out.

After the 4K I took it to a Narutaki Asagi with a heavy slurry and worked it pretty hard for about 10-15 mins and finished on almost straight water and then did 25 heavy laps on flax linen and 50-60 on leather and then I usually do an HHT but this time I said no just shave and see how it shaves and using a quality soap with good prep I was really pleased with the shave, no post shave issues at all and after I dried the blade and stropped and then did the HHT and it was a pretty solid 3 so now I guess I get to see how long the edge and great shaves last, oh and it only took about 20 mins from start to finish on the edge.

Maybe I should take the same razor and shave off the 1k, 4K, 8K and then finisher and compare how the shaves go...

Originally Posted by Jnatcat

Maybe I should take the same razor and shave off the 1k, 4K, 8K and then finisher and compare how the shaves go...

Yep you most certainly should

I have been recommending that exercise to people for years now and it REALLY helps to understand just what each one is really doing


Honestly it breaks down at about

90% of honing is in the bevel set
another 8-9% comes in the Sharpening / Polishing stages
leaving 1-2% at the finishing stage which is also what we waste all our money on, and time arguing about..


ps If you try it go from the hone to 20 laps on leather the to the shaving stroke to really get a feel of the hone

Originally Posted by tcrideshd

hey Ron (Utopian) shaved with nothing but a barber hone and leather with great results.

Well, technically, I shaved with razors honed with nothing but a barber hone.

So now with all the mention of a Barbers Hone I am interested in trying or having one so I can assume there are good, better and best, Which one's are good to look for to try or is it even worth the investment ?

Oh there is yet another rabbit hole. I spent a lot of time playing with and researching Barber hones. There is a lot of information out there, it's just hard to find. Basically if you look on eBay or antique stores and find one for not a lot of money, buy it and try it. They used to be pretty cheap and plentiful, amd then Ron bought all the nice one, just kidding. Condition is everything. They are best if they don't need any repair or lapping. They can die from lapping but not always, so are ok. The factory surface seems to be the best. If they are lapped they may need to be burnished or they may fall apart. As close to NOS as you can find. Some of them are crazy money, stay away from those ones. Not that they are not good, just there are a lot of other good ones pout there.

Originally Posted by RezDog

Oh there is yet another rabbit hole. I spent a lot of time playing with and researching Barber hones. There is a lot of information out there, it's just hard to find. Basically if you look on eBay or antique stores and find one for not a lot of money, buy it and try it. They used to be pretty cheap and plentiful, amd then Ron bought all the nice one, just kidding. Condition is everything. They are best if they don't need any repair or lapping. They can die from lapping but not always, so are ok. The factory surface seems to be the best. If they are lapped they may need to be burnished or they may fall apart. As close to NOS as you can find. Some of them are crazy money, stay away from those ones. Not that they are not good, just there are a lot of other good ones pout there.

I have some beginner straights in the drawer that I normally get fairly inexpensive and then do a light restore so maybe I should consider posting a WTT add and see if someone is willing to do an even swap and I can also search the Bay as well.