Thread: Touch Up Hone

The type of touch-up hone you need depends a lot on your beard and face and your shaving preferences. Some people love to finish on a Coticule as they can deliver a smooth edge, but if your beard requires a very keen edge, the Coticule might produce an edge that is sharp enough for you.

Thuringens and the special branded Escher hones can be excellent finishers. Larger stones are expensive, especially Escher stones.

I have an Imperia La Roccia stone that finishes well, but they get a bad rap with many members here.

My current finishing hone of choice is a Greek Vermio hone.

Some people finish using purple Welsh slates. Others use the Zulu Grey from South Africa.

Another popular finishing hone is the Arkansas surgical black or translucent stones. The black is supposed to be slightly better than the translucent for finishing razors, but some would debate the issue. Arkansas stones are not rated by grit, but by density. The denser stones used for finishing tend to be rather slow. They tend to burnish/polish the edge rather than remove metal.

There are a lot of different natural stones from Japan. Some are great finishers, others are better used in earlier stages of honing. They can be expensive.

It is quite possible to finish on a Naniwa 12K Superstone. Some people want to go even higher than 12K and use Shapton 16K and 30K hones. Another good high grit hone is the Suehiro 20K stone.The Shapton 30K and Suehiro 20K are quite pricey.

Another option for a touch-up hone is a vintage barber's hone. If you are on a budget, one of these might be an option, but since they are vintage, manmade hones, you never quite know what you will get. If you want a manmade hone, a Naniwa or Shapton 12K are good choices.

I am not trying to recommend any specific finishing hone. I am just trying to name some of the options. There are certainly others I have missed. The point is that different people like different finishers because their razors, beard, face, and honing techniques vary. Thus, it is generally a process or trying several until you find one that works for you. I currently have five hones that I consider finishers and another couple that are probably good enough for many folks, but not quite good enough to deliver an ideal shave for me. I acquired them through the trial process. Before I am completely satisfied, I might try another couple.

Some people try hones and if they do not like them, they put them up for sale. So far, I have not done that. One day I might.