Thread: What type of hone is acceptable?

Hi, I recently become interested in straight razors and I am wondering if there is a certain type of hone that you are supposed to use. I see people talking about these special barbor hones and water hones and see them being sold on ebay but I am wondering what would happen if I honed a straight razor with a regular hone that you could find at Home Depot. Would it ruin the razor or will it be fine?

The odds are that you would damage your razor.

There are a couple of reasons why:

The average hone that you would find at home depot is in the 1200 grit range of coarseness. The starting point for a razor is usually honing on a 4000 grit hone, and many people finish with 12000 or finer hones.

While fine for pocket knifes and ok for some woodworking tools I haven't ever seen a stone for sale in a big box store that I would consider a "quality" stone. They are usually of second quality or small size. Sharpening razors requires the very best stones you can afford.

Though any damage you would do to your razor would probably be fixable it would take a skilled honemeister to do. So if you have already tried it don't be in too much of a panic

No, I haven't tried it yet. I was at home depot and was REALLY close to buying one of their hones but I decided to do a little more research first. Thanks for the information. I guess I'll just see what I can find on ebay.

i have some hones from home depot, there so rough i wouldn't put some of my knives to them

Originally Posted by ttmp22

No, I haven't tried it yet. I was at home depot and was REALLY close to buying one of their hones but I decided to do a little more research first. Thanks for the information. I guess I'll just see what I can find on ebay.

Also, try contacting Howard at theperfectedge.com

James.

A lot of us use the Norton 4000/8000 waterstone. It is easy to keep flat and clean and also cuts very fast.

We will generally use a 1000 grit hone or wet/dry sandpaper to remove visible nicks and old rusted edges. A 4000 grit to establish the bevel and the 8000 grit to finish the edge.

www.classicshaving.com and www.theperfectedge.com are 2 great sources for these hones.

There are many other hones but this is the work horse hone around here.

Welcome to the SRP,