First honing set?

So I have decided to try my hand at honing (even though I swore to myself that I wouldn't go down this path), but I am quite confused as to what to get.

First off, let me say that I won't be doing any restoration or putting a brand new edge on a razor. The razors I will be buying well either come from here and be shave-ready, or I'll order them from somewhere like Classic and get the honing service.

So really, I just need to be able to keep a shave-ready razor sharp. And if I happen to ding the edge, I'd like to be able to fix that as well (small dings only). I've read various threads that have said a pasted strop is the way to go for this, but I'd really prefer to learn to hone.

So, what hones would you recommend I get in order to be able to maintain my shave-ready edges and keep them sharp all the time? I'm very confused with DMTs and Spydercos and barber's hones and coticules, etc. Thanks.

If all you plan to do is keep a edge shave ready, then maybe a 4sided pasted paddle from TM, would work? Maybe prepasted with 1.0 micron diamond, 0.5 micron diamond and 0.5 Cromo?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bjorn

If all you plan to do is keep a edge shave ready, then maybe a 4sided pasted paddle from TM, would work? Maybe prepasted with 1.0 micron diamond, 0.5 micron diamond and 0.5 Cromo?

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Yeah, that seems to be the "correct" answer. But I know Tony is quite backlogged with orders for pasted strops right now; plus I think honing is "sexier," if that makes any sense.

Do you have a second-place recommendation for hones?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LegalEagle

Yeah, that seems to be the "correct" answer. But I know Tony is quite backlogged with orders for pasted strops right now; plus I think honing is "sexier," if that makes any sense.

Do you have a second-place recommendation for hones?

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Hones are sexier, no doubt about it, I use a Spyderco UF as a finishing hone. I was lucky and got a flat one, so I didn't have to lapp mine, it was the first hone I found locally, it works for me, but the again I haven't tried any other either. Lately I've been using .5 micron diamond paste as a the last step, it gives imho a sharper edge, but the edge feels "harsh" for the first few shaves.

As soon as you said that you opened another door here...
Fixing a ding cannot be done on a polishing stone, barbers hone, or pasted paddle, which would be my recommendation for the upkeep on a already shave ready edge...

Fixing a ding requires a lower grit range than upkeep...

My recommendation is as follows for complete honing purposes, this is only my personal opinion here, nothing else... You will get everybody else's opinions also, none are right, or wrong, just what works for each individual...

1000 grit Norton (for bevel setting and fixing dings)
4000 grit Norton (for sharpening)
8000 grit Norton (polishing)
12000-16000 grit polishing stone (whatever brand is "sexier" in our eyes)
Some type of pasted strop (again your choice, I like TM's)
Oh yeah ya need a lapping system of some kind
Good luck and great honing

The Norton 4k/8k combo seems to be the hone
of choice around here. I have one and it works
great. Eventually you may want to go something
higher in the grit range like a Belgian yellow
coticule or the Chinese 12k. I bought me Chinese
12k from woodcraft.com for about $40 shipped.
A yellow coticule of the same size goes for
about $200. I haven't used the coticule but have
used the 12k with great results.

John

Sorry, I read over the ding part. You'll be working
quite a while on just the Norton 4k side to fix
dings, such as chips. I also own a DMT 1200, but am
into restorations so need it to set bevels and
remove chips.

John

+1 vote for the chinese 12k from woodcraft.com, they are cheap, work GREAT (look at the Tim Zowada website for closeups of honed edges, the 12k is as good or better than the other stones used), and will last you forever.

at some point down the road, do invest in a pasted strop, as there are no hones as fine as the pastes readily available. But the 12k and a plain strop will be a very good combo on their own.

If you have the discipline to give your razor a few licks to keep it sharp, you'll be far better off than letting it get dull and then bringing it back (there's an aphorism to this effect on my website). To keep my razors shave ready, I keep a coticule in the bathroom medicine cabinet and give the razor a few licks and then a stropping when I'm ready to shave. You don't need anything more than a coticule and strop to keep the razor ready.

For lapping stuff some prefer a DMT D8C coarse 325 grit diamond plate. It's 3" x 8" and does a pretty good job. Also useful for your household knives.

I think what you're seeing in this thread is that there are just a lot of different hones and approaches you can use to get the same result. We all like our own setups for different reasons, so you're going to get many different answers.

I tend to think of hones in three categories: coarse, medium and fine. Coarse hones are for fixing a defective edge. Medium hones set up the edge for the fine hones by removing the deep scratches from the coarse hones.

Fine hones are ones you can shave off of. Since you just want to do touch-ups, these are the ones we should be looking at. (There is a wide range of grits here, but let's not worry about that right now. Think about it in terms of shave quality. Some guys get great shaves from a barber hone that is probably 6K or so, while others really prefer a 30K edge.)

Is price much of a consideration for you? Do you care about natural vs. man-made?

Probably the two most commonly used fine hones are the Norton 8K and the coticule. I think most would agree that the coticule provides a slightly better edge. It would be hard to go wrong with a coticule if all you wanted was a touch-up hone.

Other options include:
- Escher (rare, expensive)
- Chinese 12K (inexpensive, seems to work better for some razors than others)
- Spyderco ultrafine
- Shapton 15K or 30K (expensive, tricky to get best performance out of)
- Barber hones (wide variance in grits and quality, sometimes even within same brand)

There are lots more. Keep in mind that if you don't like a particular hone, you can always resell it here and get a good portion of your money back.

Bottom line for me is that I'd have to recommend a coticule from www.theperfectedge.com. Pay the extra for the lapping surface and you won't have to worry about flattening the hone when you get it. Coticules work well even when they aren't completely flat, so you might never need to flatten it again.

Hope this was helpful. :)

Josh

I agree with what JoshEarl has said, and would also recommend that you start with a coticule based on what you want.

Wow, thanks for all the great info!

I'm going to spend this afternoon looking around trying to figure out what I want and get something ordered. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks again.

If you think honing is `sexy', there's probably nothing sexier
than keeping your razors sharp with a coticule and strop :)

- Scott

I too am looking to get into the honing game to keep my razors up to speed. I am going to go with the Norton 4k/8k and a Chinese 12k to finish it off. I am having trouble finding the chinese 12k on wwodcraft.com web site. Maybe its just my ignorance but I cant seem to find it with any keyword search. Could someone link it? Just trying to save afew bucks here

Here is a link - looks like they are back ordered until tomorrow:

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=4920

Lou