Thread: Ultimate Showdown for Newbie Honing

As a newbie interested in being able to hone my razor, I would ask you guys with experience with honing/ keeping a razor sharp, to judge an ULTIMATE SHOWDOWN between

1. The Scary Sharp System
2. Norton 4000/8000
3. 4 Sided Pasted Strop from Tony

I would ask that they be rated on four categories.

Price
Ease
Effectiveness
HAD-Prevention Capability

To clarify, this is in terms of keeping a razor sharp, or putting a new edge on a razor I have screwed up through newbie stropping...not that it's ever happened...

Thanks to all of you guys!

That's a quick question without an easy answer...

I would not opt for the scary sharp system. I have used it in the past for chisels and plane blades, but I don't think you'd get very good results on razors. A razor needs every bit of possible sharpness you can squeeze out of any method, and I don't think the scary sharp method excels in that. It's cheap and reliable, but just not for a razor. All IMHO.

Your 2 other options actually depend on whether you like to hone with a hone, or whether you like to hone with a pasted strop.
It is often said that honing on a pasted strop is easier to learn. The results will be fair enough, but you'll produce slightly coned cutting bevels. I theory, they can be as sharp as straight bevels, but in practice they won't.

From where I stand: the real deal are hones. a pasted strop can has its place for ultra-polishing an already keen edge (Cromium oxide is the way to go for that), but a real good edge is best produced with a good set of flat lapped hones. That doesn't necessarily has to be the Norton combo. I hear a lot of good things about it, but I can't comment because I have never used one. My hones of choice are: a DMT-E, a Belgian Blue and a Coticule. There are plenty of other viable options. Shaptons and Spyderco's are also quite popular I believe.

Hope this sheds at least some light,

Bart.

The complete Norton System can be had at $119 this includes the Norton 220/1000 the Norton 4000/8000 and the Norton lapping stone
For the $$$ I don't think it can be beat...
It will be totally effective at every aspect of honing (even those e-bay specials) You could add a high grit polishing stone AFTER you get the basics down pat.....
The great thing is so many of us use it so advice can be found easily...
As to curbing HAD GOOD LUCK!!!!!

That's my Story and I'm sticking to it...
If I was going to start all over again I might looks at the complete Shapton set up but OMG $$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I'm hoping to give the scary sharp a try for a razor or two in the near future.

I don't know anyone who has done it though. It isn't often regarded as possible.

I still want to give it shot though, cheap bastard that I am. I'd love to bring the shaving world a easy complete sharpening system that could be had for under thrty bucks.

My vote goes for a TM 4 sided paddle, but I think you can get by with a 2-sided paddle pretty easily. I happen to think it tops out those 4 categories, although if you do need to repair a chip you're probably better off with a hone. Alternatively you could get some very aggressive coarse grit diamond pastes to set a bevel with. I've heard they work, but I don't know from experience.

Since you mainly asked for what's geared towards newbies, I think the pastes are best. The only reason to get hones is if you plan on restoring razors, or have a high level of dedication to learning the honing craft. It takes many hours with steel on stone to really figure out what your doing and produce a very superior shave ready edge.

At some point I think everyone should get a set of hones, after all, how satisfying is it to know you took an edge from slightly useless to superior shaving? But for the purposes of maintaining a razor for a newbie, I don't think pastes can be beat.

Many people LIKE hones, and like honing...and even newbies are attracted to this hobby mainly for the purpose of honing up blunt things. But if your prime focus is the actual shave, go with the easy route (at least for now).

Personally, I find shaving itself to be the part I least enjoy about this hobby. For many reasons really...but what it amounts to is that I more enjoy the satisfaction of purely being ABLE to shave with a straight razor, and hone a straight razor...rather than the actual act of shaving. I do find shaving with a straight to be the most comfortable way of shaving (and gives a great feel afterwards with less to no time feeling like my face is ablaze), but not necessarily the easiest or fastest.

I did it last year.... before I coughed up the cash for hones. It can be done, I got some hone sized pieces of thick glass from the local glass company, picked up the various grits of 3M honing films from Lee Valley and took my $10 Clauss antique store find to task. I learned how to develop a lovely, paper thin burr all along the edge. I did eventually backhone it off and with a lighter hand managed to get the edge to shaving sharp. Once I figured I could get a razor sharp + the experience of shaving with a truly honemeister sharp blade, I never looked back.

I then got the Norton but quickly ordered a couple of stones from Howard, both the blue and yellow in 8x3 with a couple of DMT hones for flattning and basic bevel setting. The Norton is getting pretty lonely now... I just prefer the feel of the natural hones and the DMT does the heavy lifting when chips/nicks need to be removed. I'm still fascinated with the 3M Chromium Oxide film, if properly attached to glass or other suitable substrate in can be used edge first unlike a pasted strop... for some reason, I keep getting better results with my CrO pasted strop for a finish but I'm not ready to throw in the towel yet.

Regards

Christian

Originally Posted by Wildtim

I'm hoping to give the scary sharp a try for a razor or two in the near future.

I don't know anyone who has done it though. It isn't often regarded as possible.

I still want to give it shot though, cheap bastard that I am. I'd love to bring the shaving world a easy complete sharpening system that could be had for under thrty bucks.

by the time you buy all the parts for the scary sharp system you will probably need the base $38 glass plates $15 each felt and leather pads $18 and $25 then you will want film for the glass plates $5 a roll then pastes at least 2 .5 and .25 you will sink a minimum of $140 -$160 into the scary sharp system just a thought

Originally Posted by Wildtim

I'm hoping to give the scary sharp a try for a razor or two in the near future.

I don't know anyone who has done it though. It isn't often regarded as possible.

I still want to give it shot though, cheap bastard that I am. I'd love to bring the shaving world a easy complete sharpening system that could be had for under thrty bucks.

I forget who exactly, but in the old days when we were all over at yahoo groups there was a member here who was fond of the scary sharp system.

My only issue is that it is based on increasing grits of sandpaper (as I understand) which means those would also have to be replaced. Still, It's been discussed at SRP (even if not this iteration of the sight) before...

John P.