Alternative setup - heretical or acceptable?

My understanding is that when it comes to honing - the basic setup - the "norm" is a progression from 4K grit through 8K, followed by perhaps some super-fine gritted polishing stones and/or pastes.

Now, where I live, this is not straight forward. What's readily available when it comes to finer grits around these parts is no higher than 6K, but pastes are available. Now, my question is this: would the following setup be OK?

4K stone - 6K stone/pasted paddle strop with 3 micron paste (3 micron = 8K grit) - barber's hone/finer pastes

Part of me is telling me that substituting an 8K stone for the 3 micron paste will work, but another part is telling me that it's not the same seeing as how one is used with the edge leading and the other with the edge trailing. And I also have a sneaking suspicion that 6K will be a tad too coarse for edge finishing compared to 8K.

Thoughts?

Depending on the stone, a 6K hone will leave a shaving edge. Granted, it won't be the most comfortable edge in the world... I tend to think of 6K as the lowest "shave-ready" grit. I've heard that on the German shaving sites, the King brand 6K hone is popular for razors. The conventional wisdom is that barber hones are 6K, which seems about right to me.

I've actually gone straight from 1K to pastes as an experiment. It worked OK.

You could probably go from the 4K to the 3 micron paste, then to a 1 micron or possibly .5 micron paste. That should work just fine. The intermediate steps are unecessary.

I prefer hanging strops for use with pastes, but most guys like paddles better.

You'll need to do a little experimenting, but that's the fun part. :)

Josh

Yea, Josh is right. That'll work fine.

Prof John Verhoeven at the University of Iowa tried it both ways: doing the full progression going up to 0.5 micron chromium oxide, and jumping straight from I think 4k to chromium oxide, and the end results were comparable at 3,000x using an electron microscope.

I wouldn't worry about it - there are many ways to get a razor sharp.

i was reading in the spyderco forums about the scary sharp system by hand american they distribute thru japanese knife sharpening looks like that setup would work very well after a 4k stone here is a link http://japaneseknifesharpening.com/handamerican.html
i am thinking about it myself

Where are you that you can't get the standard stones, but can get diamond pastes?

And if there just aren't any companies that ship to your neck of the woods, I bet you could get a member of this forum to ship one your way.

But if you want to go the road less traveled, there are a number of viable abrasives that are pretty widely available, like aluminum wheel polish. Many people have been using cigar ash on a stropping surface as a finishing grit.

When it comes to razor honing, there are no rules.
Some roads are well travelled (norton + cot combo), but other times you might be leading the way.

I've done things that sometimes worked and sometimes didn't. If it works, then tell us about it so that we all know. And if it didn't... tell us anyway :)
Experimentation is the best way to learn.

I'm in Norway, and the tool shops around here seem to only sell grits up to 6K. The only source for straight razor shaving equipment is BarberShop.no and they don't carry stones - only pastes.

I could just order from an American retailer, but 1): there's the hassle of shipping and customs clearance and whatnot and 2): I figured if I could put a shaving edge on a razor with stuff available locally, I prefer that to ordering stuff from all over the globe. ;) And if I could contribute my experiences back to the community, all the better. :D

The only suggestion I will add is that once you move from a hard stone to a pasted leather then it is best to finish with a paste. Stone-stone-paste-paste. Use the barber hone after the 6K, not between the pastes. The issue is the ever so slight rounding of the edge created by the pastes.

Just my two cents,:)

I'd never have thought of that by myself. :tu

6k should work fine.

I don't like a pasted shaving edge at all. I always finish up with a barber hone. Finding out what you prefer is the fun part.