Thread: The Need for Lower Grit Stones

I'm not going to do any restorations and I use only new and/or near shave-ready razors. Do I need lower grit stones or are a D8EE stone and pasted strop enough? I suppose I might need a lower grit to set the bevel but I'm not sure. Thanks.

If you ever chip an edge and have to hone it out and then reset the bevel you will nedd at least a 4000 grit. I don't have a 1000 grit but there have been times I sure wish I had one.

So to answer your question technically if you don't do any restore work you should never need the lower grits however you will need to be really careful or lucky with your razors if you know what I mean.

I'd recommend the D8EF for a hone in the 1k range, and your D8EE will cover the 4-8k range.

That's if you must have a lower grit stone.

Originally Posted by Russel Baldridge

I'd recommend the D8EF for a hone in the 1k range, and your D8EE will cover the 4-8k range.

That's if you must have a lower grit stone.

What is D8EF? Do you mean the Extra Fine D8E?

D8XX=120 (extra coarse)
D8C=325 (coarse)
D8F=600 (fine)
D8E=1200 (extra fine)
D8EE=8000 (extra extra fine)

A friend sold his Norton set to me when he switched to DMTs. When I got them I thought that I would have little use for the 220/1000 but I was mistaken. Now I am really glad to have the 1K for expeditiously cleaning up a ragged edge on an ebay acquisition or whatever else I may need it for. I hope I never ding an edge on the faucet but if it happens at least I have something to go with.

Boy do I wish I had a DMT D8E (DMT don't call it the EF BTW just E) I've just been trying to get an ebay W&B wedge to shaving sharp with just a norton 4k and a DMT D8EE - I think the D8EE actually cuts faster than the norton 4K so I've mainly just been using that. It's taken several hours so far. The bevel is about 3mm and none of the rest of the bevel was in contact with the hone when I started.


Barney

IMHO everyone needs a coarser stone. Even when touching an edge up I go to the 1000 first. Why? Because over time and with all the stropping (and paste stropping) the bevel becomes rounded and you only can get a straight edge again if you start at the 1000 for 5 strokes or so. A 4000 would work too, but that's already where the finishing begins - these stones aren't meant for doing cutting work and setting the bevel, this is only done on the coarser stones. But, of yourse, you could not care about a straight bevel and a fresh, perfect edge and only use finder stones for refreshing the razor - it's all YMMV.

Originally Posted by barneycg

Boy do I wish I had a DMT D8E (DMT don't call it the EF BTW just E) I've just been trying to get an ebay W&B wedge to shaving sharp with just a norton 4k and a DMT D8EE - I think the D8EE actually cuts faster than the norton 4K so I've mainly just been using that. It's taken several hours so far. The bevel is about 3mm and none of the rest of the bevel was in contact with the hone when I started.


Barney

Is there a way you could post pics? Because it could be your honing technique as well the need for a lower grit stone. (I would indeed recommend the D8E for your case: http://www.craftsmanstudio.com/html_p/T!D8.htm )

I'm the 1000 grit paper guy. I've never seen a need for a low grit STONE but something that can remove a nick or re-set a bevel in this lifetime is a necessity to me. I just have never seen the need for an expensive stone to do it with. Over the last couple of years of honing, I've probably used up almost three bucks worth of 1000 grit wet dry paper I figure by the time a 1000 grit Norton or DMT would be paid for I'll be long gone at this rate.

If you are very careful, never bump your blade and stay away from e-bay and out of antique shops you can probably get away with just 4000 and above indefinitely though