Thread: Col Conk Razor Stone - To buy or not to buy, that is the ?

What is the general opinion about said item?
No products found

I am about to purchase a brush, strop, shaving soap, etc. and this seemed like it might be a good purchase to tide me over for a while until I make the jump to a Norton 4k/8k. Is this a poor decision or would this be a good investment?
The concept of buying a Norton and the requisite lapping stone seems like a gratuitous investment at this point in time, as I am just getting into the hobby and starting off with the best of the best of everything seems a bit frivolous. So long as this Col Conk stone will allow me to put a shave sharp edge on my razor it seems that this would be the way to go for the time being.

Please let me know what you all think. Any comments, suggestions, and opinions are appreciated.

All the best,
Cameron

Before I came to the SRP I bought a german razor at a cutlery shop at a local mall and tried to shave with it. I soon realized that it was not shave ready. So I bought a Col Conk stone. It got the razor closer to shave ready, but the difference between a Col Conk and a Norton are night and day. I didn't know what shave ready was until I used a norton 4k/8k (and Lynn's pyramid). My advise get a norton 4k/8k, it's worth the investment.

skip second best and go for the norton, you are going to need it anyway.

If you're not sure about making a full fledged jump straight shaving, why not combine the strop and a means to touch up the edge and get a pasted 4 sided strop?

You can always send out the razor for honing after a few months, or if you think you'll stick with it at that point buy the norton.

/$.002

*edit - you can also lap the norton on sandpaper.

While I should have held off, I added the stone to my shopping cart anyway since it was so cheap.

Im thinking I will call knifecenter tomorrow morning and see if I can have them remove the item from my order. I guess it really does make sense to just go ahead and buy a flingin-flangin Norton anyway since I have been holding off on getting into the straight razor hobby for a while and am finally ready to really commit.(I have been flirting with the idea for more than 2 years now and I am only getting more obsessed with the idea - especially after having the chance to butcher myself last night: it was satisfying beyond belief!) My tendency is to do a bit of research and then go whole hog into a project but sometimes my love of shiny new toys (or deadly blades) and the accompanying gadgetry gets the best of me and my debit card!

Any who, I was expecting these responses but I guess my thrifty side was secretly hoping that the Col Conk stone would have proved to be adequate and saved me the extra $50 I will be spending on the Norton. In perspective of what it seems I will inevitably be spending on razors $50 on a quality honing stone is quite reasonable.

Thank you for your helpful comments,
Cameron

If you are asking about purchasing the Col Conk branded Arkansas stone for honing razors then the answer is "not to buy".

18 months ago , when I decided to try straight razor shaving , I got my Col. Conk "razor hone" from the Knife Center , and quickly found that it would not get my razor sharp enough to shave my beard . A week later I ordered a Norton 4k/8k from Classic Shaving , which did give me an edge I could shave with . If you decide to keep shaving with a straight razor , you my want a finer than 8k grit hone to finish and maintain the edge .

Originally Posted by C.Sampson

What is the general opinion about said item?
No products found

I am about to purchase a brush, strop, shaving soap, etc. and this seemed like it might be a good purchase to tide me over for a while until I make the jump to a Norton 4k/8k. Is this a poor decision or would this be a good investment?
The concept of buying a Norton and the requisite lapping stone seems like a gratuitous investment at this point in time, as I am just getting into the hobby and starting off with the best of the best of everything seems a bit frivolous. So long as this Col Conk stone will allow me to put a shave sharp edge on my razor it seems that this would be the way to go for the time being.

Please let me know what you all think. Any comments, suggestions, and opinions are appreciated.

All the best,
Cameron

I bought one, and would not recomend it. Send your razor out, buy a prehoned razor ect, but it does not make any sense to buy poor quality hones. If you are going to buy hones buy good ones, it will be cheaper in the long run.

If you want cheap, buying a vintage barber hone on ebay and sending the razor out for major honing might be a good way to start.

Great advice PT! If the bevel on a razor is properly set, you can go a long time (some say indefintely) before needing to send it out again if you touch up on a very high grit finishing stone. A coticule is also a good bet for use as a finisher. At first, I used a pasted paddle strop with CrOx on it. This refresh seemed to last a little less longer than the coticule I use now to refresh. YMMV as always.

Good Luck!

-rob

Originally Posted by PonderingTurtle

I bought one, and would not recomend it. Send your razor out, buy a prehoned razor ect, but it does not make any sense to buy poor quality hones. If you are going to buy hones buy good ones, it will be cheaper in the long run.

If you want cheap, buying a vintage barber hone on ebay and sending the razor out for major honing might be a good way to start.

I ended up purchasing a straight from Max-s and he has kindly offered me a free re-hone if/when the blade needs to be rebeveled. Based in the responses so far it seems like the next purchase I make should either be acquiring a 12k Chinese stone or make myself a balsa-paddle and impregnate it with Cro-Ox. As I understand it both would accomplish roughly the same goal - maintaining a shave sharp edge by providing just a little more texture than a linen/leather strop but still being much finer than an 8k stone. Comments/suggestions?

Thanks,
C