Thread: A 4k/8k and what else?

I would like to learn how to hone my razors in order to progress in this SR adventure. At the moment, I have nothing but strops. I also have two good razors and I picked up three ebayers earlier in the year in order to practice honing on them.

My honing material amounts to nothing at this point. I know I will need the Norton 4k/8, but I am wondering if there is anything else that is needed to reach complete independence.

FWIW, I will probably purchase the stones from Jim at VB.

Thanks

Probably the cheapest hone option for going to the next level would be the Chinese 12K. The cheapest non-hone option would be a variety of pastes but the strop you use/make will affect the price. A search of this forum will yield lots of options for strops, ranging from newspaper to leather.

Hi Ernie,

You will need a 4k and an 8k indeed. You can choose your brand and even mix them up: Shapton, DMT, Belgian natural stone, Sypderco (not all of them have 4k and 8k); but the easiest and cheapest is a Norton waterstone combi 4k/8k.
You will need also a finishing stone: Belgian coticule, German natural stone (like an Escher), Shapton 16k, Japanese finishing hone, etc... there is a lot of possibilities, depending of the money you are intending to put in this purchase. Instead of a finishing stone, you can also choose a pasted paddle strop (1 D, 0.5 D, 0.5Cr or 0.25 D), very effective and less expensive.

My setup is:
- Norton 4k/8k
- Belgian coticule
- pasted bench strop 0.5 and 0.25 (almost never used; usually the 0.5 is enough)

All this is usually a matter of personal choice. If you want to group your purchase, an excellent site is the following: The Perfect Edge You will find there everything you need, excellent quality and very good service.