Quote Originally Posted by mainaman View Post
Can you imagine that when you learn how to hone you are not even going to need pastes? so much money wasted on sprays... may be your mentor is saving that info for later, like Honing 400?
Actually he hones on film. But we both use pasted balsa for maintainence of our regular shaving razors cause it just works so good without having to break out film and wet the plate and stick it on just so and etc etc. Instead of shaving until the edge is dull, our edges never get dull in the first place. Or rarely anyhow. And then, the .5 micron will bring it back nice.

I have learned to hone. I have taken several razors from cant shave to can shave. Honed out some big chips and even made a couple of shorties when the toe or heel were broke or severely screwed. I don't have the experience you guys have, but I have used film of course and the following stones: King 1k, Norton 220/1k, Norton 4k/8k, soft/edium/hard/translucent Arkansas progression, (my Dad's stones) and I was even walked through my first coticule dilucote edge last weekend. Oh, and Chinese 12k natural finisher, and Naniwa Super Stone 12k finisher. I haven't used the lower grit Naniwas and I haven't used a Jnat or thurengians or welsh slates or charnley forests or anything like that, nor any of those Shaptons everybody raves about. And I don't have access to a barber hone to try, either. But I get good edges with what I got to work with. I use that stuff for getting it sharp in the first place, not touchups because the balsa is convenient and when you get the system nailed down pat it keeps a really good edge. My razor guru has razors that haven't touched a hone in years and looks like they never will again as long as he has them.

I don't waste money on sprays. Don't even have any sprays. The diamond paste is cheap when you remember you only need to refresh the balsa with a tiny blob the size of a BB about once a month.

True, I am still learning, and looking forward to Honing 400, but I am starting to get a handle on what I like to use and what is worth spending a few bucks on and what isn't worth spending a few hundred bucks on.

I don't NEED pastes now, but I sure like them and I always will.