With all due respect to all the members here, especially the experianced ones, I find that people go overboard with a lot of techniques described on this board. Let me explain...When most of these razors were new, that could be any time in the 1700s, 1800s, or 1900s, they were used for shaving exclusively. They didn't have Mach3s in 1898 or electric razors, the straight razor was your only choice really. Anyway I'm sure that when it came time to hone their razor that the owner didn't have 5 seperate stones to their disposal. They probably had a barber hone and a strop, possibly another strop loaded with mild abrasives. They likely honed it and stropped it and if it shaved half decent that was good. I feel blessed to have a Norton in 4000 and 8000 grit, that is more then they would have had to use. I can see if you are going at it as a hobby and your goal is to have the ultimate shaving edge, by all means become and honemiester and have 5 or so stones at your disposal while honing. If all you want is a good shave then something like a
Norton works fine. Personally I have breadknifed a razor, it kept chipping on the edge while honing it. Breadknifing it worked well and although it took me a long time to get the bevel back, it was worth it in the end. I'm by no means an expert, I'm just a beginner, but I use common sense and I have found honing a razor to the point of getting a good shave to be way easier then it is often made out to be in the forums here, maybe I've just been lucky with the five razors I've honed so far.