The intimidation of Newbie Honing
Hello all,
I wanted to forward a post I made in the newbie forum about some of my concerns about honing in general. As a new guy (less than a month into shaving), I have a bit of questions about it. Here is my post from the Newbie section:
I am a very new straight razor shaver. I have received three razors thus far, that I like, and I am happy with them all. One was from OLD_SCHOOL on this site, another from Ken at RupRazor, and my Henckels from a member on B&B. All give me good shaves, but all feel different.
I am now thinking about stones because I know the day will come when I will need to use one. I also have a strop with Cr0 from Ken. One thing I can say, as a new guy, is that every time I read threads on honing I become incredibly confused. There is just so much information on honing that your mind becomes clogged with everyone's different methods and opinions. I read you can set a bevel on a coticule, then I read you need a 1200K and up to set a bevel and sharpen, then I read all you need is a barber's hone and that's it unless you're setting bevels on old blades. To get right to the point, it's very confusing and I have no idea what to take to heart as a method for me. The only thing is that I know I don't want to spend 1,000$ on stones, that's for sure.
I plan on using my .5 Cr0 strop when my razors start to pull. Maybe I will get a Baber's hone to keep the edges also. Isn't that enough for me if I am not going to chip my razors or set bevels on Ebay razors? I plan on buying blades shave ready since they're always on here anyway and I trust the guys that sell on here. I also see that a yellow Coticule is 8k but is not the same as the norton 8k side. The coticule is a finishing/polishing stone. Is this true? They're both 8k.
I really liked the idea of just getting a Swaty barber's hone off ebay and being set for.....a long time with my shave ready razors. Am I now wrong/incorrect for thinking that I can get away with this? If I can not find a barber's hone can I use something that is 12K or 16K for the same purpose? Is it true that you can polish and touch up a razor that just needs a little touch up after a month on a norton 4k/8k too? Would you do a pyramid with both sides to do this? 8k seems rough to me to finishing a touch up on.
As you can see this is how it feels when you're a week or two into SR shaving and you see all these things about stones. It makes your head spin.
My main questions are:
1) Should I just get a barber's hone for polishing my shave ready straights?
2) Would I be better off getting a 12-16K stone for polishing. I have a heavy beard and sometimes sharp razors that come shave ready CAN be sharper for my taste. Sometimes they pull under my chin.
3) Will I ever need a North 4k/8k if I continue to buy shave ready razors from you guys.
4) Is a Coticule the same as a Norton since the grits are the same (from what I see yellow is 8k, etc.)?
5) If I do buy a stone like a 12k I would need to lap it right? How would I do this if I own no other stones?
Thanks a lot guys!