Thread: 1k DMT staight to 8k DMT?

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Here is something to consider, I know DMT's are a different animal, but there are still three basic steps in honing a razor...

(I know these are a huge generalization)
Set the bevel, around 1k
Sharpen the razor, around 4k
Polish the edge, around 8k

Seems to me that you would be skipping the sharpening step, again I understand DMT's are different...
Please correct me if I am wrong here but doesn't their grit pattern go

120
220
325
600
1200
8000

???????????????

I noticed that too. I didn't like the DMTs for anything but lapping at first but I came to appreciate the 1200 more by the simple step of following the instructions that DMT included with the plate and using a drop of dish soap in the water. I missed that at first.

They do jump from 1200 to the 8k but there ain't a thing about straight razors on their website. When you go to their website here they have listings for planes, ice skate blades, knives, tools, etcetera but nada for straight razors. If they did I betcha there would be a 4k and maybe a 12 or a 16 k in the menu.

The only stones I have seen that are actually advertised as being for straight razors are the old Eschers marketed for barbers. The Eschers, Thuringans and the venerable coticule were the go to stones for barbers. We are not even a niche market.

We are lucky to have the Nortons, Shaptons and Choseras in the grits and sizes suited to straight razor honing. I am going to write to DMT and give them a link to SRP and tell them that they are missing a chunk of market share they might pick up if they were to put a grit in between the 1200 and the 8k as well as an even higher grit plate. As Bart points out the 3 micron plate isn't truly equivalent to an 8K Norton or Shapton.