This is a serious question, but one that the folks with serious HAD might balk at.

The question is, if you could have only one hone for razors, what would it be? But let me give some background before you answer.

Basically, I've come to realize that restoration isn't for me. It isn't that I couldn't develop my skills in that area, but I'm finding other manual pursuits more satisfying right now. I still love razors and love the fact that very few of my razors weren't owned by someone else first, but even putting a shaving edge on a NOS Friodur Inox was more than I wanted to deal with.

I have a set-up that I got pretty good with (DMT 1200, Notron 4/8k, and undersized Belgian Blue and Coticule), but at this point it's more than I need. These days I'll pull out the coticule to refresh a blade and it works great. Maybe I'll pull out the blue if I've got a new-used razor with some micro-chipping.

So now I'm thinking, just like how I'm going from 18 razors to 7 (which has turned out to be 9, seven day "set" plus travel pair), maybe I should sell off my stone collection and put that money towards a single stone. A large coticule seems an obvious choice, but I figured I might as well get advice from multiple people. I asked Howard from perfectedge about this, and will likely go with his advice since his honing advice has done me well in the past, but it never hurts to get more voices.

Thanks,
Dan