Thread: can you hone with 1200 and 8000 grit

Im a poor college student and i was jsut about to buy a 4000/8000 norton, but low and behold i was the victim of a hit adn run and now i have to pay for soem car work and lost my stash of money for a hone. I don't really have enough money to buy a new hone right now but my dad is a woodworker and sharpens his tools using some DMT 80th anniversary hones. They are diamond stones and the collection is 3 stones, a 600 grit, 1200 grit and an 8000 grit. could i use these for honing in a 1200, 8000 run. I know most people do a 4000, 8000 so that's why i was wondering, would the 1200 take off too much metal, or could you use it only doing a few passes to take off little metal then go to the 8000. ( thats how he does his chissles). Any advice.

On the DMT's it's perfectly possible to step up from the 1200 to the 8000. I have used both and I was not impressed with the smoothness of the shave provided by the 8K, but it does work. If you do a number of additional laps on a pasted paddle strop with Chromium Oxide, the edge will gain some keenness and a lot of smoothness.
CrO is very cheap. It's sold through the classifieds by SRP-member ChrisL.

Best regards,
Bart.

Due to budget constraints when I started straights I started with a Japanese 1200/8000 hone. The shaves were great compared to the cartridge shaves, but now that I have more time in the art and more hones I prefer not to shave off the 8k. It will work and until you shave off a polished blade you will not know what you are missing.

For a real budget until you save up again why not send you blade to a honemeister to get it sharp and enjoy your shaves even more. two ir thee months from now you will need to touch up your edge and can pick up a barbers hone like a Swaty. Ya really don't need the other hones until you have money to buy new blades and the RAD and HAD set in.

+1 on Bart about the paddle strop also. Your dad can make you one in his wood shop for under 10 bucks. There are some posts here in SRP on how to do it if you want to search for it.

Good luck.

Originally Posted by Joed

Due to budget constraints when I started straights I started with a Japanese 1200/8000 hone. The shaves were great compared to the cartridge shaves, but now that I have more time in the art and more hones I prefer not to shave off the 8k. It will work and until you shave off a polished blade you will not know what you are missing.

For a real budget until you save up again why not send you blade to a honemeister to get it sharp and enjoy your shaves even more. two ir thee months from now you will need to touch up your edge and can pick up a barbers hone like a Swaty. Ya really don't need the other hones until you have money to buy new blades and the RAD and HAD set in.

+1 on Bart about the paddle strop also. Your dad can make you one in his wood shop for under 10 bucks. There are some posts here in SRP on how to do it if you want to search for it.

Good luck.

I completely agree with Joed. Crox and a paddle strop, or even cheaper balsa wood, is what I always recommend to those with financial difficulties. In fact, you shouldn't even buy a 1k hone. Why? Because someone in your position shouldn't be buying razors that need bevel resets. Honing is a skill that requires a lot of time to develop and shave ready razors do not need bevel resets. If honing pracitce is what you want, a C12k is a much better option.