Thread: Improving my progression

My current progression is as follows:

DMT extra fine
DMT extra extra fine
Chinese 12K
Chrome Oxide on Newspaper
Newspaper

I seem to be doing OK with this, but think I could improve it yet.

The jump between the DMT's seems big. I spend more time on the 8K than I think I should. Maybe I need something between these.

The Chinese 12K seems slow at polishing and I wonder if there is something that might do a better job.

I have been researching the forum and have become thoroughly confused.

Here are the options I am looking at:

for between the DMT's:

Tom O'Shanter
Naniwa SS 3000
Naniwa SS 5000
Belgian Blue

After DMT 8000
Kitayama 8000
Nakayama 8000
Belgian Coticule
Belgian Blue/coticule combination
Swaty
MST Thuringian
Apex Thuringian

Advice?

Hi,
Firstly, do you use newspaper in place of a stop, or just in the honing progression?
Also, it's worth knowing that the speed of the Chinese 12k can be significantly improved with slurry. It remains a polisher though.
I find that the DMT EE is a pretty fast cutter. I use it to get rid of the metal fast, then move on to a BBW.
The BBW gives a far smoother edge, without the risk of micro chipping that the DMT's can cause. I find it also removes the scratch pattern of the DMT well.
I like to follow that with a Coticule with just water to polish.
If you were to get a combi you could experiment with where you could use it in the progression.
I like Thuringians too, but seem to be stopping after the yellow more & more. I think it'll take you an age to remove DMT scratches with one.
From my experience with them I'd recommend the BBW/Coticule.

I strop after the newspaper. I forgot once and got a nice, close and Irritating shave.

I didn't really like that.

You carn't go wrong with bbw yellow/combo

After the DMT 1200, less than 20 or 30 laps on the 8000 are usually enough for me.

Most barber hones are faster than the Chinese 12k, some with a comparable finish. Usually inexpensive and sometimes harder to locate.

A Shapton 16k or other finisher (10k to 16k) might be a good "next addition" to experiment with.

What you have will work just fine. If HAD bites then you will need/want all the hones on your list...

This place is a great resource. The search function makes a virtual library of information.

I am thinking of adding a Spyderco Ultra Fine to the line up.

Do they need lapping? I have read conflicting opinions.

I also found the jump from the 1200 to the 8000 dmt to be pretty big, so I'd say to get a stone in the 4k range as well, a belgium as suggested, or a norton.

I really like my spyderco UF, and yeah, you want to lap it, but you only have to lap one side. Get a dvd of a TV show you like. It took me over a quarter season of 24 before I was satisfied-but dvd episodes are about 45 minutes, and I took lots and lots of breaks, so it wasn't horrible-though it was pretty bad. I'm dreading the day I get an 8x3 UF.

The jump from the 1000 to 8000 was only mildly bothersome until I got this Iberia razor. I ended up going back and forth between the 2 which seemed to work fine. I did get a good shave off of it.

I wonder if that means the Iberia is good/hard steel. It was sure slow going. I honed a ERN after that and it went much better, but it was still quite a jump.

I also noticed someone was selling a Katayama "12K" stone on Ebay for $80 shipped. I wonder how that compares with the Spyderco or Chinese 12K. Anyone compare the 2?

Originally Posted by gary haywood

You carn't go wrong with bbw yellow/combo

I agree. All I use is a BBW and yellow coticule for honing my razors when they need a touch up. If you need to make a bevel you can use a DMT 1200 for that and then move to the coticules in different progressions. There's a lot of information on that in the Wiki, just search for coticule when you're there.

Just the other day I took a big wedge that wouldn't shave me at all and went to BBW with slurry to yellow with water and got a really good edge.

After reading some more on the Spyderco. They are reputed to be hard to lap. What I have been doing is lapping a Norton flattening stone with my DMT coarse and then using that to lap my other hones.

I don't know if the lapping stone is hard enough to work on the ceramic Spyderco.

It also looks like I can get the King Ice Bear for $24 to fit between DMT 1000 and the DMT 8000.

I can then see about hones (eg Thuringian, Japanese, coticule, etc) later.

OTOH, I suppose I could make the case that buying the best saves me money in the long run.

Hmmm.