Originally Posted by
Chimensch
I don't disagree with a single thing you have said, but I do have a different point of view.
I shaved for 28 years off of a barber hone. I didn't know any better but I got great shaves anyway. Now I use a coticule. I have a Norton 4K/8K, a Chinese 12K and pastes, but I hardly use them. What I object to is giving new people the idea that honing is complicated and that you need to spend a lot of money on hones. Someone could get by just fine with a barbers hone or a coticule and they could learn to get great shaves from them. Or, if they want to make a hobby of it, or chase the ultimate edge, they can do that too. You probably can get a fantastic edge off of an expensive Japanese hone but I'm not going to buy one because I don't think I would get that much better of a shave.