Quote Originally Posted by khaos View Post
So I think I ruled out the naturals. I'm down to this decision:
Norton 240/1k, 4k/8k set ($120)
DMT 600, 1200 (both with swarf holes), 8k (flat) ($60)

The DMT's are clearly half the price, but they are 6x2 compared to Norton's 8x something (2? 3?). Also, I read somewhere that the DMT's are less forgiving/harder to learn on, whereas the Norton's cut nice and slow and theres a lot of info out there. In both cases I'm doing the CrOx balsa strop deal, and will probably get a finishing hone, now or later.
I've read all the stuff about needing to break in the DMT's and I have a few knives I need to sharpen which I will be doing on whatever hone I get, so that would break them in.

My main question is, is the increase in surface area and newb-friendliness worth the $60? Or rather, is the aggressiveness of the DMT highly unrecommendable? (On a side note, because the DMT cuts faster, does the size difference matter that much?)
Before you buy those DMT's with swarf holes, I'd search for a little more info on them. I think someone had said they aren't good for honing razors. I don't remember why, though. I could very well be mistaken, but I'd rather you be sure before buying them.

Also, my understanding of the D8EE is that it doesn't finish as fine as the norton 8k does, even though it's supposedly 8k also. IIRC it's a bit harsher? In any event, I'm not sure you'd want to shave straight off it, and I'm not sure if the crox would help it enough for a comfortable shave? On the other hand, you could shave straight off the norton 8k if you wanted to. And the crox is only helping there.