Thread: Hones or Strops with paste

Which do you prefer and why? What are the benifits

One hone. Norton4/8K. But I wish the 12K chinese or whatewer is finer than the Norton for polishing.

the reason I am thinking about another finer hone is that the pasted strop actually creates another bevel on the edge as it sharpens it. The stone is flat, and I think it gives more consistent results...

As all of my razors were honed by Lynn, I just need to maintain the edge. Pasted strops work great. It's fairly inexpensive, and since it's stropping there's no additional learning curve for honing.

However, if you have a razor that isn't sharp pasted strops probably aren't going to have enough abrasive quality to them to fix it. Those restoration projects will probably need to visit the hone. I am wanting to restore a few razors, and plan on investing in a 3" 4K/8K hone one of these days when I have more free time.

My method is 8k Japanese waterstone, 12k Chinese waterstone, linen side of my strop, then the smooth leather side. I mentioned in another thread I just started that I'll use the 12k dry for light touch-ups when they need a little more than the linen/leather combo and it works very well. No more than needed is the rule of thumb as I understand it (Randy's pyramid method comes to mind). A dry waterstone, or any stone for that matter, isn't nearly as aggressive as a wet one, and the dry 12k is the next best thing to a higher grit stone for me. If an edge needs more work than the 8k can cut reasonably, then it's just sitting in the drawer until I scrape the cash to buy my ultimate goal...Shapton stones in 5k, 8k, and 15k. Have you guys seen the Shapton 30k stone? Something like $650!! I bet that'd be like glass! In the meantime, I'm in the process of getting a box strop and some varying pastes to see how much polishing the edge will improve the edge over how I do it now. It will be my first experience with a pasted strop, however.

Originally Posted by threeputt

My method is 8k Japanese waterstone, 12k Chinese waterstone, linen side of my strop, then the smooth leather side. A dry waterstone, or any stone for that matter, isn't nearly as aggressive as a wet one, and the dry 12k is the next best thing to a higher grit stone for me. If an edge needs more work than the 8k can cut reasonably, then it's just sitting in the drawer until I scrape the cash to buy my ultimate goal...Shapton stones in 5k, 8k, and 15k. Have you guys seen the Shapton 30k stone? Something like $650!! I bet that'd be like glass! In the meantime, I'm in the process of getting a box strop and some varying pastes to see how much polishing the edge will improve the edge over how I do it now. It will be my first experience with a pasted strop, however.

I have SHapton 1k, 5k, 15k pro series stones and they are excellent for my cutlery. I also have a Kitayama 8k stone which acts a little differently from the Shaptons. It produces a nice slurry that is actually finer in grit and is more like 10-12k according to a proffessional sharpener I know. I have gotten excellent razor results right of the 8k. I do see a very polished and perhaps too sharp edge from .5 paste after the finsihing stones. The 8k is 1 micron and the 15k is .5 micron. The 30k stone is on lots of wish lists I know, but seems quite an extravagance considering the cost of .25 diamond paste. Still, I want one too. I really like hearing about the different ways people get that dream edge. I'm curious about the properties of your Chinese stone. Can you provide a link to it? Thanks!

I obviously am a pasted strop user <g>. It is not the only tool for the job and will not replace a stone or hone for bringing back a really dull razor or eBay special. A stone will also be a little faster. Pasted strops are great because you don't really need to learn something new if you can already strop effectively. You can get finer grits at far less money than on stones. A complete arsenal will have both hones and pasted strops. One does not exclude the other, they work together instead.

One does need to take a little care in their use though. Since they are not as hard as a hone you cannot use pressure on them. Doing so will change the bevel or round the edge. Use only the weight of the blade. A light touch with the razor barely floating along the surface, nothing more.

That said I have 4 more hones on the way from Tilly for my collection and use<g>

Tony

Originally Posted by Tony Miller

One does need to take a little care in their use though. Since they are not as hard as a hone you cannot use pressure on them. Doing so will change the bevel or round the edge. Use only the weight of the blade. A light touch with the razor barely floating along the surface, nothing more.
That said I have 4 more hones on the way from Tilly for my collection and use<g>

How true. The spine of the razor itelsf causes a surface disruption on the strop or hone causing a rebound effect from the leather. This can cause deformity of the blade at the extreme. A light touch is critical it would seem. Speaking of round edges; has anyone tested the effect of letting a blade "rest" after stropping? Some steels seem to correct themselves after the edge is turned over if time is given.

Hmm, I was wondering if I can have my "Honemeister" classification changed to "Stropmeister" instead <g>.

Tony

Currently I am using a Spyderco medium grit (800) ceramic hone to remove nicks and establish a new bevel. Then on to the 4000 Norton and then the 8000 Norton until the blade passes the hanging hair test with no effort (Pyramid method). Then on to the 12000 chinese stone for 50-100 roundtrips( www.woodcraft.com). This is followed by 50 on the 0.5 chrome oxide paddle strop and 25 on the 0.25 diamond paste paddle strop ending with 35-50 on the plain leather strop.

Works for me,

Originally Posted by randydance062449

Currently I am using a Spyderco medium grit (800) ceramic hone to remove nicks and establish a new bevel. Then on to the 4000 Norton and then the 8000 Norton until the blade passes the hanging hair test with no effort (Pyramid method). Then on to the 12000 chinese stone for 50-100 roundtrips( www.woodcraft.com). This is followed by 50 on the 0.5 chrome oxide paddle strop and 25 on the 0.25 diamond paste paddle strop ending with 35-50 on the plain leather strop.

Works for me,

Randy. I like your style!!