Thread: Order of Honing?

Here are my honing tools: Norton 4k/8k; Chinese 1200 grit stone; TM four sided leather paddle with diamond paste 3,1,.5,.25; hanging leather strop coated with Chromium Oxide; and a TM Latigo/cotton strop.

So what's the natural order to use them in?

Originally Posted by Bill71

Here are my honing tools: Norton 4k/8k; Chinese 1200 grit stone; TM four sided leather paddle with diamond paste 3,1,.5,.25; hanging leather strop coated with Chromium Oxide; and a TM Latigo/cotton strop.

So what's the natural order to use them in?

Assuming the bevel isn't too bad to start you can set it with the 4k .... just takes longer. If it is set I would do 4/8 pyramid as explained in the SRP Wiki razor honing section. I would strop with fabric/leather and shave test. I like to get the razor shaving smoothly and cleanly with the 4/8 before moving up in grit. After a successful shave test the 12k if that was desired. The pastes come next if you want to go that extra step. Not that this is the only way .... just what I would do.

so even the 3 micron diamond paste is finer than the 1200 grit? And, is Chromium Oxide paste finer than the .25 micron diamond?

Originally Posted by Bill71

so even the 3 micron diamond paste is finer than the 1200 grit? And, is Chromium Oxide paste finer than the .25 micron diamond?

on the glass shaptons the 16k is rated at 90 micron, so 0.3 micron is almost the finest grit you can find out there.

Originally Posted by Bill71

Here are my honing tools: Norton 4k/8k; Chinese 1200 grit stone; TM four sided leather paddle with diamond paste 3,1,.5,.25; hanging leather strop coated with Chromium Oxide; and a TM Latigo/cotton strop.

So what's the natural order to use them in?

6 micron Norton 4K
3 micron Norton 8K, diamond
1 micron diamond
~1 micron 12000 Chinese (approx. effective finish, YMMV)
0.5 micron chromium oxide, diamond
0.25 diamond

The diamond abrasive will leave relatively deeper scratches for the particle size because of the cuboid shape.