Thread: Restoring work... DMT F/VF to Barber hone... possible?

If I get a 2sided DMT F/EF and a barber hone off the 'bay do you think it's reasonable to expect to go from the 1200 VF to the hone without the addition of a 50$ 4000 stone or $70 EEF in between?

How long would you say the transition on a standard high carbon (not SS) razor would take (from 1200 to ~8kish barber hone using the barber)?

Is anyone using this setup or similar at the moment?

Originally Posted by IanS

If I get a 2sided DMT F/EF and a barber hone off the 'bay do you think it's reasonable to expect to go from the 1200 VF to the hone without the addition of a 50$ 4000 stone or $70 EEF in between?

How long would you say the transition on a standard high carbon (not SS) razor would take (from 1200 to ~8kish barber hone using the barber)?

Is anyone using this setup or similar at the moment?

the bigger the grit differential the longer it will take to remove the scratches from the previous grit.
8k is polishing stone and it will be an eternity before you remove 1.2k scratches with it. Imo you need an intermediate stone.

4k to 6k a good range to be looking in? Or should I narrow it down further?

search Norton starter set on Amazon should be about $116 shipped to you

Where you go after this set is up to you but at $116 this can not be be beaten with a big stick... Lapping stone (it works OK) 220/1k and 4k/8k all you will ever need not all you might want...

Thanks, but I'm very familiar with DMT's and picked up a F/VF double quite reasonably. I've also got a Swaty barber hone incoming. I figure I just need to bridge the gap, and at $50+ for a 4000, $80+ for a 4000/8000, the norton is more than I'm willing to spend. At that range, I'd rather grab a DMT8EE since I hear it chews as fast as a 4k norton anyway... I'm mainly looking at king Ice Bear 4k or 6k right now as they are sub $30 each.

(so it'd be 1.2k -> 4/6 -> ~10k)

Do you think those would work well, and if so, which would be more useful do you expect. I'm leaning towards the 4k, as that'd give me ~9micron->~3micron->~1micron vs 9->2->1.

I've never sharpened anything past ~4k grit before though, so I'm just making an assumption on that point.



... A big part of the reason I went DMT instead of the Norton set, beyond my personal preference is that I figure I can use the F side to lap my stones... not as fast as using a course, but I think I'll manage.

Things I know to be true -vs-things I do not have any clue about...

I know the the Norton set I reference can hone every razor I have ever touched...
I know that DMT's leave harsh scratches
I know that using a barbers hone as an actual finisher is not so easy.


I have no clue how the King stones work..
I have no clue what the actual grit rating is on any barbers hone..
I have no clue whether that system will work..
If it does work you will have no clue how well it works when compared to a proven system..

This is one of the reasons why we always recommend systems that are very well known, because we can help you through the honing process...we can give real advice not just guesses...

But if you ask in 3 weeks about the system you are building for help there is probably not one person on here that can truly help you out, because we haven't used what you are using...
Where you go with honing after you learn how is your choice but in the beginning I always recommend starting from a very well known point...

There is also nothing that says the system you are looking at will not work, what I am saying is until you try it out, nobody really knows....

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Things I know to be true -vs-things I do not have any clue about...

I know the the Norton set I reference can hone every razor I have ever touched...
I know that DMT's leave harsh scratches
I know that using a barbers hone as an actual finisher is not so easy.


I have no clue how the King stones work..
I have no clue what the actual grit rating is on any barbers hone..
I have no clue whether that system will work..
If it does work you will have no clue how well it works when compared to a proven system..

This is one of the reasons why we always recommend systems that are very well known, because we can help you through the honing process...we can give real advice not just guesses...

But if you ask in 3 weeks about the system you are building for help there is probably not one person on here that can truly help you out, because we haven't used what you are using...
Where you go with honing after you learn how is your choice but in the beginning I always recommend starting from a very well known point...

There is also nothing that says the system you are looking at will not work, what I am saying is until you try it out, nobody really knows....

BIG +1 on all of the above !

I have 8k King and it works great.
I have a 6k King and I do not like it, both for knives and razors .
At the least may be you can try the 4k Norton, but frankly DMT other than bevel setter is not a good stone for fine edges. DMT is mainly made for tool sharpening.
My experience was to start with 120.320.1.2k Dmt, 6k King, 8k kitayama
I quickly dumped all but the 120 Dmt (used for lapping and heavy chip repair on knives).
I got 1k king, then 2-3k Aoto , 5k Suehiro Rika
then finally settled on a 1k Chosera,3k Chosera, 5k Super Stone, 8 K king, 10k Super Stone, 16k Glass Stone, Nakayama.
A lot of stones for sure, but I had to find the right system that allows me to work knives and razors at the same time.

For me the morale of the story is if you want to start with not much stone turn around , get a proven system as Glen suggests.

Thanks for the advice.

Originally Posted by IanS

If I get a 2sided DMT F/EF and a barber hone off the 'bay do you think it's reasonable to expect to go from the 1200 VF to the hone without the addition of a 50$ 4000 stone or $70 EEF in between?

How long would you say the transition on a standard high carbon (not SS) razor would take (from 1200 to ~8kish barber hone using the barber)?

Is anyone using this setup or similar at the moment?

1200 to 8k? From DMT 1.2k to an 8K barber hone might take longer than you like. From DMT 1.2k to a DMT 8k works just fine. Around 20 laps on the 8k will usually do it. It's my standard routine.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/advan...-1um-film.html

http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...ht-8k-dmt.html

http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...-too-much.html

Edit: DMT recommends using nothing finer than the C 325 for lapping, using plenty of water. Slurry can strip the nickel from the finer grits. The XX 120 micron is their top recommendation (for lapping).