Thread: Honing - basic kit for maintaining a razor

I've been impressed with my icebear 4k so far... particularly for the price. In about 45 minutes it + plain leather strop got my butterknifed puma sharp enough to dryshave a patch of my arm in a single pass with no irritation. I did use tool-technique to work out a chip though. (make a burr, and remove)... which cut the time down more than I could estimate. Would have been even faster if I'd noticed the chip before I set the bevel, I could have sanded the edge back further in 3 or 4 minutes and gotten honing time down to the 15-20min range.

I have no clue how sharp it is relative to other stones... but it certainly cuts hair. I figure I'll go from it to a finisher, then strop and shave... as soon as my finisher gets here.

Personally, I suspect that for your needs all you're gonna want is a solid barber hone like a swaty (or a high grit coticule), a Chromox strop and a unpasted strop. From my reading, I get the impression that those three things will take you from any "shaving wear" state to shave-ready.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

""I wouldn't want to compromise. In any event before I will need to hone I will be visiting my daughter in Texas. So what do you recommend in the light of that?""

I read the whole thing....

Meh, I don't think a coticule would be a compromise as I don't think a Norton would serve the purpose any better.

Many thanks for these replies and suggestions.