Thread: Decent hone for beginner.

Okay so I am a beginner to straight razor shaving in general and I want to learn how to hone. Now I'm young, and can't afford a real expensive stone, but I am going to an antique shop and might look for an old razor to practice honing, I just need a honing stone. Please help me out, I just need to know a good one to get the information on how to start honing I can start looking about later.

Thanks!

That really depends on what you would like to do. For maintaining your razors a Norton 4k/8k would do the job nicely. I think this hone sells for about $80 new and some times be found on Ebay and the classifieds. It is also a very nice hone to learn the basics. It is my understanding that one should not buy other hones until one can get a good shave using this stone and this stone only but I am sure that there are a million opinions on the subject. Other people like barber hones for this purpose.

This may be out of your price range but it is an excellent set to start: Amazon.com: Norton Waterstone Starter Kit: 220/1000 grit stone, 4000/8000 grit stone, SiC flattening stone: Home Improvement

Al raz.

Originally Posted by 15straightrazor

Okay so I am a beginner to straight razor shaving in general and I want to learn how to hone. Now I'm young, and can't afford a real expensive stone, but I am going to an antique shop and might look for an old razor to practice honing, I just need a honing stone. Please help me out, I just need to know a good one to get the information on how to start honing I can start looking about later.

Thanks!

Its nice but I'm trying to find somthing around 50 dollars or less. I can't spend that much money on somthing and end up not being able to do it good.

Originally Posted by 15straightrazor

Its nice but I'm trying to find somthing around 50 dollars or less. I can't spend that much money on somthing and end up not being able to do it good.

I'd really like to find something less then that because thats still alot of money to spend.

If you just want to maintain an already shave ready razor a barber hone in the $50.00 ballpark .... or less... will do fine. You'll have to look in the SRP classifieds, ebay, flea markets or antique shops as they are no longer in production. You could also go for the Chinese stone at Woodcraft for around $20.00. It is for finishing but would probably keep your shave ready razor going.

If you want to buy old razors and hone them from scratch to shave ready a 1k, and a 4/8 Norton would do it but you'll also need a flattening stone or you'll have to work with sandpaper. That is doable but in the long run the flattening stone will probably be the cheaper way to go. To hone razors with any kind of efficiency and consistency there are a minimum of tools you'll need.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

If you just want to maintain an already shave ready razor a barber hone in the $50.00 ballpark .... or less... will do fine. You'll have to look in the SRP classifieds, ebay, flea markets or antique shops as they are no longer in production. You could also go for the Chinese stone at Woodcraft for around $20.00. It is for finishing but would probably keep your shave ready razor going.

If you want to buy old razors and hone them from scratch to shave ready a 1k, and a 4/8 Norton would do it but you'll also need a flattening stone or you'll have to work with sandpaper. That is doable but in the long run the flattening stone will probably be the cheaper way to go. To hone razors with any kind of efficiency and consistency there are a minimum of tools you'll need.

This thing that is 20 dollars, would it work for when you say need to send it to be honed, instead of sending it out can I use this and only this.

If so where can I find this?

Originally Posted by 15straightrazor

This thing that is 20 dollars, would it work for when you say need to send it to be honed, instead of sending it out can I use this and only this.

If so where can I find this?

The Chinese stone is only a polishing stone, and very slow. So it could only be used to touch-up an edge, an otherwise already shave-ready edge. So it could be used to maintain your razor, but not hone it in the first place.

Originally Posted by 15straightrazor

This thing that is 20 dollars, would it work for when you say need to send it to be honed, instead of sending it out can I use this and only this.

If so where can I find this?

It depends on the razor and on your skill level. Here is the stone I'm referring to. I wouldn't jump on it right away. Other members will have something to contribute and maybe a better alternative.

Edit; this stone is for finishing or touching up. Not for making a dull razor sharp.

i found a real cheap alternative but got no idea if its any good
any input on this would be nice
no bevel setter but everything else seem to be there
3-Piece Sharpening Set - eBay (item 360212223729 end time Dec-27-09 04:43:25 PST)

dont go buy this now cause i got no idea if it is usable

I use DMT 600/1200 dual sided (Cost ~$65 with bench), IceBear 4k (equivalent to Norton 8k, cost ~$25), and Swaty Barber hone ($~15 eBay, but they go up to $100 if you are impatient and don't wait for a good deal).


If I were buying right now I'd get the King 1/6k dualsided (Like $30 from woodcraft right now) and the BIGGER China 12k ($35 from same). A lot of people recommend the smaller China 12k ($20) and it is perfectly usable, but I find my 2.75-3" hones soooooo much easier and faster to use than my 2" ones. It's worth $15 to me.

I'd also get a Coarse 8x3" DMT (8DMTC?) and then I may pick up a swaty to bridge the gap between the 6k king and 12k china... depending on how slow the china worked off of the 6k.

All told initial cost $50-65, final cost ~ $100-150

I'd also recommend the balsa ChromOx strop from Rayman in classifieds. I don't imagine he makes much profit off those things, I certainly think it was worth it for the time I saved trying to make one, and I've been really happy with how it's performed.


I noticed the deal Janivar linked, and it looks like a good one to me, but I'd want to know what brand and model the 5/8ks were before I bought.