Thread: New at honing (sort of)

A Friend of Mine is working at restoring straight razors and has riased my interest in sharpening the critters. I purchased a Mayor blade online and honed it to the point I could shave with it. I did the honing with a set of Arkansas Whets though my Hard stone was a white and I have a Arkansas black on order. In my youth I sharpened Skinners and other huntng knives and could make a Gerber Guardian sharp enough to do a basic shave.

I have Honed the blade I have (A Mayor Solingen steel razor) to shaving edge but i wouldn't expect the edge to last past one use. I know I need a finer edge and am looking for suggestions for finer stones. I have a white Arkansas hard stone and I like the natural rock as opposed to the Aluminum Oxide.

Are there any other natural stones that will give an edge finer than a hard black or should I just stick with the stones I know?

In Faith
Don

A good combo nat stone is belgian blue/coticule.
I have not tried it but many people have and say it can be used from setting bevel to final polishing.
If you have funds you can also go the Japanese natural route, but you will need an intermediate stone(s) in your progression.

Welcome to SRP. Here are tutorials on various razor hones from the SRP Wiki. See the article,"Which Hone Do I Need". A good workhorse for basic honing is the Norton 4/8 combo waterstone. There are other synthetics and naturals to choose from. You might check out the SRP Wiki for other tutorials on all things related to straight razor shaving as well as the regular forum.

A few folks here use black or translucent Arkansas stones but other options are more common. Another approach for finishing is to use lapping films or also pasted strops.