Thread: How Many Hones Does A Beginner Need ?

Originally Posted by Utopian

A razor can go its whole life, of well over 10 years, using nothing but a barber hone. If you start with a sharp razor, a barber hone can keep that razor serviceably sharp for as long as you wish to use that razor. You don't need anything other than a barber hone and a strop to maintain your razor.

Any time you notice any diminishment in the quality of the shave, that is the time to do a few strokes with a barber hone. That's all there is to it. Touch it up whenever it isn't as sharp as it should be.

+1 here

Originally Posted by Sticky

Another vote for the barber hone. Once I get a razor sharp, a barber hone is all it sees. Except for the ones I drop or the few (< 5%?) that prefer a Thuringian.

+1 here too

Originally Posted by fish4life

thank you all for the info. Timber Frame Tools: Power tools and hand tools for timber framing, log building and boat building is one of the places I've been looking at Hones. I talked with timebertools one of their reps their said the Coticule stone does not need a slury due to their stones being one best to sharpen tools with, or get a shave ready edge.

Hmmmmmm that doesn't quite sound right...


I started with straight razors in 1981 with one finish stone and one razor strop never needed anything else to maintain a shave ready razor...

Now as soon as you buy a few non-shave ready razors you will need more... You don't even want to ask how many stones I have now

Hence the difference between need and want...

I would do a bit more reading about that single Coticule system before you drop money too, many of the people that use it, use way more then just one stone..
You can do the exact same slurry techniques on any stone that can raise a slurry and is about 8k or higher to shave off of...
I don't quite know what the Timbertool guy was saying, or what you understood him to be saying, but I do not agree with the way it is written above...


Edit : I better re-phrase all that to say in a "reasonable amount of time" because some engineer type will inevitably say that after 1000-10000 laps on a plain Coticule you could in theory sharpen a dull razor

1981 nice I was 2 at the time. Okay here’s the deal I’m the kind of guy that wants the best thing one time so I’ve been looking around talking and reading Wiki. I’ve been calling vendors and .com’s pages , everyone has their own option on what works. I’m just after what’s best and what’s most joyful.

Honestly if I know what I know now, and lived in Alaska where shipping for anything is going to hurt ya...

I would buy a Norton full set off Amazon for $120 the 220/1k and the 4k/8k can sharpen any solid razor I have ever had cross my hones... plus you even get a Lapping plate to start you off..
If you can't get a smooth edge off that set you need more practice honing, not more hones...

Are there better sets ??? Yep
Can you add a high grit finisher later ??? Yep
Can you use a barber's hone after the 8k ??? Yep
Can you get a smoother shave with a pasted strop after the 8k ??? Yep

Do you need any of that to SHAVE???? Nope

There are my 2 cents...


Now if money is no object then buy everything that you can find and have loads of fun figuring each one out....

There is a page in the Wiki that breaks all this down for you BTW, I wrote it some time back....

Originally Posted by fish4life

I’m just after what’s best and what’s most joyful.

Buy a $2k J-Nat & paint a smiley face on it

Seriously tho, what's best now may well be a different kettle of rocks in one or 2 year's time.

Some thoughts on honing razors..
Aspiring honers are often not clear about what they are trying to accomplish when it comes to honing razors. In particular, they are often unsure of what they are doing and how often they should be doing it. Some questions you might want to answer for yourself before you start buying hones: this also means that if you are not sure of the answer here, you should shave more, and wait to buy hones until you can answer these questions....

■ Are you an "end-user"; someone who only hones a previously shave-ready blade back to shave-ready?
■ Are you a hobbyist who is chasing the absolute finest edge that may be obtained where money is no object?
■ Are you a frugal shaver who is after the cheapest way to complete your morning shave?
■ Are you a collector who needs to take E-bay specials from butt-ugly to shave-ready?
■ Are you a Honemiester; someone who gets paid to do all of these things for others?
■ Are you a razor restorer who needs to take damaged blades and bring them back to life and shave-readiness?

Each of these types of honer profiles have different requirements for the stones they will own. Theoretically, you can survive using the "one stone" approach, but each razor does have an optimum stone set - and more importantly, a technique for using the required hones. So generally, when somebody asks what stone or how to use what stone, the question to ask them is: "What are you trying to accomplish with the stone(S)?"

Refreshing vs. Starting from Scratch:

The types of hones required depends first and foremost on the type of honing you want to do.

Hones needed for refreshing a dull blade:

If the only task you want to perform is refreshing edges that have previously been established by a Honemiester (the process is often referred to as "touching up"), you need only get a fine grit finishing stone or a barber's hone for this. Either of these hones can be used to keep your razor(s) shave-ready for years.

Hones needed for restoring razors:

If you want to set a bevel, or have many different types of razors, you will need a full set of hones.


A bevel setting stone approximately 1k

DMT's 325 600 1200, Shapton 500, 1K and 2K, Coticules with slurry, Norton 1k, Naniwa 1k

A sharpening stone approximately 4k

Norton 4K, Shapton 4K Naniwa 3k or 5k, Belgian Blue with slurry

A polishing stone approximately 8k

Norton 8k, Shapton 8k, Naniwa 8k, Yellow Coticule

A finishing stone 10k and above (this is often subject to debate, however)

Shapton GS 16k-30k Shapton 15k Naniwa SS 10k-12k or Chosera 10k, Thuringens, Escher's, Many different natural Japanese finishers, Charlney Forest, Extra Fine Coticule, even some of the Arkansas stones...

You have several choices of how to accomplish this setup whether you use natural, man-made stone, or a Diamond-style stone, even honing films, but you are going to have to be able to cover those 4 grit ranges. There really is no true shortcut here if you expect to take razors acquired in need of restoration from butter knife dull (or damaged) to shaving sharp: You are going to end up needing these types of stones.


Pastes can be used after the hones and before the final stropping also these can be used for re-freshing the edge before going back to the hones for a touch-up... Some shavers even use pastes to "sharpen" the razor after the bevel set has been done...

A few different types

Dovo Pastes:

Green 5-8 micron
Red 3-5 micron
Black 1-3 micron
Dovo pastes are a much more mild cutter then say a diamond paste of the same micron size...

Diamond Paste:

From 3 micron down to actually .10 micron if you really wanted to...
These pastes are fast and many people use them incorrectly and manage too get a harsh edge, when used correctly and on the right razor steel these will most likely be the sharpest edge you will ever feel...

Diamond sprays:

Mostly found in 1.0 .50 and .25 micron watch the Carat content here, the higher the better (SRD has the best I have found and yes Lynn and Don are friends of mine, but heck it is still the best spray I have found)

Chromium Oxide Paste/Powder .50 micron (CrOx)
Probably the most universal of the pastes, get the most pure you can find, and no the bars at Woodcrafters are not pure...

Cerium Oxide Paste/Powder (approx).25 micron (CeOx)

Super fine, super soft, and super smooth, polishing media...The bar at Woodcrafter's is of unknown quality at this time

Other Pastes and Powders:

Iron Oxide
Aluminum Oxide

Both of these can also be used again be very careful when buying this stuff as the purity and the micron sizes are very important...

Carbon blacking/lamp black:

This might be the oldest of all the sharpening "pastes" when used on a leather strop it increases draw

Wood Ash:

Another old fashioned one very slightly abrasive when used on Linen strops and Leather strops..

White chalk:

Can be rubbed on a linen strop to increase the abrasive qualities

Newspaper:

The ink itself is a very fine abrasive and so is the paper..

Keep in mind that different razor steels like/dislike different pastes, and the different media that is used to apply it including Balsa, Linen, Leather (paddle) Leather (hanger) and Felt paddle and hanger all give different results on different razor steels....


The above are only my personal opinions and observations... There are no set rules in Razordom...

Thank you that clears things up for me. Thank for your time

Very well done, Glen.
One question though: There is not really a Chosera 12k, is there?
You probably meant Chosera 10k

Under the same parameters Glen outlined, I'd get a double sided DMT Fine/Coarse stone and a Coticule because it would get me the Norton + edges he discussed as an adjunct to the Norton setup, and could be done for less money than the Nortons.

Most importantly, though, it would give me a lot more to do because learning to use the Coticule is much more of a commitment than the Norton setup

I would also add that it's more rewarding than using synthetics, IMHO. When you take a piece of stone with unknown qualities and every permutation of them that you can imagine, and use it to get a great shaving edge, it's a more meaningful experience (IMHO) than taking something that is very consistent (synthetics that are virtually the same across the board) to do the same thing.

Deposit those pennies...

so if i understand (i am new also) should i buy a nawina 10k or 12k to touch up after some months...I did buy a shave ready from SRD.

Whatever you do, don't start on a quest for the perfect edge. There is no such thing, and trying to find it is frustrating, expensive, but a lot of fun if you're into that sort of thing. Stick with a barber's hone. Learn to use it. A shave ready edge touched up with a barber's hone will last you a long time (maybe years before you need to have the edge sharpened.) Don't try to lap a barber's hone. You'll probably ruin it. Voice of experience.