Thread: Has Anybody Tried These Stones?

Hi, I'm brand new to the straight razor world and with impeccable timing have got into it just as I am buying my first house and so have no spare money!

Have got one razor on the way from Larry at whippeddog.com and a long standing member on here has very kindly volunteered to look at honing an old Sheffield razor I got cheap on ebay.

I can tell from lots of reading here that I am probably going to have to get at least a barber hone or equivalent water stone to maintain my razors over time though.

I see that Axminster Tool Centre are advertising water stones for under £20 each and was wondering if anybody had any experience with them?

Buy Japanese Fine & Polishing Waterstones from Axminster, fast delivery for the UK

I hope this is the right area of the site for this kind of query.

Mark.

I've never seen them before, but the higher grits get expensive. The 10k is 65 pounds ($103).

Blimey, so it is!

Didn't notice that sneakily the price went up with the fineness.

Back to the drawing board then!

Since the razor came from WhippedDog, consider getting his "strop + pasted strop" kit.

You should be able to use the pasted strop to keep the razor sharp until you have some spare change.

Take a look at the "microabrasive" sheets described in the Wiki article:

Using micro abrasive film - Straight Razor Place Wiki

In the _long run_, or if you're honing lots of razors, stones are cheaper. But in the _short run_, microabrasive film and pasted strops are much less expensive, and will keep your blade(s) sharp enough.

Charles

There is a chap on the bay who sells the chinese 12k and a 5000 for £38 delivered, though i have the ch12k not the other stone (the 12k is £14 delivered), i have bought from axeminster before and can reccomend them, or as your welsh, the dragons tongue stone is cheap!

These stones seem to be King stones. These are widely available in the EU and not considered top notch.
Some of them are usable, others are not. Their combination stones usually are of low quality and consistency.

There is a standalone 4k stone called Kind Deluxe (its roughly 200x70mm)
that is considred very good.

Otherwise I recommend some different stones.
If you´re in the EU you should try our german retailers:

Homepage of Dieter Schmid's Fine Tools

and DICK

The other place to have a look at is Steve Dempsters site The Invisible Edge. He sells the Chinese 12k, coticules, BBW's and the full line of Naniwa Superstones.

He's also a true gent and very helpful with any questions you might have!

If you're just looking for a touch up stone either the C12k or coticule would work very well. They have the added advantage that you can increase the cutting ability of the stone by using slurry if you need to as well.

Thanks all for the suggestions.

I have a cheap starter strop was thinking about a "touch up" rather than starting from scratch stone(s). Really something to use like a a Barber's hone I guess.

Will bear all suggestions in mind. Hmm, that dragon's Tongue is cheap if it will do the job......