Best Types of Razors to Learn On?
Hi All-I'm learning a lot reading this and other forums on SRP, and I feel I am almost ready to take the leap and learn to hone. So far I have three razors:
1. A Dovo BQ 5/8" I got last Christmas with the free lifetime honing from SRD, which I haven't used yet.
2. A Filarmonica DT 12 I bought from the Classifieds here.
3. An Unexcelled Improved Eagle I also got from our Classifieds.
Since I got my 3-line Swaty from MilkyLee, I have been experimenting with touch-up honing for a few months, usually followed by about 100 laps on colored newsprint, maybe a few on CrOx linen, and a standard 30/50 on untreated linen and latigo on my TM 3" strop. The Dovo clearly responds the best to this treatment, and still shaves nicely after a touch-up. The Filarmonica has been harder to "bring back," and is frankly really irritating me lately. The Eagle falls somewhere in between, and usually needs just a few more strokes on the Swaty to bring back.
My question now is, if I wanted to invest in a set of hones, say a Norton 4/8k, or maybe the Naniwa 3/8k that gets such a great writeup on SRD's site, what sort of EBay specials should I look at to start experimenting on?
In other words, which steel types/grinds/countries of origin would respond the easiest to a newbie's learning efforts? Solingen? Sheffield? American? Thanks in advance for any thoughts. I'd really like to get my first Sheffield, but don't want to experiment yet on any expensive blades. Aaron