Thread: n00b honing question

What happens if I have NOS & shave-ready razors, strop before every use then put them on an arkansas stone every say 2-3 months? The reason I ask is I can't afford to get a 4K stone right now and, to be honest, I thought that was all I needed before I read threads and the wiki here.

Am I dulling my blade by doing that? Not sure what grit a Col Conk white Arky paddle hone is but I'm thinking it isn't as fine as 4000K.

P.S.- I have used the Dovo paddle w/ the paste in between honings & the honings were no more than 10 passes on each side of the blade

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The colonel conk is about an 800-1000grit...works ok for setting the bevel. the pasted strop will be ok for refreshing...but even though you could probably shave off the 4000 hone it wouldn't be that comfortable. Probably best to find yourself a barber hone to refresh the edge. Hope this helps.

+1 on the above poster. The Dovo red paste is not something I will use anymore. It is just to coarse. Same for the Col Conk hone.

A well known Barber hone would suit you much better. Swaty, Apart, Dubl Duck a few of the well known barber hone names. Send me a PM if your looking at Ebay and want some direction. You can also look in the Classified section of this website ( top of page) and see if any are being offered there.

Hope this helps,

Originally Posted by Catrentshaving

The colonel conk is about an 800-1000grit...works ok for setting the bevel. the pasted strop will be ok for refreshing...but even though you could probably shave off the 4000 hone it wouldn't be that comfortable. Probably best to find yourself a barber hone to refresh the edge. Hope this helps.

Originally Posted by randydance062449

+1 on the above poster. The Dovo red paste is not something I will use anymore. It is just to coarse. Same for the Col Conk hone.

A well known Barber hone would suit you much better. Swaty, Apart, Dubl Duck a few of the well known barber hone names. Send me a PM if your looking at Ebay and want some direction. You can also look in the Classified section of this website ( top of page) and see if any are being offered there.

Hope this helps,

Thanks for getting back to me so quick & the helpful info too ;-) I had the grit scale backwards. Haven't been by here in a while because I've been busy

Hi rostfrei,

Your setup with the Col Conk hone and red-pasted strop (plus a regular strop) will work just fine to maintain your razors.

Are the finer stones nicer for honing? Perhaps. Necessary? Not at all.

Cheers,
Jeff