Thread: Cost effective hone purchase

Originally Posted by drsch3

Another option is to hang outside my kitchen window cause any day now I'm going to throw my norton 4000/8000 out of it !!! Just watch out for the glass and razor that follows.
(Note though it's not the stone that's the problem, it's the user)

you got yahoo and a web cam? a few minutes working via web cam may help a honemeister help you get the hang of what you need.

Since you only need finer grits, a barber hone or two, or a two sided barber hone would be the ideal, cost-effective solution. They work fine and you can get them with various rates of cut.

As a minimum, I would get something like a Swaty. It's very fine and relatively fast and perfect for refreshing an edge.

Originally Posted by texan

Thanks, guys. I think I have pretty much decided that the 4 sided pasted strop is my surest bet. Although I am really tempted by the barber hones. A lithide finishing hone on ebay for 15 bucks designed "especially for straight razors"...

Hal, you seem quite knowledgeable in this area, what do you think about the lithide finishing hones sold by Tilly on ebay? Do they really give an edge that can compete with a .25 micron pasted strop, assuming one knows what one is doing?

You're asking for the impossible. The .25 micron is like 100K. The finest hone I've seen is 30K and you'll have to mortgage your home to buy it.

Originally Posted by FUD

you got yahoo and a web cam? a few minutes working via web cam may help a honemeister help you get the hang of what you need.

I've had advice from xman (much appreciated) and am working throught it.... slowly. It's not that bad really

Oh it's even worse... Too much trouble.. Just send the hone over here for proper disposal Actually I just got a Norton and now I'm using it on 2 projects:
1) Removing some nicks/pitting from my new Maleham & Yeomans that I got from Tony Holmes. Down to 1 partially gone pit before I take start it up on the pyramid.
2) Getting a shaving edge onto the Walker -- the bane of my existence.

Man I really must be out of the "fine tuning" arts. The norton 4k/8k gives me a really sharp edge. Stropping properly seems to bring out the edge. I'm personally ok with having to sharpen a blade once or twice a year.

Aside from not having to visit the waterstone "quite" as often, what exact beneft do all these barber hones and pasted strops provide? I've used the shave-ready Cattaraugus I got from Lynn as the standard for a good shave and I personally think I've gotten really good shaves with my sharpening on the norton combo. It could be due to not experiencing the nirvana shave but If I'm not getting any pull and It's baby butt smooth when I'm done I consider that a really good shave.

So what's the barber hones do? Help it take off a piece of the epidermis or something? Seriously though, please help me understand why it seems so important in this thread. The 8000 side of the norton is a polishing stone and if I don't get the good shine on the cutting edge with the standard pyramid I find an additional 5 or 10 swipes on the 8k side is more than sufficient and it shaves really good for me at a 20 to 30 degree angle.

While I'd like to get a 10k to try a better polish on the blade, I also worry about over honing that everyone seems to experience at some time or another.

So, if I'm getting that baby butt smooth shave off of one honed on the 4k/8k combo why should I be so concerned with getting a barber's hone or pasted strop? What's it going to do for me that I'm not getting now?

Thanks.

Glen F

Glen,
For you, or some people it may make no difference at all. Some depends on your beard and skin and just how sharp, or smooth you need it. I have had a few razors, honed by experst that simply would not shave me well unless I took it to a pasted strop first. I have had others, right from a Norton that did well. each is different and each responds differently to hones, stones or pastes.

If what you do works for you you are on the right path and probably don't need to change a thing.

For some learning to strop comes easily and honing is slow to master. For them pasted strops bring quick results. Other pick up honing quickly but need a smoother and/or sharper edge so go to either very fine stones (10k and up) or pastes.

None of the tools are the perfect answer. I had a terrible time learning to hone and may have simply given up had Ray not gotten me started with what he felt was an easy teach, a pasted paddle. Have a razor i could sharpen and keep sharp kept me going till I could learn more about honing. Some guys here are already experienced at honing and changing their technique a little to master a Norton will be the fastest and most sucessful for them.

If a person is serious enough about learning he will master whatever tool is at hand, be it a Norton, Japanese stone, Barber Hone or strop.

Tony

Originally Posted by drsch3

I've had advice from xman (much appreciated) and am working throught it.... slowly. It's not that bad really

*Tips hat appreciatively*

Originally Posted by FUD

So, if I'm getting that baby butt smooth shave off of one honed on the 4k/8k combo why should I be so concerned with getting a barber's hone or pasted strop? What's it going to do for me that I'm not getting now?

Do I ever hear you there brother. I just tried to touch up two DD Specials, one that was shaving decently and I wanted to take to the edge and the other that wasn't quite shaving as well. A few light 1/3 pyramid passes later followed by 3 swipes on a 12k Shapton, 24 laps on chromium oxide pasted 4" pocket paddle strop and 12 ultra light passes on 0.25µ tan leather side and I ended up with a wire edge on both!

I think a lot depends on where the edge is when you start and wonder how much has to do with what one is capable of achieving with the Norton 4k/8k. Perhaps my technique has suitably improved to the point where I am now getting off the 8k what I was seemingly needing the pastes to achieve before.

X

Originally Posted by FUD

Man I really must be out of the "fine tuning" arts. The norton 4k/8k gives me a really sharp edge. Stropping properly seems to bring out the edge. I'm personally ok with having to sharpen a blade once or twice a year.


So, if I'm getting that baby butt smooth shave off of one honed on the 4k/8k combo why should I be so concerned with getting a barber's hone or pasted strop? What's it going to do for me that I'm not getting now?

Thanks.

Glen F

Glen,

Are you serious you hone your razor only once or twice a year? How many different razors do you use in an average year?
And you don't even use a pasted strop? What's your secret???