Thread: The next step

I guess this is the natural progretion of things for us new guys. I've come to the conclusion I need to start learning the honing process. I'm aquiring razors faster than I can get them honed, not to mention the cost involved in doing so, and I want to try every razor out as sson as I get them home. So I'm curious how is the learning curve involved with honing. I tend to pick up on things fairly quickly so I'm sure I'll have no problem learning. I have to say I'm a bit overwhelmed with how many choices in stones are out there and especially where to begin. I read this months beginners tips which really pushed me to decide this was my next step to take. As always any feedback is greatly appreciated, it truely helps more than you can know.

Sorry just realized I should have posted this in the how to use hones section.

I highly recommend starting with synthetic stones.

You can't go wrong with a set of Nortons.

Best bang for the buck are the nortons. Since you'll be honing razors with junk edges you definitely want the 1000 hone. That's where most of your time should be spent if you're doing things right. A DMT-C would be nice addition for lapping, if you could spare the extra bucks.

Of course, if you want your life to be miserable you can buy a coticule with a slurry hone and do it all on one stone. It'll take you at least three times longer to learn to hone, but some people find it rewarding nonetheless.

+1 on the two previous posts. Nortons are a good choice, but it depends on how far you want to go on the hones. If your pocketbook can handle it and you want to go from bevel set to fine highly polished finish Naniwa's provide a great pyramid of grits from 1k through 12k. I use 1,3,5,8,10 and 12k and it allows for about any level of honing required. I rarely use the Nortons anymore except for an aggeessive bevel set on the 1k. I just started on a coticule and if that's your only hone, beginning, you won't have enough hair left for an HHT. Hope this is of some use.

Howard

What matters most in the beginning might not be what matters most down the road. I started on Nortons, they're fine stones. I moved to Naniwa Super Stones and eventually sold out the Nortons. Then I moved to Choseras and sold the Super Stones.
To start - what matters most is being able to afford the stone/s and to be able to successfully dialogue with others who have used them. After that - it becomes a matter of proficiency and preferences.
Like Sirstropalot mentioned - the Naniwas offer a good number of grit options.. if I knew then, what I know now, I'd probably start with a 1k, 3k, 8k, and a 12k Super Stone set. All 20mm baseless - they allow you to use the sides of the stone on problem blades.
You might be wondering - why not jump right to the Choseras? Well - because I wasn't able to appreciate them in the beginning. Back then - I barely understood feedback, and I didn't have the patience for soaking stones. I would have wasted many many millimeters of expensive stone learning on them.
Whatever you do buy - they're usually pretty easy to sell when/if you decide to make a change so that makes things easier.

Id say buy the norton 4/8k before anything else, ill send you a pm with some tips when I can.

Thank you again everyone for the suggestions. I'm planning on making my purchases some time in the coming week so this definitely helps. I've been scouring the classifieds here and fle bay and there seems to be no shortage of many of your recommendations. I look forward getting started!

I won't recommend stones as that's been covered but I do suggest you really develop your skills in assessing whether your bevels are set whatever your choice of test.