Thread: hone help

So im a 1st time razor honer...
..I got my barbers hone today in the mail...spine taped all my razors..honed em really as I had always watched on youtube from Glenn and a few other guys...turns out ALL 4 of my razors including my Kamisori razor are butter knife dull..would a 1k hone re set the bevel on them...should I get a Coitcule..seems a bit pricey..im not wanting to spend alot for something as resetting my edges..I think thats the issue..
I also used yellow hone paste with re wetting in between which was also in the package..I feel like I tried everything and also honed for about 30 minutes per razor..nothing than a butter knife smoothly on my arm when testing....frustrated and annoying!

ST

How about a Nonrton 4/8? A 1K would be helpful and fast. Lots of options.

umm...I prefer to go the more natural route..I figure it would make more sense for my razors..to reset the bevel then hone my my barbers razor once the edge is made.

I'm fairly new myself. But given the choice between a stone able to put on a bevel, and a stone able to polish a bevel, I'd choose the stone that would put on a bevel. My suggestion is that before you spend any more money on any stone, you send one of your razors to an SRP member for professional honing. I'm sure in your communication with him, he will suggest a good bevel setter. Check the classifieds. I know there are plenty of guys here that can help you out. Oh, and yes, you should get a coticule. But not because of any reason you're thinking. I just think they're cool.

But do get a member honed blade, so you have a benchmark for comparison while you practice. Without it, you're just kinda flapping your wings.

Try finding a natural at the 1k level, good luck. Plenty of good 1k synthetics that give good and consistent results. Norton, Shapton and Naniwa are well recommended and respected. I would then suggest the Norton 4/8k as Alan suggested. Most of us here have learned on the Nortons, the consistency of these make learning a whole lot easier.

I hear ya bud...I always sent my razors out to be honed..I figured "man up" and start now..im tired of spending the moolah when I know I can do it myself..feels good putting my own edge on my razors (once I can)...make sense?...if I get a Coticule..would I still need to use my barbers hone?

I think you're talking to me, so I'll respond in kind. Yeah, it makes perfect sense to do it yourself in my opinion. I can't tell you anything with regard to the barber hone/coticule question you posted. I don't think my advice has been "time tested" enough to hand out. I might just be confounding your cause, as I'm still a very novice honer myself. I like my coticule, but it's fickle. But the Norton combo set is kind of a pain in my opinion. You have to soak the stones, and keep watering them the whole time, and it's just kinda messy for me. But it's proven itself with many, many razor users. If I had it to do over again, I'd have bought the King 1k for bevel setting, a Norton 4k waterstone, a Norton 8k waterstone, and a pasted hard felt strop. I don't like the combo stones because grit contamination becomes an issue while using the pyramid technique "FOR ME". Plenty of people are getting by just fine with it, so it's only my opinion. If you're drawn to natural stones, and really want to know about coticules, there is a site dedicated only to them called coticule.be

My opinions are only based on about 7 weeks of sharpening my own razors. So please don't buy anything thinking MY opinions are the best advice around.

So, you were expecting perfection first time out on 4 razors with a Barber Hone???

Condition of the razors you honed?
What exactly did you do to hone them?

Honing like shaving is a learned process and you really need to be able to give yourself the opportunity to learn..........

Have fun

Im kind of curious as to what barber hone comes with yellow hone paste?

Sounds like there's a failure to communicate here.

My first question would be how did the razors get to be dull as a butter knife? Were they recently acquired or were they razors you were using? Most folks look to touch up way before they get really dull.

The reason we recommend sending the razors out is so you have an initial standard of what a properly honed razor feels like. If you are starting out in this you probably have no real idea. Once you know then you can strike out on your own.

That brings me to Confucius and his advice "Man with good razor and no honing facility wind up with no good razor".

Personally I'd get some inexpensive razors and practice honing on them until my skill increased before working on my working razors.