Thread: Belgium vs. Japanese Stones...

A pasted paddle strop from Tony M. would give you the best bang for the buck.

I second that

Originally Posted by kimw

This website here http://www.misugidesigns.com/hammers.html is selling and example of such a stone that Tony speaks of. A very pricey stone indeed. I've been looking at the picture of this stone for a little while now and asking myself how deep of a commitment do i want to make of this hobby of mine?? I might wind up with that 2nd mortgage after all. The stone on this site does look tempting but my wife would kill me.

That is very pricy. For that kind of money you could get a 30K GlassStone.

Originally Posted by icecow

What are some of the cheapest but good choices for finishing stones?

I have a norton 4k/8k, and still need a finishing stone, but I should pump my $$ to other things for 3-4 months and take a break on the shaving stuff.

You don't need to spend a lot. Many people are very happy with a .5 micron pasted strop. A tabletop one is quite resonable at handamerican.com.

I have added some VERY inexpensive models of bench strops originally made for a knife collector but equally suited to straight razor users. Target price is less than $20 less pastes.

See the thread under Vendors.

Tony

Tony, i just went to your web site to look at your bench strops and I'm not finding them listed. Are they a larger version of the paddle that you sell? Are they similar to what Keith calls a "Flat bed Hone" over at Hand American? Can they handle a lower grit paste, i.e. Black diamond (1.8) or is the surface more appropriate for the finer stuff .5 or .25? I've had great success with products in the past.

Kim, the 1.8mic paste isn't much of an improvement over Norton 8k with a particle size of about 2.0mic. The next logical step would be 1.0mic but you could even get away with 0.5.

Originally Posted by kimw

Tony, i just went to your web site to look at your bench strops and I'm not finding them listed. Are they a larger version of the paddle that you sell? Are they similar to what Keith calls a "Flat bed Hone" over at Hand American? Can they handle a lower grit paste, i.e. Black diamond (1.8) or is the surface more appropriate for the finer stuff .5 or .25? I've had great success with products in the past.

I don't have them up right now but will soon. I can gladly sell them direct via e-mail until then. The 10" is $15, the 12" is $17.50 and 15" is $20 with choice of leather. All are 3" wide. depending on the leather they could be used with any paste. I can do a hard suede (rough) leather, smooth as on my paddles or red latigo. I can do leather on each side for a few $ more but they woun't stay put on a table as nicely as with the little pads. Please contact me off list if you want to ask about them.

Thanks,
Tony

Firestarter, I thought the Norton 8 was more like 3 micron but I could be wrong. I like the Black diamond because it's cheap and it will last forever. I own several of Tony's great paddle strops and still use the diamond paste for general sharpening off the Norton 4/8 but for the times between visits to the Norton I generally use a combination of Black diamond and Chrom. Oxide for razor maintenance because not only do these products last forever and are cheap to acquire the resulting edge on my razors gives me a very smooth shave. This is just my personal preference

Originally Posted by icecow

What are some of the cheapest but good choices for finishing stones?

I have a norton 4k/8k, and still need a finishing stone, but I should pump my $$ to other things for 3-4 months and take a break on the shaving stuff.

I'm using the Woodcraft 12K Chinese waterstone for finishing, only $32 and seems to do a nice job in giving me a bit more uniform and well defined edge.