Thread: Less is more

1k of your choice
Norton 4/8
Naniwa 12

Originally Posted by nun2sharp

no more than 4 stones need apply.

Hmmm... That puts me out.
I'm sure I could get by on 4 stones. Heck I've done some set & finish jobs on 2 .
If I was forced to use only 4 stones for restoring edges, I could get by on Shap Pro, 320grit, 1.5k , 5k, 12k. The 320 only for extremes.
I guess my Jnats would fall into the luxury & not minimalist category.

Shapton 1k
Belgian coticule
Nakayama asagi kamisori/w nagura progression.
My trusty kanayama, kanvas/rough leather/shell cordovan

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Hmmm... That puts me out.
I guess my Jnats would fall into the luxury & not minimalist category.

In that case I would have to go with my first set of stones. Naniwa super 3k, 6k, 8k, 12k

I've had a lot of hones, both synthetic and natural. What I've ended up with is a Chosera 1k, norton single grit 4k & 8k, and an escher or a coticule depending on the day because I've found I like the edges I get with them. I also have a long swaty and that is about it for rocks. I've also got a felt hanger with diamond spray, a paddle with diamond paste and a loom strop with chrom-ox. Those seem to meet my needs real well. I've sold quite a few of the hones I had previously both synthetic and natural.

For the last few years I have used a fine grit diamond sharpener to sharpen ("set the bevel") if a razor was truly dull and a hard Arkansas stone to polish ("hone") it. (My dad had trained as a barber back in the 1940s and showed me how to sharpen a razor when I was a teenager. No kidding - all he needed to do the same thing was a Washita bench stone.)

Hey guys, it is not about showing all of your stones, just what would work for you at a minimum, any set up or different combos of set ups would work.

Originally Posted by JeffR

For the last few years I have used a fine grit diamond sharpener to sharpen ("set the bevel") if a razor was truly dull and a hard Arkansas stone to polish ("hone") it. (My dad had trained as a barber back in the 1940s and showed me how to sharpen a razor when I was a teenager. No kidding - all he needed to do the same thing was a Washita bench stone.)

I learned to hone from a barber as well and maintained my razors for years with nothing but a surgical black. It wasn't until I came to SRP that I learned there were other types of stones used on straights.

One coticule of any size 6 x 1 1/2 inchs or larger. That's it.

I have over 100 stones but I collect them for fun and because I got good deals on them. I only need the one coticule to maintain all my razors, but then they all have good bevels and edges. It is for turning a disaster into a good shaver that requires either several stones or an abundance of free time. The reason for this is if you have to take lots of metal off and not take a year to do it, you need a fairly course stone. That leaves SEVERE scratch marks. To remove the scratches without spending a year doing it requires a progression of stones that will remove the scratches quickly and leave smaller ones. Finally, you can use just your finish stone to remove the final group of scratches which should be thin and shallow and easily removed even with a finish stone.

I can do all that with a single stone, but it takes way too long to do it that way. And it uses up an expensive coticule. But it could be done. Better solution is to have a minimum of 3 stones of your choosing, just so they are 1)course 2)medium fine 3)extremely fine. You can leave one stone out of the group of three, but then you pay with extra time required to remove scratches with a stone that cuts more slowly than necessary.

Well that is pretty easy really

Any 1k really But my choice is the Chosera 1k

Norton 4k

Norton 8k

Done...

For my personal razors I honestly don't need more, In fact I could go back to just the Arkansas that I started with, and shave fine but you said bevel set and restoration ..

When I first started honing professionally, I had a Norton 1k, 4k, 8k, and did about 1500 razors, before I finally caught HAD from Lynn & Jimmy and added a Shapton 16k...


Now if I were to become just a shaver, and not a razor hoarder I would have to go Japanese, and own just a few Kamisori, so my needs would change to a good variable pre-polisher (coticule) and my Nakayama for the finisher..