Thread: New to honing: The One Stone Honing Method

Would the Welsh Dragon's Tongue w/ slurry stone be enough to bridge the gap?

Originally Posted by FauxPax

Would the Welsh Dragon's Tongue w/ slurry stone be enough to bridge the gap?

I've got all three, I'll give it a try and report back. I'm thinking it will work (with some trial and error )

I think it can be done - to some degree, anyway. I often hone my razors up to par with (an estimated 1k or a little bit higher) an old unnamed and unmarked stone I've had for years. That's the rare pass on the "occasional "use stone. That's because I for the most part, my bevels have [all] been set (for now anyway). Then I'll run the razor over both sides of my barber's hone for at least a few passes. Is that all you need, the barber's hone? Maybe. It works for me. But I also put any blade across a chrox strop for about ten passes. And it's not that I'm boasting, I just learned to "hone" from a very early time. Like I've mentioned before, I'm a hunter and I've always butchered my own game. My grandfather would check my honing and make sure it was up to par. In addition, I was a commercial fisherman and had to always have a sharp fillet knife. One thing that has provided me is a lack of [fear] of honing. I would advise you to get a barber's hone and practice on a reasonable priced razor from this site - say, one in the $35 - $45 range - one that comes "shave-ready" and is cheap enough to allow experimentation without fear. So long as you can use tape on it by all means please do that. Just go to town on it. Try different techniques, etc. And good luck.

Originally Posted by FauxPax

Would the Welsh Dragon's Tongue w/ slurry stone be enough to bridge the gap?

Originally Posted by rodb

I've got all three, I'll give it a try and report back. I'm thinking it will work (with some trial and error )

The DT I have will do it no problem...

Warning here though, when you are talking natural stones they all vary, My PHIG it that vid is a hand selected one that I chose after I tested 4 different ones to get the best feeling one...

I have since tested about 20 and I have only found 2 others that compare and about 15 others that would work, the rest I wouldn't use on razors

With DT's I have actually only honed on 3 and all three were pretty comparable, and I would agree that they cut in the 3-6 with slurry and the 5-7 without

Actually, reconsidering the topic, I don't think it's advisable. I think if I had to have one stone it would be a Norton 4/8. That and a pasted strop have worked for me quite well in the past. I mean really, for the (I don't know what they cost these days but I'm guessing about $80 bucks or so) money, you're set for life. In addition, I like mentioning to my other half after a fine shaving experience, that I just saved about $30 bucks. That's because at my barber shop they charge $25 for a straight shave, and with a tip it's $30+. So, maybe you should look at it that way. What I mean to say is this: say you spend $4 for one of those modern blades, which, you should be changing once a week if you wont a decent shave (and that's stretching it). That comes to $16 a month, conservatively. So you figure that in about four or five months your Norton is bought and paid for, and the rest, as they say, is gravy.

So I grabbed a razor from my to do pile (dull and wouldn't cut arm hair, probably not honed in over 50 years) and used my most budget naturals plus a 850 diamond hone.
I set the bevel on the 850 using pressure and circles and x-strokes

Next went to the Dragons Tongue (AJ - Ebay) with slurry 2 sets of 40 circles with pressure and x-strokes, diluted and repeated with less pressure, then plain water and x-strokes

Next C12k (PHIG, C-Nat - Polish Ebay) 40 circles with slurry with very light pressure and 25 x-strokes, dilute repeat, dilute repeat, 50 water only no pressure x-strokes

15 laps CrOx, 40 Linen/60 Leather - Full two pass shave test -- Very nice!! a 9 on my 1 - 10 scale

L-R 850 plate, DT, C12k



YMMV, all natural stone vary in grit, speed and feel

Way to go Rodb, There is nothing like proving it to yourself

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Way to go Rodb, There is nothing like proving it to yourself

It was a fun experiment, I've never tried that combination of hones before and honestly it worked better than I thought it would. The DT work really well as a mid range hone.

I agree Rod I got a set of the 3 stones and have been pretty happy with the results, like any natural you gotta mess with them a bit to figure out the combination, but overall I like them...

I am relatively new to honing also and I really just liked the appeal of natural hones when I started. Now my progression consists of a cheap king 1k, vintage coticule, and if I don't finish on the coticule i have a thuringian and a Cnat. Natural stones just take more patience to learn. If you give them time you will be very satisfied when you master them.