Thread: finishing stone

all my razor are honed on norton 4/8k and bevel set on a king 1k. im purchasing a finishing stone now a 12k nainwa. My question is to get that smooth shave i know most of u guys after honing on lower grits will come to the 12k and do like 1O laps on the 12k to finish.can i just take my razor right to the 12k without going threw the whole process of rehoning and just do a few strokes to get that smoother shave??

Depends on how 'good' the edge is at the 8k level. If you are getting good and smooth shaves at the 8k level the razor is ready to go to the 12k. IME the 12k will improve the feel of the edge. How many round trips to get there depends on the razor. You have to do some and try it.

If they are already at the 8k then yes, if you used tape before reaplly tape. The 10 laps is a ball park depending on the razor, so far the hardest steel one I have don only needed 20 laps to remove the scratch marks from the previous grit.

Jimmy is quicker on the keyboard than me....

If I understand correctly you are asking if you can skip the 4/8k stone and just use the 12k?
That can be done when you have a shave ready razor and you want to maintain the edge. You can't take a totally dull razor to the 12k and get it to shave(not in a reasonable amount of time anyway), it has to go trough a stone progression.

There honed already threw progression, can i just touch them up on a 12 k to finish them now that i have this stone? There good off 8 k..but wanna smooth the shaves up

Originally Posted by Airportcopper

There honed already threw progression, can i just touch them up on a 12 k to finish them now that i have this stone? There good off 8 k..but wanna smooth the shaves up

yes you can maintain on a 12k stone

1/4/8/12 is a logical progression. The thing to be aware of is that the Naniwa 12K is not a very fast cutter--it's mostly a buffer, so if things get really bad you will need to go back a step or two. Since you have the stones, that won't be a problem, though.

Definitely start with 10 laps on the 12k, strop, then test shave. If it isn't quite there, give it 10 more on the 12k, strop, and shave again. Still not there, it may be time for a bevel touch-up. If you stay on top of your touch-ups, then you shouldn't have to go back to a lower grit for quite a while, if ever.