Thread: Slurry stone question

I know too many cooks may tend to spoil the broth but ........ in my long life I have never used slurry on a synthetic stone. I'm not saying it is not a good thing to do, maybe it is great. Just that I've never done it and my razors have been honing up fine. Say that to say, get the lower grit combo stone and leave the electric co. razor alone until you do.

You're trying to do a 4/8k job with your 12k finishing stone and sounds like the edge ain't ready yet. You could probably get there eventually with the 12k but why waste stone and elbow grease when the right tool will get it there more quickly and efficiently.

Get the naniwa 3/8 or the norton 4/8 and then work on the razor. Also, just IMHO, don't use slurry until you are getting practiced at honing with good results without it. Once you can get the razors sharp and smooth with water only introduce slurry into the equation. When you're still in the learning stages it is just one more thing to complicate your results . BTW, just me but I favor the norton combo myself. YMMV.

IMHO, your next stone should be a bevel setter, and, buy electric tape too, for the spine. Since the razor couldn't shave arm hair, it was the bevel, I think.
Most of us here can shave hair relatively easily after an 1k stone. If your razor couldn't do that, that's what you need.
How much time have you spend honing on the 12k? Was it a "bevel refreshing" or bevel resetting what you did? That's what many old barbers did, and, I don't want to imagine bevel restoration with a Thuringian, it will take a while.
Buy a king 1k if you don't want to spend a lot of money, or a Chosera 1k or Sigma select II 1.2k if you want the best stones possible, arguably. And a 3-4k, the brand is your choice, they all work. The gap between 3-4k and 12k is small, you don't necessarily need something in between.
Everyone who wants to hone his own razors definitely needs a 4-8k or 3-8k or something that covers this grit range, but everyone forgets the bevel setter.

The original post, he shouldn't need anything but the Nainiwa 12k SS at this point in time

Originally Posted by kwlfca

My task is refreshing a blade currently.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

The original post, he shouldn't need anything but the Nainiwa 12k SS at this point in time

A razor that couldn't shave arm hair until yesterday doesn't really sound like it just needs refreshing on a finisher, but I might be wrong.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I know too many cooks may tend to spoil the broth but ........ in my long life I have never used slurry on a synthetic stone. I'm not saying it is not a good thing to do, maybe it is great. Just that I've never done it and my razors have been honing up fine. Say that to say, get the lower grit combo stone and leave the electric co. razor alone until you do.

You're trying to do a 4/8k job with your 12k finishing stone and sounds like the edge ain't ready yet. You could probably get there eventually with the 12k but why waste stone and elbow grease when the right tool will get it there more quickly and efficiently.

Get the naniwa 3/8 or the norton 4/8 and then work on the razor. Also, just IMHO, don't use slurry until you are getting practiced at honing with good results without it. Once you can get the razors sharp and smooth with water only introduce slurry into the equation. When you're still in the learning stages it is just one more thing to complicate your results . BTW, just me but I favor the norton combo myself. YMMV.

Unfortunately, setting it aside isn't really an option as this is my only razor. I'm just trying to refresh the edge that was already established by shooter74743. I agree that having a lower grit stone would probably have made things easier, and perhaps I should have gotten the combo instead of the nani12K, but I literally just got the 12K and cannot spend another $100 on another stone (as much as I'd love to but every stone lol!). I agree with not using the slurry as well, which is why I cut that variable out today

At least I got to where I wanted to be, or at least closer to it!

Originally Posted by gssixgun

The original post, he shouldn't need anything but the Nainiwa 12k SS at this point in time

I agree, and like shooter said, it's really hard steel (he would know, he's the one that I got the razor from as well as the one who honed it) so I just didn't give up on it.
What's kept me going is the fact that 1) the bevel is good and 2)the fact that it IS possible to do one stone honing. Since I'm just doing a refresh, I shouldn't need more than one stone


And I know that some prefer to hone with tape on the spine and some don't...I honestly don't care to ever use tape on the spine (especially when shooter didn't use tape, otherwise I'd get a divergent bevel), but that's just my personal preference.

Sorry it's taken a bit for me to get back to you. I'm in agreement about the pressure, just don't use enough pressure to flex the blade. Once you shave with it, hopefully it will be useable or close. That razor was also honed without tape IIRC, so if you were to add one layer of tape to the spine, you would be doing more work to the edge. Try that first with about 20 x strokes. Also, the magic marker test tells an awful lot when you are having trouble honing a blade.

If that doesn't get it, look at some of the video's of Lynn or Glen (gssixgun) on some circles. Try some circles of 10 on each side 4 times & follow up with about 20 x strokes. That Electric Cutlery razor is typical New York steel, hard & holds an edge for quite a while. Don't be afraid to start out your honing (on the 12K) with some pressure and gradually let up on it. Never put enough pressure on the blade to flex it though as if you flex it you aren't doing anything good for the blade...I know I repeated this, but it is important.

Lastly my friend, honing is about one of the toughest & most frustrating parts of our "sport". YOU WILL NOT LEARN IT ON THE FIRST FEW RAZORS YOU HONE, PERIOD. It probably took me fifty razors to even get somewhat proficient at honing & there is no telling how many times I had to go back and re-hone a razor because it didn't shave like it should to get those fifty honed. Hundreds of razors later, I'm still learning. Once you get to where you can hone proficiently though, you will wonder why the heck it was so tough to "break-through"...I did & most others will agree too.

Will I be able to get it as sharp as you got it? My shave today was okay but not what it was. What should I do Scott?

Repeat what worked, it should get back there. Worse case scenario, you send it out to have it re-honed. Don't fret, worrying gets you nothing but ulcers. You improved the edge from what it was, so do it again, and again, until it's right. If I have a razor in my rotation that's not right, I will stick with it until I have it shaving like I want. This can take me a couple times on my finishing stone I keep in the bathroom & I have a bit more experience than you...but we are doing the same thing. I give the razor the amount of strokes on the stone I think are right and strop, shower, shave. If it's not right I do it again until it is. Have patience my friend...