Greetings from a Londoner

So, I've been shaving with a straight razor for a few months now -- I started off with a shavette to get the hang of it and then got a Dovo Flowing for my 21st. (To whoever asked in another thread, yes, the Geo F Trumper razors are just Dovos with additional GFT branding.)

The whole experience has been great and I shan't be going back to safety razors any time soon.

My next plan is to buy a honing stone and a cheap razor and learn to hone myself. I have no idea where to start, though, and any advice on what to buy etc. would be really helpful!

Been reading over threads here and there over the past months but it's good to sign up and join in!

Hello, welcome to SRP!

Which stone to recommend depends on what kind of honing you want to do. If you just want to touch up a razor which has been shave-ready but has started to lose its edge, then a high-grit stone is all you need. There are plenty of Welsh slates around at reasonable prices, and barber hones appear on ebay fairly often.

However, those stones will be too fine/slow to put a bevel on a razor which is totally blunt. If you're getting a cheap ebay razor to practice on, you'll need something coarser. The experienced honers on here would probably recommend a Norton 4k/8k for general sharpening, and any of several 1k stones for the bevel-setting. Nortons aren't sold over here, though (please correct me if I'm wrong, anyone) and shipping would add a fair bit to the cost.

I started with a King waterstone with a 1k side and a 6k side, and found it perfectly good for bevel setting and sharpening, and use a Welsh slate for finishing. The King stones are available in the UK for around £30, and you could do worse if you want to learn to hone. As I said though, unnecessary if you just want to touch up a blade which is already nearly shave ready.

Thanks for the reply -- I'm currently googling your suggestions while at work...

Ideally I'd like to learn to do both, though I'll probably start with touching up first and progress from there. At least then I can keep my razor(s) sharp.

What is the recommended grit for each task though? What I mean is what's the difference between setting a bevel with a 1k/6k stone and a 4k/8k stone...and which is better? Similarly, how high is a high-grit stone for touching up?

Of course, feel free to link me to any relevant threads in the right sub forum -- I know I've kind of just dived right in here!

As I understand it, you can divide the process into three tasks:

Setting a bevel (so that the planes on each side of the edge meet to form the cutting edge). This is usually done with a stone of grit 220 to 4000, depending on the condition of the razor. 1k seems to be popular unless the razor has chips to the edge.

Sharpening the edge - 4k, 6k, 8k range.

Final polishing/touching up - 8k+. There are 10k, 12k and 16k stones out there, and the natural slates I've seen are described as 'equivalent to' 8k, 10k, sometimes 12k. I think barber hones are also in this range.

If you use a higher grits, a given job will take longer. I expect you could set a bevel using an 8k stone, but it would take forever.

If you use a lower grit than necessary, you're making more work for yourself - if you only need to refresh an edge but you go to the 1k stone, you'll have to sharpen and polish it to get it back to shaveable smoothness when a trip to an 8k or a slate would probably have done the trick.

Incidentally, I'm pretty new to this myself (honing since February), so take my advice for what it's worth. I'm currently using a King 1k/6k (bevels and sharpening respectively), a Welsh slate, and a Naniwa 12k. The problems with this set-up are in the honer not the hones. :)

There is a ton of info in the library (wiki), you could start here:

Beginner's_Guide_to_Honing

and

Lynn_Abrams_On_Honing

That is exactly what I've been trying to find out—thanks very much!

Hi and welcome to the SRP.

Jamie

G'Day and welcome from the Antipodes