Thread: Passion is back for the straight razor!

I see a 1K and a 3 or 4K stone in your future. It's like this: Have you ever tried to take off in 3rd gear from a dead stop?

We have some fantastic members in Oz.
You can use the director to search, update your profile and ask in the Honing section.
An hour or two with an experience hand will save you time and frustration.

The longer I do this the more I realize you can do very well with a modest set up - and that it can be very satisfying to be able to do more with less.

Good luck and smooth shaving...

As usual I'm going to go against the grain and say you've got everything you need - maybe even a little more. There's nothing wrong with the King 1.2/6K - it should be enough to get the bevel set and get a 6K polish. And if 6K to Surgical Arkie was too big of a gap no one would get anything done with a Soft/Black combination stone or Soft/Hard/Black progression. If you never obtained a mirror polish - even with a CrOx pasted strop - the problem lies with the honer, not the tooling.

Here are some threads that will help. First one to guide your honing efforts:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...ggestions.html

PCM may not have the same stones, but the process is generally the same. Those scratches you're seeing after the Arkansas are most likely 1K stria you never erased with your 6K side. 1K to 6K is the large jump, and likely takes more time than you're giving it. You mentioned stones, I didn't see mention of a loupe. I suggest finding a 30x jeweler's loupe. They're cheap and effective, without one you're honing blind.

Second, a challenge to test your results:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...r-1k-hone.html

Changing stones just means starting from the bottom - where I think you need to be - and learning a different set of hones. Honing a razor is one of those things that is easy in theory, but in practice can be much more difficult than it appears on the surface.

And for kicks and grins to give you an idea how little you can use to hone a straight razor:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...on-2012-a.html

You don't need 10 Shapton Glass/Naniwa stones ending on a $400 30/20K stone, four different pastes, and five strops. Some folks just want that. You can get away with a lot less.

Originally Posted by Marshal

As usual I'm going to go against the grain and say you've got everything you need - maybe even a little more. There's nothing wrong with the King 1.2/6K - it should be enough to get the bevel set and get a 6K polish. And if 6K to Surgical Arkie was too big of a gap no one would get anything done with a Soft/Black combination stone or Soft/Hard/Black progression. If you never obtained a mirror polish - even with a CrOx pasted strop - the problem lies with the honer, not the tooling.

Here are some threads that will help. First one to guide your honing efforts:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...ggestions.html

PCM may not have the same stones, but the process is generally the same. Those scratches you're seeing after the Arkansas are most likely 1K stria you never erased with your 6K side. 1K to 6K is the large jump, and likely takes more time than you're giving it. You mentioned stones, I didn't see mention of a loupe. I suggest finding a 30x jeweler's loupe. They're cheap and effective, without one you're honing blind.

Second, a challenge to test your results:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...r-1k-hone.html

Changing stones just means starting from the bottom - where I think you need to be - and learning a different set of hones. Honing a razor is one of those things that is easy in theory, but in practice can be much more difficult than it appears on the surface.

And for kicks and grins to give you an idea how little you can use to hone a straight razor:

http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...on-2012-a.html

You don't need 10 Shapton Glass/Naniwa stones ending on a $400 30/20K stone, four different pastes, and five strops. Some folks just want that. You can get away with a lot less.

Hi Marshal,

Thanks for the post, very informative. I am still trying to grasp what the equivalent grit you could compare the Arkansas too. Tomorrow, I will try again on my Blue Wonder, and spend more time on the 6k.

Cheers

Matt

Natural stones all vary hone to hone. Even Arkansas stones which are %99 novaculite. The denser an Arkansas is, the finer it can polish. It also varies with surface prep, if the surface is scuffed with 400 grit sand paper it will be faster, but less fine. If it's well polished and burnished it will be slower and finer. The best I can say as far as grit rating is that stone should be able to polish higher than 8K, and make for a sharp smooth shaving edge.

Originally Posted by Pougee

I have watched a few. What grit equivilant would the Black Arkansas be rated too?

I never achieved a mirror polished edge, and can still see scratch marks with the naked eye.

Marshall's advise is good. All I would add is this. Focus on utility, not cosmetics. Does the blade shave whiskers? No pre-shave test will really tell you if the razor is shave ready. If you are still seeing striations it's likely they were never taken out at the previous level. Getting a pure mirror polish on the bevel takes practice, a lot of it, but that doesn't mean you can't hone a razor to a sufficient level to get a BBS shave. Time, patience, practice. There are several, even numerous elements, factors that need perfecting for it all to come together.

As to grit ratings for Arkansas stones, it is difficult to use a synthetic rating system on natural stones. Natural stones are to taken for what they are... natural. Most would say natural finishing stones are among the best, not only, but among. Once you figure out your Arkansas Black, along with the other steps, bevel setting, etc., you'll be getting some fine BBS shaves.

When I started to hone I first called SRD and ask there opinion on what to get. I was told the 1K naniawa for setting the bevel and then the 3/8K for the progression. I then used the 12K naniawa for a finisher for over a year. I recieved very good shaves. I have used the shavetts and really didn't like the shave as well as with the straights. A very good friend then introduced me to the 20K Suehiro and that ruined me. Now I went by the youtube video of Lynn Abrams on honing and it worked out great for me. There are a lot of folks out there that use all kinds of hones and get very good results from them but for me I'm getting very good results from what I'm using and if asked I would suggest these hones to anyone.

Achieved a BBS shave today of my honing and bevel setting on the mention stones today. It was not the smoothest shave, but I dont think its very far off. It was a comfortable shave, with a little resistance around the chin area with ATG direction. However, this could be due to the difficulties of maintaing the correct cutting angle.

The learning process continues.