Thread: Basic honing equipment

dhatcher - Howdy!

If all you want to do is maintain a good edge on a well-honed razor, you probably shouldn't be going to the 1000/6000 waterstone at all. It's not necessary to take the grit down that low just to refresh an edge. All that will do is wear down your razor 10 times faster than it needs to be. 1000 grit will basically reset your bevel.

All you should need for simple maintenance work like that is an 8k+ stone. Barber hones are small and easy to find (check the Classified's - I saw a couple nice ones there), and it only takes a few stroke to bring your edge back up to snuff.

Alternately, I've heard good things about Naniwa finishing stones. You'd want to use at LEAST 8000 grit, but probably more if you want a nice finish. They sell them on Straight Razor Designs.

I'm not sure what to think about pastes. I'm a newbie too, but I've read conflicting stuff about pastes. I've read about lots of people using it, but I've also heard it rounds your bevel and makes it harder to hone in the future and the edges don't hold as long. So I'd do some more research on that.

From what I've read, you don't *need* to paste strop. A fine-grit finishing hone and a good regular strop will get you there.