Thread: Totally Confused on which hone to buy

I love the forums, but I feel I am suffering from information overload. I am new to straight razor shaving, going on my third week. I started by purchasing the Dovo Bismark 5/8 Spike point, which I think is a wonderful razor. Of course I am new and have no real frame of reference. Anyway I am thinking about purchasing a hone for this razor, but I am confused on which hone to purchase.
My razor arrived professionally sharped. Do I need to buy a stone like the Norton 4K/8K or a finishing stone like the Naniwa 10000?
Thanks for the help.

the norton is a great stone i would get a cheap practice razor to hone on but get one made of quality steel if your razor was honed by a honemeister get a barbers hone to keep your edge i am a honing newbie myself and still learning but DO NOT take youronly razor and try to hone it if you have no experience honing if you ruin your edge you will have to send it to a honemeister or spend a lot of time to fix it yourself and will not be able to shave i also assume you have a strop? a strop will keep a edge on your razor for a long time honing is only required only 3-6 months

Based on my experience and if I knew then what I know now I recommend the Norton 4/8 and a DMT D8C or XX continues diamond plate for lapping. You can sharpen your knives with the diamond plate too. If you want to go for icing on the cake a Chinese 12k is inexpensive or a Shapton 16k are great finishing stone but the 4/8 will do you.

What jszabo said is on the money. Go to the Wiki for tutorials on pyramids with the Norton and for setting bevels. That is the foundation of your edge. The videos by Lynn and heavydutysg are great too.

rps,

Obviously you will need one of each. Well, maybe not unless you get HAD bad. If your razor came professionally honed, likely the only thing you will need to do is follow up from time to time, the frequency as determined by your whiskers and its steel. A barber's hone will work; some of the flashy fine grit artificials will work; the cheap Chinese will work; Eschers, etc. will work as will the coticule - which is my favorite as the edge it creates seems to match what works the best for my face.

If you get a hone and don't like its effects, you can always sell it and try something different. I for one would suggest a coticule as a first try-me.

I have HAD bad and seem to keep returning to a coticule - I may be trying to tell myself something there - too bad my hearing is so poor.

Yes, the trouble with honing is it takes many good laps to get an improvement, but only one bad move to make the blade worse. If you only have a finishing stone and you mess it up you will have to send the razor off.

Stick to just stropping as long as you can.

I suggest before you buy a single hone you plan ahead. Decide if you are ever going to restore old blades, or do your own repairs if you ding your own. Work out what range of hones you need, and choose a complete set that will keep you happy. If you don't, you will end up buying one stone after another, always looking for something better/different.

For this reason, you might want to look at the Shapton glass range. That 16K plate seems pretty special. You could get other Shaptons later on to cover any other grit you need and know you have a sensible set without any overlap or duplication.

But if all you want to do personally is refresh your blade every now and again, something like a Swaty barber hone should do the job. Alternatively one of the 12K stones or the Naniwa you mentioned.

Whatever hone you get, you really need something to lap it with. One of the DMT 8XX / 8X / 8C plates will do.

What he said.... The Norton 4k/8k is the base stone and a coticule is a good next step.

i have the norton 4/8k and it works great, i lap it on wet/dry paper which is the one thing i don't like (which is no fault of the hone). from what i have read the DMT mentioned above is what i want. i also have the 12k chinese which i like, but i wouldn't say i could do with just it alone. have you considered a pasted strop? i use my CrOx to touch things up every 3 weeks or so but these are very minor touch ups, basically me being fussy, but it does make things smooth out nicely. not matter what you won't be disappointed with the norton.

Originally Posted by Rajagra

If you don't, you will end up buying one stone after another, always looking for something better/different.

So what is wrong with that ?

What hone(s) do I need? - Straight Razor Place Wiki has a fairly comprehensive answer, I think.

There are a couple different paths you can take depending on your future plans and your budget.

Since you mentioned your razor came professionally honed your immediate need will be touch ups when it gets dull. A good hone for that is a barber hone. They are not too expensive and a worthwhile addition to any future hone collection plus in my opinion they are one of the easier hones to learn to use. I'm partial to Swaty's but there are several other brands which work well. You should be able to pick one up on eBay for 30-50 bucks depending on the condition.

From there the sky's the limit. There are several good posts in the Wiki listing the basic set up (different grit levels) you will need to turn a butter knife into a shaving machine. I would spend some time reading and weighing the merits of the various options (coticule vs Norton 4/8k for example) and decide which ones best fit your needs and budget.