Multi-purpose Hones

[thompmj]

Hi Everyone,

I received a beautifully restored "Royal Blue" straight for my anniversary and tried shaving a few times with it. Trouble is, it doesn't seem to actually be cutting any hair and I think I may need to hone it. I have a set of oil stones for my woodworking tools - chisels and plane irons - so my question is...can I also use those to hone my straight? I've got up through a soft Arkansas stone (Norton) and I'll be investing in both hard and translucent stones in the near future (in the meantime I can send the straight out to be professionally honed).

Anyways, just curious of your opinions. Are there any hygiene concerns here? I assume not because...well, steel is steel.

Thanks!
Mike T.

 

[mikael]

No problem using arkansas stones for both knives and razors.

The reason people usually don't recommend to use stones for both razor and knives is that it's pretty easy to cut into the stones by accident when you are sharpening a knife. And if your razor gets stuck in the small mark left by the knife it will ruin the delicate edge of the razor.

But arkansas stones are so hard that that won't be a problem so you're good to go.

 

[GolFisHunt]

You will need to make sure the stones are flat.

 

[Slash McCoy]

Yeah. Lap those stones. Chisels, planes, knives, all tend to dig up the stone. Me, I would be okay with multitasking a hard or translucent but I would hesitate to share a softer rock with tools and razors. However, you don't really need a coarse stone for razors. You can set the bevel quite well with sandpaper, 600 to 2k grit, depending on the state of the bevel. And this only needs to be done once, for as long as you own the razor. You could go straight from 2k wet/dry to a well lapped hard arkie if you don't mind a lot of rubbing. Me, I would maybe add a 6k King or a 3k Naniwa to the lineup, or else 9u lapping film, which is way cheaper if you don't hone a lot, and is always perfectly flat. But hey, this is a perfect excuse to spring for a nice big soft or medium Arkie, too, reserved for razors. Just sayin.

Eyeball flat is not flat enough, for best results. Draw a grid pattern on the stone with a pencil, and lap until the grid is entirely gone, and bobs yer uncle.

 

[David]

On my dual purpose stones I use one side for razors and one side for tools/knives. I don't see any sanitary issues here as long as you keep the stones clean.

 

[David]

Slash, one bevel set for a lifetime? I'm not disputing..just asking. I hone too frequently to know how long a bevel will last, just seems like at some point you'd need to drop back down and set it again.

 

[Slash McCoy]

Slash, one bevel set for a lifetime? I'm not disputing..just asking. I hone too frequently to know how long a bevel will last, just seems like at some point you'd need to drop back down and set it again.

Yes, that has been my observation. I will concede that POSSIBLY a big smiley that has seen a lot of rolling x action might want a fresh bevel once in a while, due to the imprecise nature of the honing action possibly rounding the bevel slightly. I really haven't seen this in my razors, though. But then again I am not the smiley expert here, preferring straight or nearly straight edges. In fact, for a straight edge, you should never need to re-visit anything at all except your finisher.

A newbie honer might find a need to drop back a stage, but seldom all the way back to the bevel setter unless there was a big goof or some uncertainty. Or damage from sink or faucet.

Myself, I generally never have to re-hone at all any more. I hit the balsa after every shave, with .25u and then .1u, sometimes only the .1u. On occasion I find it necessary to put it to the .5u when the edge seems to be slipping a bit. I guess actually that sort of counts as honing, since there is abrasive involved. But the amount of steel removed is hardly worth mentioning.

 

[Avenolpey]

Convexed edges from pasted or sprayed stropping means eventually needing to reset the bevel. You might not need to go all the way back to 1k, but it will still take some work to get the bevel flat again. I have done that with Botan on a JNat and with a Coticule with slurry which is like going back to approx 4k. I find it easier to just kill the edge go back to 1k and move forward knowing exactly where I am. I have the stones so why not.

 

[Slash McCoy]

Convexed edges from pasted or sprayed stropping means eventually needing to reset the bevel. You might not need to go all the way back to 1k, but it will still take some work to get the bevel flat again. I have done that with Botan on a JNat and with a Coticule with slurry which is like going back to approx 4k. I find it easier to just kill the edge go back to 1k and move forward knowing exactly where I am. I have the stones so why not.

Agreed. If your pasted or sprayed stropping is done on a hanging leather strop. I use lapped balsa for that. My hanging strops stay clean and untainted.