kelbro
Alfred Spatchcock
Those narrow blades are sometimes challenging to learn on. Not a size that I would recommend for a newbie.
forefathers
- Thread starter camoloc
- Start date
I don't think anybody really answered your question directly. If you start with your razor properly honed, and you properly strop it between shaves, you really should only need to touch it up every 70 -100 shaves on a very high grit stone say between 8000 and 12,000 grit. The shavers of yore, used what we call a "barber's hone" which was a short, narrow natural stone, sometimes glued to a wooden paddle. These varied enormously in terms of grade but likely were on the order of 6000-8000 grit and often lubricated with oil. That is all that people used at home-no progression of stones, etc.
If your razor was damaged or abused, you took it to a barber who had more stuff.
A word of caution here. In my opinion a new shaver should not use a razor that is super, super sharp. You need really good technique to use a very sharp razor. I'm not saying that your razor should be dull, but perhaps only a final pass over an 8000 grit stone, and chromium oxide on a linen strop.
when your technique gets better, you can try shaving with a sharper edge. Also, don't expect to get a clean shave on the first pass. Use 2 or if necessary 3 passes to get a close shave. Do not push on the first pass to get a close shave.
If your razor was damaged or abused, you took it to a barber who had more stuff.
A word of caution here. In my opinion a new shaver should not use a razor that is super, super sharp. You need really good technique to use a very sharp razor. I'm not saying that your razor should be dull, but perhaps only a final pass over an 8000 grit stone, and chromium oxide on a linen strop.
when your technique gets better, you can try shaving with a sharper edge. Also, don't expect to get a clean shave on the first pass. Use 2 or if necessary 3 passes to get a close shave. Do not push on the first pass to get a close shave.
Grandfather and great grandfather SR shaving kit. I think about that pretty frequently. Country and small town folk, so they had to be reasonably self-sufficient. They certainly would not have been honemeisters or razor restorers.
Sufficient kit then:
an initially honed razor
a leather strop
a pasted strop and paste
a touch up hone
A damaged razor was discarded and easily replaced.
Sufficient kit now: (shaving, not restoring)
an initially honed razor
a leather strop (+1 Tony Miller)
a pasted strop progression, balsa and either diamond or CBN
a touch up hone or a lapping film
Sufficient kit then:
an initially honed razor
a leather strop
a pasted strop and paste
a touch up hone
A damaged razor was discarded and easily replaced.
Sufficient kit now: (shaving, not restoring)
an initially honed razor
a leather strop (+1 Tony Miller)
a pasted strop progression, balsa and either diamond or CBN
a touch up hone or a lapping film
- Thread starter
- #24
This Naniwa:
or its 10mm thick younger brother.
Or a strip of wet, well smoothed down 3M AlOx lapping film on a marble tile or cast acrylic block:
Ivory = .3 micron = ~60,000 grit
Green = 1 micron = ~ 14,000 grit
Other lapping films are available.
- Thread starter
- #26
The 10K is a good hone as well. If you can buy the thicker version for more stability.
I meant the same 12k grit in the less expensive 10mm thickness. If you are just using it for razor touch up and are not restoring razors or polishing knives a 10mm thickness of synthetic rock will last a lifetime. For touchup you will be using as little pressure as you can while not having the razor levitate - so not much hone wear.
Basically the synthetics are less expensive if you get thinner/smaller hones. They get rapidly less expensive as the stones get coarser. I’m no honemeister, but for practical razor touch up, it seems that folks use 8k grits and above.
For example, Portland Razor Company teaches beginning maintenance honing using a Norton two-sided 4k/8k synthetic.
I will send you some honing supply links if you want. Sharpening Supply and Best Sharpening Stones are two places where I have gotten good prices and service. Beware, it is easy to go down a hone rathole.
The 10mm stones are Naniwa S1 Super Stones, the 20mm are S2. Given the mere $22 of savings I got the S2.
- Thread starter
- #30
thanks
just need bare minimum maintenance.
good link for more economical 12k 10mm.
camo
What's a pdsq hone? Google results lead here.
PDSO he meant. Pierre du sud ouest. Stone from France. VERY old. Never seen one that didn't look mid-19th century at the latest... some people claim they date back as far as 17th century (though that seems a bit farfetched to me).
They look like a yellow coticule, green thuri and les latneuses hybrid had a mutant child, feel like extremely fine sandstone, and they work like Y/G thuris but typically slower and with far less autoslurry.
Crazy hard to find stateside, but apparently they're all over the place at flea markets in SW France... just no one bothers buying them, so they stay there.
I collect them. Only ever saw one other guy who did, and he sold off his collection a few years ago. They get fought over from time to time on eBay when they show up, but I STRONGLY suspect most of the people bidding on them think they are coticules.
My first one I bought hoping for a coticule and my second one was flat out sold to me (on BST here) AS a coticule. I didn't know either of them weren't coticules for years... just thought they were absurdly slow on slurry coticules. Since then I've bought another half dozen or so from sellers calling them coticules and the rest of my ~30 piece collection were sold as unknown stones.
They look like a yellow coticule, green thuri and les latneuses hybrid had a mutant child, feel like extremely fine sandstone, and they work like Y/G thuris but typically slower and with far less autoslurry.
Crazy hard to find stateside, but apparently they're all over the place at flea markets in SW France... just no one bothers buying them, so they stay there.
I collect them. Only ever saw one other guy who did, and he sold off his collection a few years ago. They get fought over from time to time on eBay when they show up, but I STRONGLY suspect most of the people bidding on them think they are coticules.
My first one I bought hoping for a coticule and my second one was flat out sold to me (on BST here) AS a coticule. I didn't know either of them weren't coticules for years... just thought they were absurdly slow on slurry coticules. Since then I've bought another half dozen or so from sellers calling them coticules and the rest of my ~30 piece collection were sold as unknown stones.
Says Arkansas stone. A little suspicious of the quality just based on the picture but I have no first hand experience with them.
While my Dad's Dad was in college he worked as a patternmaker in his Dad's Iron Foundry. Many years later, when the Foundry was sold, Grandpa kept 2 of the stones used to hone the pattern shop's chisels. Grandpa taught me how to hone a razor when I was about 14 years old, and I have his razor & the stones today. Thewy're around 125 years old by Dad's estimate. Back then it wasn't necessary to have a vast array of submicron stones & lapping films; a stone, some honing oil and patience was all that was required.
This is what I use as a finishing hone. I actually paid about half this price because they used to sell them at about half this size.
Natural Sharpening Honing Stone Whetstone Knife Razor Chisel Sharpener (Grade B) (L (B)) - - Amazon.com - https://www.amazon.com/Natural-Sharpening-Honing-Waterstone-Sharpener/dp/B0732LXSBC/ref=sr_1_7?crid=340884F2KPDY5&dchild=1&keywords=tsushima%2Bocean%2Bblue%2Bwhetstone&qid=1588065508&sprefix=tsushima%2Bocean%2Bblue%2Caps%2C253&sr=8-7&th=1
Natural Sharpening Honing Stone Whetstone Knife Razor Chisel Sharpener (Grade B) (L (B)) - - Amazon.com - https://www.amazon.com/Natural-Sharpening-Honing-Waterstone-Sharpener/dp/B0732LXSBC/ref=sr_1_7?crid=340884F2KPDY5&dchild=1&keywords=tsushima%2Bocean%2Bblue%2Bwhetstone&qid=1588065508&sprefix=tsushima%2Bocean%2Bblue%2Caps%2C253&sr=8-7&th=1
This is a genuine Arkansas fine/hard stone. It measures 5.5" x 1.5" and comes in right at 900 grit.Says Arkansas stone. A little suspicious of the quality just based on the picture but I have no first hand experience with them.
How is this measured? I ask because I'd like to get a better number for some of my stones.
Thanks for this info.
I purchased one of these recently and will be trying it out soon.
It's a natural stone so you can't actually put a grit number on it. The best you can do is compare it side by side to a synthetic stone and then make your observations.
Col. Conk, the instructions that come with the stone say to use water as a lubricant but some people use mineral oil as the lubricant. Do you have an opinion in this regard?
thank you in advance for your response.
