hone on the cheap?
- Thread starter red96ta
- Start date
2000 ANSI or American grit is 1 micron . The green goo sometimes is 0.5 micron . Nearly the same product . Obviously the goo is finer grit .
To hone a vintage or Fleabay junker you will need much coarser stones . A totaly rebevel needs something like 300-600 ANSI grit or 35 to 16 micron respectively .
99% of the time the razor will not be shave ready , for my face anyway . Meaning you will need three stones to keep straight razors going . This will cover Fleabay and antique shop finds to minor touch ups . Look for Arkansas or Spyderco stones . I use my Arkansas soft which is a medium 600 grit . Then next is the Arkansas white hard stone at 1000 ANSI or American grit . Then over to the Spyderco Ultra Fine at 2000 ANSI grit . The Spyderco UF polishes the edge up nicely . The two Arkansas stones were like $18.00 . They came in a Smith's sharpening kit . So all three came in under a hundred bucks .
Sandpaper distorts the bevel in my experience . The paper stacks up behind the leading edge creating a U shaped bevel seen under a microscope . I would stick with hones .
Plus wet/dry sandpaper deteriorates fast when honing . The grit falls away and becomes another grit rating . So a 1000 grit paper becomes say 1600 after a few strokes . Later you will hit paper as all the grit will fall off the paper .
Finally sandpaper is not meant to hone steel . It is not the correct tool for the job .
cityjim
To hone a vintage or Fleabay junker you will need much coarser stones . A totaly rebevel needs something like 300-600 ANSI grit or 35 to 16 micron respectively .
99% of the time the razor will not be shave ready , for my face anyway . Meaning you will need three stones to keep straight razors going . This will cover Fleabay and antique shop finds to minor touch ups . Look for Arkansas or Spyderco stones . I use my Arkansas soft which is a medium 600 grit . Then next is the Arkansas white hard stone at 1000 ANSI or American grit . Then over to the Spyderco Ultra Fine at 2000 ANSI grit . The Spyderco UF polishes the edge up nicely . The two Arkansas stones were like $18.00 . They came in a Smith's sharpening kit . So all three came in under a hundred bucks .
Sandpaper distorts the bevel in my experience . The paper stacks up behind the leading edge creating a U shaped bevel seen under a microscope . I would stick with hones .
Plus wet/dry sandpaper deteriorates fast when honing . The grit falls away and becomes another grit rating . So a 1000 grit paper becomes say 1600 after a few strokes . Later you will hit paper as all the grit will fall off the paper .
Finally sandpaper is not meant to hone steel . It is not the correct tool for the job .
cityjim
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you can either get lapping films, or a barbers hone, or a chinese 12k
Thanks, when I wrote sandpaper I meant to write lapping film.
I vote for the Chinese 12k, best value in straight shaving as far as I'm concerned
I don't know much about the ANSI standards for grit but my experience with my shaptons says #2,000 grit is closer to 7 micron rather than 1 micron. The green CrOx is supposed to be 0.5 micron. A good rule of thumb is to get twice as fine when you make your jump to a finer grit. My progression on a dull razor is #4,000 to #8,000 to #16,000 to 0.5 daimond paste followed ultimately by a Nakayama. To maintain my razors once a month I go to the #16,000 and work my way up. This is a little overkill but it is my method.
If I were you I would send your blade to a honemeister to get proffesionaly honed. After you do this you can maintain it on your pasted strop for a long time.
If I were you I would send your blade to a honemeister to get proffesionaly honed. After you do this you can maintain it on your pasted strop for a long time.
I was sharpening razors using a DMT EE 8k and 0.5u CrOx. Now I prefer to use the DMT followed by a barber hone (80% of the time), Thuringian, or Spyderco UF.
2k to 0.5u is a pretty big jump.
2k to 0.5u is a pretty big jump.
EE to CromOx (per Joel's suggestion somewhere...) have been my weapons of choice lately (but just today I also broke out the lapping films again for the first time in weeks...)
2k to 0.5um is a big jump, but the famed Verhoven paper shows 0.5um after 600 grit, and shows marked improvement, so 2k to chromox isn't that bad an idea.
DMT EE to cromo is definitely a worthwhile maintaner combo, not an Ebay restoration toolkit.
