Hones?

[Shane]

So after frittering around I'm deciding to take the straight razor plunge, i've decided to get a cheapie straight off of eBay. There's that, but besides getting a strop, there are all...of these.....hones!

There's all of these brands and grits and dimensions...I mean where do I even begin? What does it depend on? I need some help!

 

[rickw]

Save yourself a lot of time and expense. Buy a new Norton combo 4K/8K. An alternative is to get a set of blue and yellow Belgians.

 

[Limey]

Save yourself a lot of time and expense. Buy a new Norton combo 4K/8K. An alternative is to get a set of blue and yellow Belgians.

I think that is good advice and probably what you would here from most straight shavers.

 

[Doc4]

Get your razor professionally honed by one of the gentlemen usually known as 'honemeisters'. That will get you a good start.

And yes, the Norton 4k/8k is the generally-agreed 'place to start' for hones, but that is the thin end of the wedge.

 

[Suzuki]

Also, most people use something after the 8K to put a final polish on the blade.

You can use pastes or a finishing stone/hone.

 

[JasonK]

In an attempt to avoid adding another hone thread to the boards, I decided to post my question here.

I plan on buying the 6/8k for sharpening, I'm not much of a fan of the pasted strops, can I get the same effect out of a couticle, or 10k+ stone? And if so, where would be a good place for me to purchase said stone?

 

[Suzuki]

In an attempt to avoid adding another hone thread to the boards, I decided to post my question here.

I plan on buying the 6/8k for sharpening, I'm not much of a fan of the pasted strops, can I get the same effect out of a couticle, or 10k+ stone? And if so, where would be a good place for me to purchase said stone?

A 10k might do it, I think there are people who like some of the 12k waterstones.

A coticule will definitely work here's the link to a well-regarded US supplier:

http://theperfectedge.com/belgian.shtml

 

[edk442]

i wouldn't get a 6k/8k (who even makes that...it's just a weird combination) the grits are so close together it doesn't have alot of applications. now if you meant the 4k/8k then there's no problem.

i used to use a shapton 12k and while it gave some nice edges i sold it to see what this coticule is all about

i've now simplified my collection to 5 stones and that's how i'm gonna keep it.

Shapton 1500, 5000, 8000, a coticule and a thuringen. got all my bases covered with this setup

 

[Thebigspendur]

Unless you turn into a hone collector the 4K/8K combo stone is the swiss army knife of straight hones. A Coticule or similar stone would be nice as a finisher. The other way to go is with pasted strops instead. The only problem with strops is that if you really need to hone out chips or reestablish a bevel they won't do. I personally find when I use a pasted strop though the resulting edge is very good they just don't seem to last as long as when I use my Coticule. But then again I'm not really a pasted strop guy.

 

[joel]

I really like the spyderco hones personally. They are very reasonably priced, they do not have to be flattned, they can be used wet OR dry (which is super convienient) and in my opinion the medium grit spyderco removes metal faster/better than a 4K norton, and the super fine spyderco makes a much finer/smoother edge than the 8K side of the norton, so as far as I am concerned they are quite superior.

I have the Spyderco medium, fine and ultra fine hones.

 

[Amyn]

I would recommend a Norton 4K / 8K combo for beginners and a pasted strop to finish.

 

[Shane]

If a Coticule is 8000 grit, and the 8K side of a Norton 4K/8K stone is 8000 grit, why is the Coticule used for finishing? Why not just use the 8K side of the Norton?

 

[bjrn]

Grit numbers are a guideline, and you can't tell everything from them. To start with there are different ways to measure them. I think it's like this: The US counts by the average grit size, Japan by the smallest, and Europe by the largest. So a Japanese grit 6000 stone, might be European 4000. I'm sure someone will correct me on this if I'm wrong.

I don't know if it's because of the different measurements, or something else, but depending on who you ask, the coticule gets rated between 8000 and 12000. But, what's important here is that the coticule produces a much smoother edge, which gives a more comfortable shave. So while you might have an edge sharp enough to shave with off a 8000 norton, it will be a slightly harsher edge than that of a razor coming off a coticule.