Honing Routine for a Newbie

[TFrankMac2140]

As I'm new to the world of straights, I've got a few questions regarding honing. I purchased my Dovo Tortoise 5/8 from Vintage Blades. As a result, it has been professionally honed by Lynn Abrams before it reached me. I've got two shaves down and they have been great. I've also been working on my stropping routine. However, I know that at some point I will have to acquire a hone. I am looking at going with the very popular Norton 4000/8000 waterstone.

Now once I receive the stone, what is the routine I should use? I've been watching some of Lynns videos on YouTube and am just a tiny bit confused. Will I need to reset the bevel of the blade each time I hone or am I good to go now that Lynn already pre-honed my razor and as a result, will I only need to sharpen?

Any input would be greatly appreciated for a straight noob like me!

 

[jpcwon]

If Lynn honed the blade, then all you should need to do is touch it up every so often. You won't have to reset the bevel every time...Plenty of people say that they get great shaves off of the norton 8k, so IMO it's a great stone to learn on (I did!)...

 

[Doc226]

You should not need to drop down below the 4k and likely not below the 8K. I find it takes great skill and touch to get a barely shave ready edge off the norton 8K-lots of folks do it but for me it is not keen or smooth enough.

Also if any pasted strops were used in the honing you will likely have a slightly rounded bevel and the 8K stone may not hit the edge itself.

I would also encourage you to pick up a second razor from the BST of WD for practice honing.

 

[AjaxLepinski]

Great advise above, especially the suggestion to pickup up a second, inexpensive razor to practice on.
Norton's are good stones - they come flat but, you will need to round off or soften the edges to protect your razor. I still use my Norton 220/1K and 4K/8K stones.
You will also need the Norton Flattening stone (the slotted one) to keep the waterstones flat and to clean out debris. You can use it to round off the edges of the waterstones.
My 8k gets clogged fairly quickly so I use the Flattening Stone frequently.

I use both stones and film. Here's a good thread that should be read by anyone new to straights: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthr...ng-film-try-it
While film does not offer the aesthetics of stones, 1um film is great for edge maintenance and the learning curve is shorter than stones. At least you can keep your razor sharp while learning stones.
Aluminium Oxide film is fine, no need for diamond film. You can get film at a good price here: http://www.thorlabs.us/NewGroupPage9...tGroup_ID=1350

Have fun!!!

 

[professorchaos]

I always refresh the bevel on the DMT 1.2K when honing a razor anew. Starting out on finer hones never worked for me. Then I run through the progression.

As an alternative, and IIRC Lynn finishes on a paste, you can use a pasted paddle strop to maintain the edge for a long time. It is easy and effective though not without problems.

 

[brianrush50]

All 4 of my razors are shave ready, and I dont plan to do any restores. If I just want to regularly maintain my current rotation, and I do so regularly, will I need to go as low as 8000? My current plan is to get a Zulu Grey and maintain the edges with that. Is that too fine of a finisher for maintaining with one stone. Is one stone enough (yeah right!)?

 

[jpcwon]

All 4 of my razors are shave ready, and I dont plan to do any restores. If I just want to regularly maintain my current rotation, and I do so regularly, will I need to go as low as 8000? My current plan is to get a Zulu Grey and maintain the edges with that. Is that too fine of a finisher for maintaining with one stone. Is one stone enough (yeah right!)?

As an owner of 2 Zulus, I can tell you that they are fantastic as finishers, or for touchups on a razor that's already pretty much shave ready... after a while though, your bevel will inevitably get slightly rounded off, and you may have to drop down below the Zulu...Not to "enable" you , but I would definitely get something lower in grit as well (Norton 4/8?)...

 

[brianrush50]

Thanks, JP. I haven't even gotten my ZG yet (4-5 weeks waiting period) and I'm already on to my next stone.. I'm even looking at microscopes. Can hear the wife already: "When's it gonna stop?"

 

[jpcwon]

Can hear the wife already: "When's it gonna stop?"

You're not the only one, brother!!

You'll love the ZG, they're well worth the wait. I've owned many different finishers & my favorite by far is the Zulu...VERY smooth edges...The only one I haven't experienced is a JNAT, so I can't make that comparison, but I've heard that they're on par...

 

[brianrush50]

Thanks, JP.
Yeah, I've been bitten.
Perhaps this should be taken up in the ZG thread, but one more question: What do you use to lap your Zulu Greys? I'm getting a DMT card to make slurry, but wondered about lapping.

 

[jpcwon]

I use an Atoma 1200 diamond plate. The Atomas are nice because they're fast but leave a nice finish on the stone. My well-worn DMT 325 works well too though, so either way I think you'll be fine.

Watch out with the DMT card as they have a tendency to release diamonds into the slurry (moreso the 325 & 600 cards, the 1200 works fine IME). I broke mine in by dragging the shaft of a screwdriver along the face of the plate..

 

[brianrush50]

I use an Atoma 1200 diamond plate.

Wow, that's almost as much $ as the ZG itself! Maybe I should get the DMT 3x8 1200 stone instead of the card and use it for both slurry and lapping?

 

[jpcwon]

Wow, that's almost as much $ as the ZG itself! Maybe I should get the DMT 3x8 1200 stone instead of the card and use it for both slurry and lapping?

I know...I should've prefaced that by saying that they're not cheap! If you're going for one of the 8x3"s I'd go with the DMT325 in all honesty. It's a better all-around lapping solution. I mean you could use the 1200 for lapping, it would just take a while. Fortunately the Zulu comes lapped beautifully so you shouldn't have to worry about lapping it for quite a while.

 

[BJJ]

I don't know if you want to pick up the norton 4/8k by itself to make a cheaper purchase, but if you don't want to spend too much I would go for the Norton kit + 12k barbers hone at whipeddog.com, so if you mess up something in your edge you have the other stones, plus... a cheap vintage shave ready blade is also a good idea to be the first razor to put in the hone as long as you have a nice razor and you might wanna work on the stones with no fear.

my first razor I mess up the spine...I got so much trouble setting the bevel that i forgat to tape to protect the spine since i was spending so much time in the 1k and learning the strokes, but not a big deal...it was a 25 dollars vintage...after some frustration learning honing finally i'm learning... but you might not mess and make it quicker (or slower).


regards

 

[brianrush50]

a cheap vintage shave ready blade is also a good idea to be the first razor to put in the hone as long as you have a nice razor and you might wanna work on the stones with no fear.

I've purchased a cosmetically flawed, yet razor sharp razor from Larry at Whipped Dog for $28 in preparation for learning to hone.

 

[Wid]

If I were just starting out I would either go with a pasted strop or lapping films to maintain a razor.

 

[brianrush50]

If I were just starting out I would either go with a pasted strop or lapping films to maintain a razor.

Thanks, Rick. Any particulars on the reasoning? In terms of cost, it certainly does not have the barrier to entry like coticules, etc, so that is a main one.

 

[Wid]

They each just do the job. Use a pasted strop to keep up the edge and after the strop stops working use the film to bring it back. It's inexpensive and fairly easy to do.

 

[rickboone1]

If I were just starting out I would either go with a pasted strop or lapping films to maintain a razor.

This. Heck, I probably have a strip of 1 um film I could send you if you wanted it. When your razor starts to tug, do a few strokes on the 8k portion of your 4/8 hone. Then, put the film on top of your hone and do a few strokes on it. Strop it. Good to go!

Now I have to see what this Zulu Grey is all about.

 

[Gamma]

If I was starting out I'd get a Coticule bout and a linen hanger to put crox on.
Then I'd shop for a small Thuringian finisher.