Hello, friends.
[tl;dr - I have a bunch of honing stuff, and I'm wondering if any of it is useful for a beginner and, if not, what equipment I should get to start out.]
For a variety of reasons I stepped away from being a "wet shaving enthusiast" for a few years, including this site (which represents one of the most open and kind-hearted communities I've ever been a part of). I was going through some boxes this weekend and came across my shaving gear, and have decided to start using a straight razor again.
Before I stepped away, I had started down the path of honing. My box had a bunch of honing paraphernalia, but after going thru the box and (re)reading some of the intro material on this site about honing, I'm trying to figure out what the heck I was thinking. As far as I can tell, I spent a bunch of money but don't actually have the basics I need to hone. I was hoping you guys could help me assess what I have and what I actually need.
Here's what I have:
1 belgian coticule and two of what I think are slurry stones for the coticule.
1 Naniwa SS1000 stone with what I assume is the corresponding lapping stone.
2 "Dia-Sharp" plates, one "Fine" and one "Extra Fine", that look like they've seen better days.
1 maroon stone stamped "FRANZ SWATY Marburg, Austria", which IIRC is meant for daily touch-ups.
1 bottle of Dupont Diamond Slurry.
Does this set of tools make any sense? It's possible there was more stuff that got lost when we moved, because I can't find my strop anywhere.
I assume the dia-sharp plates are meant to flatten the hone. Is that right? Not sure why I have two different grits, or if these are even in good enough shape to use.
What I don't see is a hone suitable for creating the initial bevel. If the Naniwa grit is 1000, that's way too course, right? From what I gather, I should have a Norton 4K/8K or something similar for bevel and polishing.
The coticule I can use for finishing but--especially as small as this one is--doesn't seem the best choice for a beginner like me. Pasted paddle strop seems to be the most recommended for beginners.
And, of course, no strop (although I did have one at one time).
It seems I was planning to recondition some fairly damaged razors by creating an initial bevel with a very course stone and then jumping straight to the finishing/polishing stage. What was I thinking?
To get back into the game, I think I need to get:
1. a good beveling (is that a word?) stone. Norton 4000/8000 seems to be the Toyota Camry of that category. Any reason to get something different?
2. a 4-sided pasted paddle strop (again, any reason to get something different for starting out?)
3. a strop (I had an Heirloom, and will probably get another, but first I want to get a cheaper strop that I can slice up) and
4. possibly something to flatten the hone.
Does that sound right? And I'd like to support B&B-affiliated vendors, so pls let me know if there's a B&B-friendly place to go for any of this equipment.
Thanks guys, and its good to be back.
[tl;dr - I have a bunch of honing stuff, and I'm wondering if any of it is useful for a beginner and, if not, what equipment I should get to start out.]
For a variety of reasons I stepped away from being a "wet shaving enthusiast" for a few years, including this site (which represents one of the most open and kind-hearted communities I've ever been a part of). I was going through some boxes this weekend and came across my shaving gear, and have decided to start using a straight razor again.
Before I stepped away, I had started down the path of honing. My box had a bunch of honing paraphernalia, but after going thru the box and (re)reading some of the intro material on this site about honing, I'm trying to figure out what the heck I was thinking. As far as I can tell, I spent a bunch of money but don't actually have the basics I need to hone. I was hoping you guys could help me assess what I have and what I actually need.
Here's what I have:
1 belgian coticule and two of what I think are slurry stones for the coticule.
1 Naniwa SS1000 stone with what I assume is the corresponding lapping stone.
2 "Dia-Sharp" plates, one "Fine" and one "Extra Fine", that look like they've seen better days.
1 maroon stone stamped "FRANZ SWATY Marburg, Austria", which IIRC is meant for daily touch-ups.
1 bottle of Dupont Diamond Slurry.
Does this set of tools make any sense? It's possible there was more stuff that got lost when we moved, because I can't find my strop anywhere.
I assume the dia-sharp plates are meant to flatten the hone. Is that right? Not sure why I have two different grits, or if these are even in good enough shape to use.
What I don't see is a hone suitable for creating the initial bevel. If the Naniwa grit is 1000, that's way too course, right? From what I gather, I should have a Norton 4K/8K or something similar for bevel and polishing.
The coticule I can use for finishing but--especially as small as this one is--doesn't seem the best choice for a beginner like me. Pasted paddle strop seems to be the most recommended for beginners.
And, of course, no strop (although I did have one at one time).
It seems I was planning to recondition some fairly damaged razors by creating an initial bevel with a very course stone and then jumping straight to the finishing/polishing stage. What was I thinking?
To get back into the game, I think I need to get:
1. a good beveling (is that a word?) stone. Norton 4000/8000 seems to be the Toyota Camry of that category. Any reason to get something different?
2. a 4-sided pasted paddle strop (again, any reason to get something different for starting out?)
3. a strop (I had an Heirloom, and will probably get another, but first I want to get a cheaper strop that I can slice up) and
4. possibly something to flatten the hone.
Does that sound right? And I'd like to support B&B-affiliated vendors, so pls let me know if there's a B&B-friendly place to go for any of this equipment.
Thanks guys, and its good to be back.