The Key

[Rosseforp]

Wow, I finally made it through this entire thread. I became a disciple of Seraphim and Slash. All I wanted was a decent shave so I blindly and without thought or rational behavior took their instructions literally and you know what? It worked. No magic involved. No secret knowledge passed down from above and no waiting behind a bull for the MOJO to flow. Just follow the directions. RTFM!

Wow, I just stumbled across this thread while trying to figure out if I needed to get a better bevel setting stone.
All I have now is a few cheap hardware combo stones, and a crappy Sharp Pebble 1000/400, and the 400 side doesn't cut.
I have been having reasonable success honing a few Geneva's, they both easily pass the HHT and also shave nicely, but not great.
But the few GD and Zertone's I have tried my hand at, I have failed miserably. Two of them cracked on me just as I was wiping them off, thinking I was done on the 4K Norton, and ready for the 8K side.

So I ordered a New Arrival GD for $19.99 and all it needed was 60 laps on diamond paste balsa, linen, strop and BAM~shave ready~

@Seraphim , thank you very much.
"Really, wail on that 1K until the edge cries "uncle!". Don't be shy."

I would now have to say that my problem is obvious and I am on my way to HF to pick up some cheap diamond plates while I decide what to replace my Sharp Pebble with.

Does anyone want to chime in on the merits of a 1k chosera stone over a DMT 600/1200, or for that matter I am open to any suggestions on a bevel setter.

Being a Newbie, of course I already have all the finishing stones I need.

~FACE SLAP~

prof

 

[buca3152]

Diamonds plates wear over time and lose grit. While stones remain the same until they are worn out or you drop them. I bought chosera a long time ago. And don't see a reason not.to.have one. But there are loads of choices.

 

[Rosseforp]

Diamonds plates wear over time and lose grit. While stones remain the same until they are worn out or you drop them. I bought chosera a long time ago. And don't see a reason not.to.have one. But there are loads of choices.

@buca3152 , that makes 1 vote for chosera.
Of course, then there are choices as to which chosera?
Suggestions?
prof

 

[buca3152]

The old.chosera line is now the new naniwa professional. Shaptons are very highly regarded as well. I've used several others that I don't find worth having. The Norton and the.king. both are imo slow and dish easily requiring more frequent lapping. I would however take a diamond plate over the.king and Norton. I also have a 300/1000 grit diamond plate that I use for knives that is cheap and is holding up as well. Check Amazon for price as it's been a while since I got that one.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

It depends what you intend to do. For rehab my Chosera 1K needed help from a Shapton (Japanese Pro) 320. I'm considering getting a Shapton Pro 120 (is that the lowest grit?). For just regular honing a 1K is usually fine. Bad chips are rehab as I see it.

Not that I'm any kind of authority.

 

[Namkcakram]

I run mostly DMTs or a few different naturals for coarse work, but my favorite synthetic stones I’ve owned are all different brands that fall under Imanishi.

I think for the prices on Amazon currently Shapton would be really tough to beat right now. The “grit” ratings or X scale doesn’t mesh perfectly with all other brands, but if you just make decisions off particle size and composition you’ll be making better informed choices anyways.

 

[Stapelfeld]

Loupes and scopes can be helpful, but the best thing to do is get a razor you really don't care about and have at it with the 1k stone.

REALLY set the bevel on that sucker, since that is the KEY to getting a great edge. The best edges don't come from having the 75,000 grit stone hewn from the Japanese Alps as a finisher. It comes from making sure the bevel is set correctly in the fist place (I measure that by being able to cleanly cleave arm hair 2-3mm above skin level) coming off the bevel setting hone (for me a DMT 1200).

If you are trying to hone your Dorko, or some other precious metal, you most likely will be too horrified to spend enough time on the low grit hones, removing the proper amount of metal to set the bevel. I think this is why many folks, myself included, get some great shavers out of the $20 EBay finds (or GDs for that matter), since there is not much to be lost, you can really wail on that thing on the bevel setting hone.

Once the bevel is set, sure, it's nice to then refine it up to the point that you are using the 98,000 grit Sukihara that will make a Zen master weep and write a haiku about the shave he just had with it. But the key is the low grit hones.....

I know this might be an older thread and I might not get any reply’s on this but everyone is talking about going down to a 1k to set the bevel but what about staying on a 4K or 5k and doing a slurry with a nagura to help with the sharpening process, do you think this will have similar results?

 

[Rosseforp]

I know this might be an older thread and I might not get any reply’s on this but everyone is talking about going down to a 1k to set the bevel but what about staying on a 4K or 5k and doing a slurry with a nagura to help with the sharpening process, do you think this will have similar results?

I normally use an 800 chosera to set my bevels, then either refine with a 2k, 4k, 8k, 12k or set the bevel with a coticule slurry, then straight to the 12k. Depends on the steel and what kind of edge I'm looking for.

~doug~

 

[Gamma]

There are a lot of ways to hone, a lot is personal preference.
And a lot depends on the condition of the bevel in question. If that bevel doesn't need a lot of work then using a stone finer than 1k might be fine. If all things are equal, using a finer stone will take longer, much longer, slurry or not.
So here, in my house, if the question is "do I want to do 700 laps on a 5k or 100 laps on the 1k", I'll be going with the 1k.
Guys used to set bevels on a 4k - the Norton 4k - the N4/8k was 'the' stone for honing. When people started using a 1k stone for bevel work a bunch of the old geezers crowed because they said it was too coarse. As far as I can tell, no one died and they all jumped ship and started using a 1k. Imagine that.

But using slurry 5k does not emulate using a 1k. If I have a fleabay special that hasn't seen a hone in 100 years, I'm grabbing the 1k or 1.5k.

 

[H Brad Boonshaft]

Depends…

On your honing skills, honing razors, and what the razor needs.

If you are new to honing and the razor is an eBay beater or a Chinese razor...

Tape the spine and give it a try. Note, Sheraphim honed a few razors.