My first razor hone was a coticule. I didn't agree with that stone very often, I could never get a good edge off of it. It actually pushed me to DE and I used those for a while. My fascination with straight razors continued however, and I pulled the trigger on a piece of shobudani with a three stone mikawa progression and finishing on a tomo. I loved that stone, I loved that progressjon, and I loved the edges. Somehow they also kept getting sharper and that sold me on jnats.
What stone(s) did you learn honing on
- Thread starter RobbyC
- Start date
Learned to hone on the good ol Norton 4k/8k. After that had some bad luck with a random coticule before getting the awesome brick in my profile picture. Getting better with Jnats and I have a translucent that gives me a great edge, coticule is still my favorite though
I learned on an oil-stone Arkansas progression, preceded by a fine or smoothed medium India as needed. Word at the time was that any stray lick could destroy all that went before. That didn't bother me. What I liked in them was that they acted slowly, so any stray wear that was being introduced could be noted and compensated for. Once I had this down, I switched to a more aggressive, water-based progression: fine DMT > Suehiro 1k/3k combo > generic coticule > AJ's Welsh purple slate.
Shapton 1.5 Kuromaku
my bevel setter.
camo
my bevel setter.
camo
Growing up my mom split our time between, just outside of Ft Benning Ga., and on Lake Hamilton, outside of Hot Springs Ar.
My dad was a infantry officer, which accounted for our time in GA.
My moms parents owned a resort, with cabins, restaurant, and a small marina on Lake Hamilton since the mid 1940s. Another great place to hangout if not creating mischief in good old South Columbus Ga.
In Georgia our neighborhood was surrounded by a few thousand acres of woods, backed up to the Chattahoochee River. All my friends were also military brats, and if we weren’t making mischief in the neighborhood, we were camping somewhere in the woods.
I bought these stones when my dad was doing his third tour in Vietnam.
The Carborundum first, At the PX in Fort Benning Georgia, the Long Ark second, at a gift store just off Lake Hamilton. Arks where a dime a dozen at the local stores.
I’ve been toting these two around for about 48 years.
My dad was a infantry officer, which accounted for our time in GA.
My moms parents owned a resort, with cabins, restaurant, and a small marina on Lake Hamilton since the mid 1940s. Another great place to hangout if not creating mischief in good old South Columbus Ga.
In Georgia our neighborhood was surrounded by a few thousand acres of woods, backed up to the Chattahoochee River. All my friends were also military brats, and if we weren’t making mischief in the neighborhood, we were camping somewhere in the woods.
I bought these stones when my dad was doing his third tour in Vietnam.
The Carborundum first, At the PX in Fort Benning Georgia, the Long Ark second, at a gift store just off Lake Hamilton. Arks where a dime a dozen at the local stores.
I’ve been toting these two around for about 48 years.
I started out years ago learning from other users right here on B&B. I transitioned from synthetics (Naniwas) and eventually got hooked on all JNS honing. I still use a Naniwa 1000 for bevel setting on tougher applications. But, I am very fond of my Wakasa Lv.5 for all my honing needs. I can normally achieve a bevel with Botan Naguras and then simply take my time through the progressions. I have to admit that I have a little collection of finishers that I failed to label, so that sometimes becomes a hot or miss adventure. I do have a small chip that a dear friend sent to me years ago that seems to create a very nice buttery smooth edge for me. My memory fails me as to what the source of that little gem is ....
To be honest, I'm down to only 3 straights now after years and years of collecting. I did have probably 12-15 straights in my collection at one time. I refurbished a few using purchased scales and even crafted my own scales once. Now in retirement, my workshop is gone and have simply settled on honing for myself. With three blades now, that doesn't happen as often and I might even consider farming those out if they ever need a touch up.
My 3 remaining and favorite razors are my vintage #72 1/2 Friodur 6/8, Thiers Issard 5/8 and my most favorite LeGrelot 5/8 Hospital. The LeGrelot was my last restoration. She was in very rough shape and of course with the reputation for having extremely hard to hone edges, that razor was a challenge to finish but well worth the effort on my part.
To be honest, I'm down to only 3 straights now after years and years of collecting. I did have probably 12-15 straights in my collection at one time. I refurbished a few using purchased scales and even crafted my own scales once. Now in retirement, my workshop is gone and have simply settled on honing for myself. With three blades now, that doesn't happen as often and I might even consider farming those out if they ever need a touch up.
My 3 remaining and favorite razors are my vintage #72 1/2 Friodur 6/8, Thiers Issard 5/8 and my most favorite LeGrelot 5/8 Hospital. The LeGrelot was my last restoration. She was in very rough shape and of course with the reputation for having extremely hard to hone edges, that razor was a challenge to finish but well worth the effort on my part.
Started out in 2008 with 4K/8k . Then I got into coticules. Since then I got to like Naniwas superstone.
A lot of changes over the years but I still like my Naniwas .
Naturals I use j Nat Escher and a coticule
Love the Escher but I have to say the j Nat is working extremely well .
A lot of changes over the years but I still like my Naniwas .
Naturals I use j Nat Escher and a coticule
Love the Escher but I have to say the j Nat is working extremely well .
S
Scrubby
Bought a Naniwa 12k to touch up the edge on my straights - never looked back.
Slash McCoy
I freehand dog rockets
I started with carbo, India, and arkies. the same stones I used for my pocketknives, and then bought a huge piece of quartz-ish novaculite looking stone at a hardware store in Matamoros I suppose about equivenalt to a translucent Arkie or possibly a hair harder. I had no mentor and Al Gore had not invented the internet yet. And I was starting with a twisty warpy Dovo "Best Quality" with the factory "edge". It was a rough beginning and it literally took me years to start getting good shaves. My face was a mess for a long time but I was too hardheaded to give in and go back to the Black Beauty Gillette Super Adjustable. It called to me, promising a good honest shave, and I resisted the siren call and kept torturing stone, razor, and face until things started getting a little better with a vintage razor I picked up in a junk shop, what we now call an antique store or curio shop. That one cooperated with me. Within a few months of that purchase I was getting shaves about as good as the Gillette with random drugstore DE blade in it.
Washita/ semi translucent white smith's hard ark/ norton translucent slip stone/ flesh side,chrome tanned leather gun belt/ smooth side veg tanned Hermann Oak leather gun belt. I still use this progression for edges that just won't seem to get sharp on anything else, this includes knives/ tools/ razors.
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King 800-
Norton 4/8k-
PHIG
Norton 4/8k-
PHIG
I kinda got lucky with my first two, both combis; Norton SiC Coarse/Fine, and Cerax 1k/3k*. They're still the two things I most consistently recommend to people.
Other stones I now also particularly like, or use a lot; Indias, SG500, King 800, King 1200, Washitas, Turkish/Cretan, Coticules, Idwals, and some jnats for polishing. And since this is actually a shaving forum, and people probably aren't interested in my random thoughts about knife stones... Thuris and Arks for razors.
* If anybody is interested in a kitchen knife stone - this is insanely good. The Ouka (Cerax 3k) is extraordinary: A Paean to the Cerax / Ouka 3k - https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/threads/a-paean-to-the-cerax-ouka-3k.54440/
Other stones I now also particularly like, or use a lot; Indias, SG500, King 800, King 1200, Washitas, Turkish/Cretan, Coticules, Idwals, and some jnats for polishing. And since this is actually a shaving forum, and people probably aren't interested in my random thoughts about knife stones... Thuris and Arks for razors.
* If anybody is interested in a kitchen knife stone - this is insanely good. The Ouka (Cerax 3k) is extraordinary: A Paean to the Cerax / Ouka 3k - https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/threads/a-paean-to-the-cerax-ouka-3k.54440/
I started with a 3M lapping film progression and diamond pasted balsa aka. The Method. Thanks to the detailed instructions posted by @Slash McCoy, I was getting excellent results on the second try. After supercharging the edge on my ‘shave ready’ Ralf Aust my SR technique came together pretty quickly.
I stuck with this system for about a year until the lure of natural finishers became too much to resist. I slowly built up a small collection of Arks, Thuris, Cotis and Jnats. These stones had more of a learning curve and required the purchase of a few Atoma diamond lapping plates. They delivered some really comfortable shaves though. I got hooked on naturals pretty quickly. Later on I added a Shapton Glass progression to my honing kit.
I still use my Method setup on razors with challenging geometry. It’s easy to use and forgiving to slight warps and bends. I certainly haven’t found anything sharper.
I stuck with this system for about a year until the lure of natural finishers became too much to resist. I slowly built up a small collection of Arks, Thuris, Cotis and Jnats. These stones had more of a learning curve and required the purchase of a few Atoma diamond lapping plates. They delivered some really comfortable shaves though. I got hooked on naturals pretty quickly. Later on I added a Shapton Glass progression to my honing kit.
I still use my Method setup on razors with challenging geometry. It’s easy to use and forgiving to slight warps and bends. I certainly haven’t found anything sharper.
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After reading a bunch on a few forums, i started (back in 2014)with a Naniwa 1k Chosera (still my bevel setter), with a superstone combo stone 3K/10K after that i got a superstone 5K to bridge to the 10K.
After a while I got into Jnats (got 6 of them now) also got a coticule i dont use much.
My typical synth progression now is:
Naniwa chosera1K
Naniwa Proffesional 3K
Naniwa Gouken Hajibusha 4K
Naniwa Gouken Fuji 8K
sometimes the Naniwa superstone 10K
Useally though i go from the 4 or 8K to one of my Jnats.
For my Kitchen knives I also got a Naniwa chosera 400 and use the backside of my 1 and 3K
After a while I got into Jnats (got 6 of them now) also got a coticule i dont use much.
My typical synth progression now is:
Naniwa chosera1K
Naniwa Proffesional 3K
Naniwa Gouken Hajibusha 4K
Naniwa Gouken Fuji 8K
sometimes the Naniwa superstone 10K
Useally though i go from the 4 or 8K to one of my Jnats.
For my Kitchen knives I also got a Naniwa chosera 400 and use the backside of my 1 and 3K
Nice. It doesn't get much better than the Hayabusa & Fuji in combination. Where did you hear about them, do you remember?
I first learned to hone on my coticules.
They are tricky to learn but imo still the most economical route. I regret I bought so many before I bought this les latneuses that came in yesterday. I had a small 20mm x 30mm rubber stone that I could actually finish a razor on but it was more work than it's worth with all the other stones around here. On the 100x40mm that came in yesterday, the back is like if a thuri, coticule, and hard arkansas had a child somehow. The front is the fastest coticule I've seen. A light slurry turns medium shade of grey with like 3 or 4 laps, but it's also very fine. I think I could finish on the top side alone though coticules don't ever feel sharp enough to me. I fixed the geometry on it almost entirely, I started with a washita though, that's what it took to get the bevel completely reset and have it shaving any arm hair. I spent a total of about 15 minutes(took out a small chip too) between both sides and it will silently hht the very tips of my long leg hair. I put it on a charnwood afterwards but it was wholly unnecessary. What I was getting at though is if you started on one of these it might be tricky to learn at first but imo is a true one stone hone from beginning to end and probably the most economical way unless you can find a really old washita/ black ark combo stone for cheap. I was really impressed with this stone both in speed, fineness, and ease of use. Far easier to use than my others. After buying it I think I'll be able to sell a couple.
rbscebu
Girls call me Makaluod
I learnt on lapping film. Once I had that working properly, I purchased some Chinese synthetic whetstones that I now use for bevel setting before moving on to lapping film and finishing on diamond pasted balsa strops.
The Chinese synthesis (400, 1k, & 3k) were relatively cheap. They do the job well, however they do require a fair amount of attention to keep flat. That is no biggie for me as I am now bevel-setting less than a dozen SR's per year.
The Chinese synthesis (400, 1k, & 3k) were relatively cheap. They do the job well, however they do require a fair amount of attention to keep flat. That is no biggie for me as I am now bevel-setting less than a dozen SR's per year.
I used what are probably a similar affair to your stones recently. I was certainly struck by how soft they were for things that seemed to be vitrified (?). And also how the grit ratings appeared to be almost completely arbitrary, as though they had just been spat out by a random number generator and then printed on the side. Are yours like that too?
I can imagine they’d work perfectly fine for SR bevel-setting before moving on to something else. Trying to do a full knife progression on them was possible, but a little challenging:
No-Name-Amazon-Stones Review
I think everyone here can probably guess that 'Cheap Misc. Amazon Combi' stones are not something that you should be rushing out to buy and slot in to your progression among the Naniwas and Suehiros. And though we may have friends or family who've added to the untold fortune of the regrettable...
www.kitchenknifeforums.com
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I actually had an easier time learning on the coticule then on my previous attempt learning on synthetics. It was rather simple for me. Now my edges at first weren't as good as they were later on after I had experimented and refined my coticule honing technique/approach but they got better and I was able to deduce what to add or eliminate into my technique/approach to improve the edges I was getting. The most recent being honing without slurry, water only.
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