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What stones?

I'm going to invest in stones. I have a razor I need to set the edge and I want to finish with a nice, smooth, sharp edge. What grits should I buy? Are the Shapton stones as bad as Norton stones for beveling and glazing? Thanks for all your feedback.
 
The Shapton Ha No Kuromako (Japanese version of the Shapton pro series) have served me well. I have the 2k through 30k, though nowadays I really only use the 2k and maybe the 5k and 8k, then switch to a natural finisher. How far up I go with the synthetics depends on what natural I’m going to finish on.

The Naniwa Professional stones also nice and seem to be well liked. I have the 1k-5k and then the Naniwa Superstone 8k and 12k. That being said I don’t like them quite as much as the Shaptons as they seem a bit slower and begin to dish more quickly, but the Naniwas are a bit more forgiving in my experience.
 
Just one razor? Probably should get a set of films 1micron to 25micron and a piece of glass. If you're planning on buying and honing razors on a regular basis for several years, then a set of stones makes sense.
 
A set of films and an acrylic block is the way to go. After that you can pour the money you saved into a few Atoma diamond lapping plates and good quality natural finisher for the ultimate edge. You can totally shave of the 1 micron film but the natural edge is way better.

The film has a lot of advantages. You get a lot of progression steps for your money. The small grit steps, always flat surface and large runway make honing easy to learn as a beginner. It’s a cheap way to start with no compromise in edge quality. It’s a bit of messing around to use so there is some trade off in convenience but once you have a good edge and a finisher you won’t ever need to go back to the films. It’s a fool proof progression. I still go back to it whenever I get stuck.

If your heart is set in stones, the Shapton glass stones are great. My suggestion is to save your money for the stones you will use most often.

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Just one razor? Probably should get a set of films 1micron to 25micron and a piece of glass. If you're planning on buying and honing razors on a regular basis for several years, then a set of stones makes sense.
I have never heard of films to hone a razor. I'm going to look into these.
 
A set of films and an acrylic block is the way to go. After that you can pour the money you saved into a few Atoma diamond lapping plates and good quality natural finisher for the ultimate edge. You can totally shave of the 1 micron film but the natural edge is way better.

The film has a lot of advantages. You get a lot of progression steps for your money. The small grit steps, always flat surface and large runway make honing easy to learn as a beginner. It’s a cheap way to start with no compromise in edge quality. It’s a bit of messing around to use so there is some trade off in convenience but once you have a good edge and a finisher you won’t ever need to go back to the films. It’s a fool proof progression. I still go back to it whenever I get stuck.

If your heart is set in stones, the Shapton glass stones are great. My suggestion is to save your money for the stones you will use most often.

View attachment 1208690
I have never heard of these. What do I search for and what "grits" do I need to hone my razor shave ready?
 

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
@IronJohn, I am also a user of lapping film. A set of sheets (7) from 25um to 1um costs me about USD 12 and is good for about 20 to 30 SR's. I have only got 42 SR's so I am now into my second set of sheets.

I initially set a blade's bevel on synthetic whetstones and then move onto the lapping film progression. From lapping film, I finish my edges on diamond pasted balsa strops (0.5um, 0.25um & 0.1um). With proper post shave edge maintenance using a 0.1um (about 200k grit) pasted balsa strop, my SR's never need to touch a whetstone or lapping film again.
 
I only have a couple or razors and I'm definitely going with the lapping film. I have some good barber hones to keep the edge after I get it set. Can I set the bevel with lapping film?
 
Just one razor? Probably should get a set of films 1micron to 25micron and a piece of glass. If you're planning on buying and honing razors on a regular basis for several years, then a set of stones makes sense.
I really appreciate the advice I have received. I hate two razors I want to get shave ready and this sounds like best way to go. Thanks for the advice.
 

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
I only have a couple or razors and I'm definitely going with the lapping film. I have some good barber hones to keep the edge after I get it set. Can I set the bevel with lapping film?
Yes you can set the bevel with lapping film but if you have more than a small few bevels to set, it can start to become expensive. That is why I soon moved onto synthetic whetstones to do most of the heavy lifting in my bevel sets.
 
I bought lapping film and I am pleased with the result. It was easy and much cheaper than purchasing stones. Thanks a lot for the advice everybody.
 
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