Wich hone to buy?

[bala nemate]

Hi All,

I'm discovering world of straight and stuck in one big problem - honing. There is no hone-masters near me, so I have to hone on my own.
Now I have chinese 12K stone, but it is way to smooth to begin honing - i think I need rougher stone for start, then move to C12K.
What could you recommend as cheap (realetively) stone? Norton 4K/8K or something else?
Oh, and it should be popular stone - I found 2 or 3 Nortons on ebay and they all are in N.America - I live in Europe and shipping costs almost as much as stone it self ;(
br
bala nemate

 

[crankymoose]

the options for honing unfortunately are limitless so many ways to go, but for you to save on shipping you may want to check out http://www.ardennes-coticule.com/index.asp?intro they are located in Belgium and have several different types of hones and grits to choose from

 

[Chimensch]

The coticules/Belgian blue and very versatile stones. There are also a lot of people that like the Naniwa and Shapton hones on this German site (in English, too).

 

[LessLemming]

In Europa you have a variety of possibilities for good hones!
I don´t know where exactly in europe you live, but I live in Germany and give you some of my resources

first: http://www.dick.biz

(yeah I know, it´s called "dick"
actually even in german this means "fat" but I guess it´s a name though...)

there you can get a lot of common stones,
including the expensive but very good shapton (glas) stones.
I can reccomend ther Cerax Super 1k/3k hone from dick.
It costs around 40€ but is of high quality.
This would make a good entry.
But you would need another high grit stone to jup on the 12k.
I would reccomend the Naniwa SS 8k.
Its one of the best polishers and will give you an edge that is already sharp enough
to be pasted and stropped.

Anouther source as mentioned would be
http://www.fine-tools.com/scharf.htm

That´s a great shop, too.
There you will find the expensive but good Shapton (pro) stones
and all kinds of Naniwa Superstones.
There you could grab a King 1k/6k for 25€
It´s not a high quality stone but one that does the job.
But you would still need a stone to fit in between 6k and 12k.

Alternately you could go for the new Naniwa Kombistones.
They´re a fairly good deal.
You could go for the 3k/8k for around 80€
and stock up with a good starting hone around 1.000
and would end up with a very highly polished edge, ready for either pasting
or Chinese.
You could also go for the 800/5000 (70€) SS Kombi.
This would be a little mor experimentative.
You would have a starter (800) and a fine hone (5000).
You could jump from SS 5k to Chinese 12k using a fine grit sandpaper
to slurry the C12k and using it with water afterwards,
using 150-200 strokes.
This might be possible

Considering the fact you want to go cheap
(germans say: if you buy too cheap, you will buy twice)
you could go for the least expensive 25€ King 1k/6k
and grab some 3 or 2µm diamond paste,
paste after the King 6k and go on to the chinese 12k.
This will work

 

[bala nemate]

thanks guys a lot !

 

[English]

I have used both of the German suppliers using the internet and can second the recommendation.

Incidentally, 1000 grit wet and dry sandpaper will set a great bevel. If you are going to just look after your own razors, you won't need to visit 1000 grit too often and so the paper route is cost effective. If you intend to persue a hobby and fix old razors, then the 1000 Cerax is probably the best choice.

I have the 800/5000 Naniwa superhone and it does a good job but it is a very soft stone.
You can also purchase the blue coticule direct from the Belgian mine. The prices for this 4000+ grit hone is very good.
http://uk.ardennes-coticule.com/index.asp?id=395
The 1000 cerax and blue coticule is probably a better choice.

When you scratch the surface in Europe, you will find that you can obtain everything you need and usually of the highest quality available in the world. We just don't shout about it very well. You only need to look at where the best straight shaving gear is coming from initially. On prices, European prices will always be 15 to 20% higher than say the USA because of VAT. But if you import from the USA, in theory, you have to pay the VAT plus collection fees and quite high postal charges, especially for heavy items like hones.

 

[LessLemming]

The Cerax 1k - BBB (blue belgian "brocken" <- Stone) kombination could work.
But considering that the blue belgian is a quite gentle stone
with multy-gon (nearly round) particles it can be quite hard to smoothen the scratches out of a 1k bevel.
You can see that under the microscope.
The yellow one has more of these sharpening particles,
making him more efficiant.

But nonetheless, the blue belgian is quite a versatile stone.
If your razor never gets actually dull and you won&#180;t have to struggle with nicks and chips
the blue belgian is everything you need.
Slurried he can cut (slowly) and watered he will finish
if chromium oxide is used afterwards.
You can get this stone from here (maybe there are other sources as well in EU)
http://www.belgischer-brocken.com/

in very different sizes, from 25&#8364; to 60&#8364;

But I can tell, the Naniwa S-Stones are top notch.
They seem very soft and smoot in feel (wich I love)
but actually will not have to be lapped often.
I lapped my SS&#180;s only once in the last 1 1/2 years.