This page was created from Joel's Interactive Guide to Straight Razor Shaving and can be discussed in this thread[1]. The alternate summary is courtesy of Gamma and the original post can be found here [2].

This is the first question that you should ask and it really depends on the individual. You need to ask yourself the following

• What's your budget?
• Are you going to be restoring a lot of razors, or are you looking for a basic setup for maintaining a few straight razors for personal use?
• Do you want the best of the best?
• Do you prefer natural products for a more traditional approach?
• Do you prefer high tech abrasives?

While there is no fail safe hone combination to/for every new (or experienced) straight razor shaver, the basic principle is the same: varying grits of abrasion to establish, then polish (to a microscopic mirror finish) in stages. What this means, is you should have at least a means of establishing an initial bevel, or edge on a razor. Now, even if you only plan on having one straight razor your entire life, and further are going to purchase it pre-honed or send it off to be professionally honed, you still need/want a hone capable of establishing an initial bevel/edge. Why? Simple! If you happened to inadvertently tap the cutting edge of your razor onto the faucet (or any other hard object), drop your razor, your kids get a hold of it and use it to cut a bunch of paper, or whatever the event may be, you'll still have to shave--and ideally with your new best friend and prized possession--your straight razor. Trying to establish the edge when you only have say a finishing hone isn't practical, as (depending on the stone, if it is even possible) it could literally take 5+ hours of honing to get a shaving sharp edge or remove a nick from the edge, or it could days, when with the right array of hones, it may only take a matter of minutes, or up to an hour. Having a reasonable array of grits available is not just handy, but essential.

So, at the VERY least, what do you need? At the very least, you're going to need something around 4000 grit to establish an initial bevel/edge, and 8000 grit to polish the microscopic scratch marks away, left from the 4000 grit. For knives, and most purposes, 4000 grit is considered pretty fine, so with straight razors, we are dealing with incredibly fine grits. The Norton 4000/8000 combination stone is the most widely used, and recommended straight razor hone, as it can both establish an edge and polish the edge to a point which provides a comfortable shave. This is about the bare minimum but it doesn't mean it will be the only option. You could, for instance, instead get a 4000 grit Blue Belgian hone, and a 8000 grit yellow Belgian hone (also known as Belgian Coticules) or medium and fine Spyderco_Hones, and so on and so forth--there are a lot of options. Due to its size, price and the quality, for most the Norton 4/8K is the hone of choice.

The easiest way to find what you like without buying any stones is to have the straight razor honed by a Honemeister. Try a few Honmeisters, chances are, not two of them will hone with the same set of stones. If you like the finish of the razor, ask what was used in order to know if you like a natural or artificial hone.

This gets a little trickier, as it really depends on your budget, options available to you at the time of purchase, etc. A place to start would be to get a Norton 4/8K, then another "finishing hone." Basically a finishing hone is a hone that will further polish the edge after having been honed on the 8K side of the Norton, which will provide an even finer, more polished, and sharper edge, which equates to a closer, more comfortable shave. What complicates matters with finishing hones however, is they tend to be quite personalized. Some love an abrasive pasted paddle strop, others a Belgian Yellow Coticule, and so on and so forth. If you are looking at a pasted paddle strop, a 4 sided paddle strop, with abrasive diamond pastes in 3 micron, 1 micron, .5 micron, and .25 micron would be ideal. It gives you even MORE options (grit wise) and is the least expensive option. Diamond pasted strops are much easier to use than a hone, and even inexperienced straight razor users get superlative results with diamond pasted paddle strops.

Think of it like this.... Let's say you want to replicate a $66 4 sided pasted strop with 3 micron, 1 micron, .5 micron, .25 micron diamond pastes with Shapton hones....

Using the least expensive route, here's what you'd need....

• $50 4000 Grit (3.68 Micron) Shapton Glass Stone
• $100 16,000 Grit (.92 Micron) Shapton Glass Stone
• $280 30,000 Girt (.48 Micron) Shapton Glass Stone

You're up to $430, and guess what? You still won't have as micro-fine an edge as you would with the $66 Paddle, as the .25 micron diamond paste equates to basically a 60,000 grit hone!

Note: This is a cut'n'paste of Gamma's excellent post (see footnote-2)

I think most people who work whatever system they choose will be able to find their happy place with it.
A lot of the honage broohaha, IMO, has to do with the grass seeming greener on the other side of the fence.

Also my opinion, I believe that many people give up on this/that stone/system because they interface better with one or another better.
I personally enjoy edges from a few different systems, Cotis, Thuris, Jnats, etc. I usually use Jnats because, most of the time, I prefer working with their idiosyncrasies more than I do with other hones.

For stones -

I firmly believe that a Thuri is the stupid-easiest hone to use and they'll keep edges going indefinitely, barring accidents. Shaveability off them is wonderful. Keen and smooth - lovely edges come off Thuris.

Cotis are great - love them. Takes more learning than a Thuri but has more honing latitude. They work wonderfully, once you learn them. Shaveability here is also great - Thuris might hold an edge over the Coti edge for me quite often, but it's stone dependent - my Les Lat hybrids kick serious Thuri butt. Regardless - I've not had a Coti I can't shave well off of.

Jnats can cost more, or not. Depends on the stone, hype from the Magi selling it, the buzz from the flavor of the month crowd, and who put what stamp on it. Jnats are my favorite type of stone, but they're not the only hones I use. Not every Jnat serves the purpose of touching up or finishing as well as another one - so there's that to deal with. A lot of what is/is not a finisher is subjective though. Learning Jnats can be somewhat involved - and a fair bit of testing might be called for. For me - the best edges come off the more difficult-to-use stones. I think edges off soft stones are, generally, very Coti like so I'll use a Coti for that type of thing. I've found that the stupid-sharp edges are only really possible on the hardest stones. I've had very little issue using hones that hard, but not everyone feels the same way. Even so, if all else is equal, I'd choose/recommend a harder stone over a softer one 99.99% of the time.
(Edit - hardness is not the only factor here, just because the stone is hard does not mean it's a winner. There's too much to get into on this topic here - so I just referenced things loosely. There are plenty of very hard stones that are, essentially - useless - out there, so before shifting into LV 5+++ mode, it's best to check the lay of the land first.)

Arks - killer hones. Slow - not too expensive, take some work to condition just right. Easy enough to use. The best ones for finishing do not have the latitude the previous choices might have. At the same time - a properly edged razor off an Ark is a brilliant shaving tool and, IMO, (nearly) impossible to equal or beat.

Welsh slates - cheap options, the purple one was the best of the lot for me.

Naniwa 12k (or similar) - takes a bit of mastering but it'll do fine as a touch up hone. Limited in scope, not too pricey, and probably best used in conjunction with an 8k before it. I plan on gluing an 8k to a 12k at some point, then I'll cut it down to size and I'll have a nice modern two sided b-hone that can do, basically, anything I need a hone like that to do. Shavability off the 12k, when done correctly, is good. I'm not a synth finishing kind of guy most of the time, but the fact is that I can shave pretty well off that stone when the ground work was done correctly and the finish was applied correctly.

Barber hones - a Frictionite 00 will do the trick, and a few others also - but they're way too expensive IMO. A reg b-hone might suit ones tastes too, but there's a good bit ot trial/error and effort in this option.

Truthfully - a Cromox pasted strop will cost about 10 bucks and it'll keep an edge going a reeeeeaaaaalllly long time. I started there. Kept me going while learning and using that approach helped me learn a lot about honing and edges. Personally - I prefer the white TI paste over the Chromox, costs a few dollars more. Someone sent me a sample of the black Dovo paste and while it's good I think I prefer the white TI stuff but it's pretty good and also better than Chromox for me.

Someone could test a few edges from a few different people to see what they like or don't like. The main issue I have with that is that there is no guarantee that you will ever get the same edge of of xyz stone that someone else did.

See - I've tried some Jnat edges, and if I thought those razors were truly representative of that Jnats could do - I might not be interested. With hones - I find that it is mostly about what the owner/user of the hone can do with it. Coti edges run the gamut, mellow to brisk and sharp as hell. Same for Jnats. Thuris are more consistent but the user's talents still weigh in heavily. If someone wants to hone, I think the only way to know what's what is by trying different stones. The good news is that there's little risk - most hones sell for about what they cost so there's usually not too much investment-loss. I see it the same way as renting a lens before I buy it - costs a few bucks but at least I get to see what it'll do first hand. Each Coti/Thuri/Jnat/etc is going to be a little different, but I still see the process being very similar.

Pick one, buy it, use it, learn how to use it better each time you use it.
You'll probably surprise yourself after a few go-arounds. There is nothing like having one, and only one, hone to help someone learn how to hone with that one hone proficiently.

1. ^http://www.badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=28539
2. ^http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/439553-Honing-advise?p=7005523#post7005523