Thread: What is the best use of my money?

You could skip the Norton and buy a barber hone from ebay to maintain your razors. There are many tried and true brands, hopefully Lynns video discussing barber hones is still around here somewhere if you wish to search. The biggest thing is to get one that is not cracked, pitted or broken.

Originally Posted by nun2sharp

You could skip the Norton and buy a barber hone from ebay to maintain your razors. There are many tried and true brands, hopefully Lynns video discussing barber hones is still around here somewhere if you wish to search.

Here is a picture of my barber hone.


The picture is not the best, but it says ALOXITE The Carborundum Co Niagra Falls USA on it. It measures 2" x 5". I thought I found a thread about them somewhere in the hones forum, and if I am not mistaken (which I may be) I think it said something about them being about 8K grit. So are you suggesting that since I have the barbers hone I don't need the 8K side of the Norton? I do have the World of Straight Razor DVD and Lynn does have a section on that about Barber hones and how to use them, but my daughter was distracting me when I was trying to watch it. I don't think that he addressed the grit on these stones...

Yes, if you've got a barber's hone you don't need the 8k. However, you need to use the barber's hone pretty promptly when you feel the blade start to tug, and you don't need nearly as many honing passes on it as you do with the Norton. Barber's hones cut very fast because they have a higher ratio of grit to filler than conventional hones. Five laps (that's five passes for each side of your blade), then strop and try the shave again.

Nice looking strop. Seems to be a very very good price...

It's a very nice strop I have had a couple of star shavings strops and have enjoyed them very much.

Wow, that is a nice-looking strop and very well priced!

Does anyone have any experience with the Giesen & Forsthoff razors they sell at that site? They're not on either of our naughty or nice lists.

Yeah, I gotta watch Lynn's honing section again also - then again, the piece of mind of having them sent out and done up professionally are worth quite a bit, considering the cost and heartache of jacking up your own razors! I just had my 28th birthday a couple days ago, so I think I'm gettin a new brush, some new soaps, and maybe a new strop also! Fortunately my girlfriend picked up a 4/8k Norton hone and a couple razors for my birthday!

Originally Posted by roughkype

Does anyone have any experience with the Giesen & Forsthoff razors they sell at that site? They're not on either of our naughty or nice lists.

From what I've heard, the new G&F razors aren't nearly as good as the old ones. They seen to fall into the same category as the Gold Dollars in that they are pretty decent steel with some grind quality issues.

You could send it all to me, then you will have about 3,000 miles between you and your money. Now that is quite a good few miles for your money. hehehe

Ok, my Norton 4K/8K is on its way!