Thread: Going hone

Greetings all,

I am about to order, from SRD, a NORTON 4000/8000 also the DMT 8-325 LAPPING STONE and the NANIWA 12000. Before I do though I'd like to get your input on this setup. Will these keep my new Straight Razors fine tuned for a good shave? Also my older razors retuned and sharpened for a good shave? Yes this will be my 1st attempt at honing.

I truely do appreciate your seasoned advice.

Best Regards,

ljhblues

This would be a great setup to start with and perfect before you advance into finishing stones. I would suggest searching on here for the JaNorton thread to start your research into this stone.
I would also suggest that you eventually look into a bevel setter at 1000 a little later as this would assist setting a bevel at a quicker pace. Its not needed initially though.

I think you will be very happy with your selections and that those will keep your current razors in great shaving condition.
As you become more involved you may want to add a naniwa 1000 in the event you will acquire some razors that need a bevel set on them. Enjoy and let us know how it all goes for you.

If your razors are new and already shave ready all you need is either a barber hone or a paddle strop with Chromium Oxide pasted balsa wood. But if you plan to buy used razors from auctions, flea markets, eBay, etc. and doing some restore work that hone setup should serve you very well plus you I might add a good 1k for bevel setting.

As far as learning to hone goes here are a couple of very good source for videos by two pros........
gssixgun videos | Watch gssixgun videos | gssixgun online videos | Download gssixgun videos | gssixgun live videos
http://straightrazorpalace.com/video...-coticule.html
You can also catch their videos on You Tube..........

Great setup. I have both the Norton 330/1k for setting a bevel and the 4k/8k along with a finishing stone, although you can set a bevel on the 4k, I did that last night. I love the Nortons although I have nothing else to compare them too. Everyone says thats about all you need. +100000000 on gssixguns videos, they have really helped me. I just started honing and am not quite there yet but getting damn close. Just takes practice Im finding out. In any case its a hell of a lot of fun. I have found several cheap but quality razors at antique shops and ebay to practice on.

That setup should serve you well.
I know you want to jump in with tuning up your new razors but as many of us have learned it is much safer to learn honing using razors that you do not value a great deal.
There are a lot of inexpensive old razors that have seen a lot of use and abuse that have the potential of being excellent training aids.