My RAD is drawing me to HAD. I picked up this Manhattan Cutlery Co. while traveling far from home. Tonight I polished it up, going from 320 grit through 400, 600, 1200, 1500, to 2000. I might even give it a rub with Mothers just for good measure. Mostly I'm happy so far. But my honing supplies are sorely inadequate. I have a double sided stone of indeterminate grit suitable for kitchen knives. I've treated it like a DMT. Very coarse for my attempts at setting a bevel. Then a piece of 2000 grit wet or dry paper on a piece of glass to knock down the deep striations left from the previous stone. I have read this may be equivalent to a 1000 grit stone. My only next step is a Barber's hone. A Cattaraugus from an antique store. While a B-hone may be acceptable as a quick touch up, it's not adequate for the huge step from my very coarse to my fairly fine stone. Without spending Big Bucks on a dozen different ones, would anyone care to share opinions on a starter set of stones? Can I get by with a three piece set of coarse, medium, and fine? This is going to get out of control when I need a DMT to flatten waterstones? How many grades of DMT will I need? This rabbit hole is not only deep, it's wide and full of hungry vendors that I can't afford to feed.
I know nothing about honing, so I can't help you with the stones. But you sure did a fine job cleaning and polishing the razor - looks good
Nice job on the restoration of a lovely-shaped razor! Re: Honing - Have you ever honed a straight razor before? Just curious what your experience has been. For newcomers, I highly recommend getting the initial razor professionally honed by an experienced honer (such as Glen at Gemstarcustoms.com) so one has a true 'benchmark' on what a solid honed edge feels like. 1000 grit stone will adequately set a bevel and even allow for arm hair cutting, but won't provide a cozy, smooth shave. Generally speaking, you'll need to refine the edge up to at least 4k to 8k to achieve a comfortable shaving experience. This is one of the reasons the Norton 4k/8k is so popular. Naniwa 1k/3k is another reasonably priced option.
Yeah man, that is looking awesome. Ditto at what @HolyRollah said about honing. Give it to a honemeister, Glen is my go to honemeister when I'm playing with str8s, so you can see what "good" looks like and set your baseline. Then you can go from there. Watch youtube videos on honing while you are getting your blade in need of honing after the pro honing, then give it hell. This 4-6 months will also give you time to source your hones and practice on a cheap blade (not inexpensive, cheap).
Although there seems to be some dissension about his service, my first shave ready straight is a Whipped Dog from Larry. I've used his poor mans strop to maintain. Since catching the RAD, I have successfully touched up a couple vintage straights using my B-hone & strop. That Manhattan wedge is a whole 'nother critter. Since I got it cheap I thought to give it a try on what I own. It will shave arm hair but I'm not going to try it on my face yet. I'm at the threshold of honing. I've read enough to understand that I don't know enough. Norton 4k/8k is a familiar phrase, even got several bookmarks for shopping. Naniwa 1k/3k would be a JNAT, as in Japaneses Natural? Guess you answered my long winded rambling question. Those two options are where I need to pay attention. I'll read lots more, watch many more videos, and do the cost/benefit analysis on Sending one out VS. Buying my own starter set of hones. Thank you @HolyRollah & @battle.munky !
I just started playing with rocks and sharp things last year. I have shaved with five different razors I have taken from bevel set to done. One of them is even comfortable to shave with. I don't have a full set of stones, so do a lot of work with slurries. Naniwa is a synthetic stone, that seems to be a little higher regarded than the Nortons. I have a Naniwa 1k for bevel set, but all my other stones are naturals. Naniwa is a spray and go stone, that doesn't need to be soaked. I use wet dry sand paper on a granite slab to lap my stones. (And it takes forever.) One thing to keep in mind, natural stones don't have a grit rating, and grit ratings between brands are not matched. I also agree as you are learning to send a razor out to be honed. I pull my razors out that were done by Kevin and Mike to use as benchmarks against my work. I have three razors at Glenn's shop right now. Here's the way I think of it: Its possible to shave with a razor that isn't honed the way it should be. If you don't have one that is honed right, you won't realize that.
Here is my plan that I have held to ever since I started str8 shaving that I have yet to enact because I haven't had the time or inclination match up to do it yet. Here goes: Get a few cheap str8s that I don't mind messing up while I learn get Nortons because they are cheap enough and I've heard they are great to learn on worry about better stones when I can get a usable edge off the Nortons keep a honemeister honed str8 close by so I can compare Never having honed before, I figured I would mention that fact. Everything I've thrown out for ideas is what I've researched when determining whether I want to go all str8s. I'm not ready to dedicate myself to it, so until I am I'm holding off. Disclaimer done.
I got into this after purchasing a RSO, and checking with a local shop about honing. Lots of lurking, many questions, and I had a lengthy email discussion with Larry at WD for my first shave ready. Since then I've shopped antique stores & flea markets. Early on i did buy a couple worn out over honed pieces of junk. Since then I've limited my purchases to restore-able vintage pieces. I have everything to pin, and being a woodworker for thirty years scales are just another project. My new skill set to learn is honing. Like many other skills and with the power if the interwebs I foresee no problems. Just another thing to practice until I can do an acceptable job. My current frustration is the cost of purchasing that first set of stones, and learning enough to not get the wrong gear. I'd like to be self sufficient and clean shaved when the zombie apocalypse happens.
I have found a stone available from a local merchant. The brand name is King. Not knowing the language, I'll check in the Kanji thread at SRP for a translation. The size is impressive at 7-1/4" X 2-1/2" X 1". It seems clear that it's a 1000 & 6000 grit. While it's not a Norton 4k/8k, nor a Naniwa 1k/3k, it does sort of fall in that group. Is that too far a step to go from 1k to 6k? The shop is asking $60.00 for this particular stone. I don't have the "extra" cash to make dumb purchases. Is this an inbetweener to would compliment the Norton 4k/8k? Would experienced Honers find this an acceptable stone for a novice?
Not yet. I have specific knowledge of many subjects, but gaps in others. Too many things to learn to be a Renaissance Man these days.
