Hello TSD One or two of my straights might need a little edge refreshment in the foreseeable future. As @gssixgun mentioned in this thread a Naniwa SS 12000 would do the job nicely and would also be a good place for a noob to start practicing honing techniques. On the other hand many people recommend pasted strops for the job - be it chromium oxide or diamond paste. I guess this would also be the more cost-efficient way of doing it, because I could build such a paste-strop myself from wood and felt for just a few Euros (the 12k Naniwa alone costs about 80 €). Now I wonder ... should I start with a finishing stone and buy the 6000, 3000 and 1000, later? Or try the very cost-effective version with pasted strops and maybe a 1000/6000 combination stone? Please bear in mind that I don't want to get into razor restoration, I just want to maintain the edge on a few straight razors now and maybe sharpen a handful from the ground up later.
For maintenance the Naniwa SS 12,000 and pasted strops should keep you going for a long long time. I use a pasted strop after 2 or 3 shaves then after a couple of touch up on the strops I will use the 12k stone followed with the pasted strop. The pasted strops just polish the edge while the stone will remove some metal. I find the edge rough if I shave right after the stone with out a pasted strop.
Thank you for the info! What kind of paste do you use? I read that some prefer the green/red paste, others use diamond spray
I like the Dovo red/black paste that looks like square crayons and I also like CrOx and FeO3(I think that is what you mean by red and green paste). They both perform similar to me. I tried the Dovo in red and green tubes and diamond pastes but my edges felt a little harsher. Some times I just use CrOx. I could continue maintenance with just the 12k stone and either Dovo red/back paste or CrOx. Part of the fun of straights is trying to customise the edge, but that is the 'hobby' part.
Rasurpur carries CrOx and FeO3 pastes, Gifts and Care carries the Dovo Red/black as well as CrOx. Both are in Europe and I am sure other vendors carry it to. I think instead of Dovo it is Herrold Soligen on the Gifts and Care sight. I am sure other vendors carry it as well.
If you only have a couple of razors, or if your razors have all already been professionally honed, there is no real reason to have anything more than a pasted strop and or a 12K hone. The other hones are used for heavy lifting. In order to do that you need a set. The cost of a set of hones is equal to many many professional honings. So if you think you will do edge restoration, you should get them, if you think you want to do refresh work then you do not need anything more than a pasted strop or a 12K. You can refresh for a long time before having to send a blade out. A little often seems to be the way some people have managed to go years with out sending a blade out.
I would say it depends if you plan on ever honing a razor from bevel set up through a finished edge. However, if you do this long enough you will probably end up getting all of the stones AND strops
Sure - I could make a two-sided strop (or even a four-sided one), try different pastes/sprays and see what works best. At the moment I have 3 straights I shave with and which have been honed by guys who knew what they were doing So I think (hope) they won't need any serious work soon. The reason I ask for your opinion here is that some people seem to favor pasted strops, some say "stones only" - so I was curious whether this is it an "either/or" decision or an "as well as". Yeah - I'm afraid you're right
Can you find a Barber's Hone for a reasonable price ??? For many years this was actually the recommendation given, but with the stupidity of those prices getting near the cost of the Naniwa SS 12k which is quite a bit more versatile it seems rather irresponsible to not recommend that hone... Pastes work fine, but they lack the ability to remove the tiny nicks that regular shaving puts into the edge they will smooth those out for some good time but sooner or later you will need to have a Hone .. I really should do a video of a complete honing on just the Naniwa 12k,,, Yes it is possible I think I have one using just an 8k on my channel IIRC
I don't think so ... and honestly I wouldn't know what type of Barber's hone I should buy I guess you don't mean these Okay, so I guess I will "start cheap" with a pasted strop and buy a Naniwa 12k later. Seems to be a clear consensus about this stone being the most versatile finisher. I like that I think of myself as a pretty good improviser as well (some might call me a bungler )
Okay - I wanted to order some stuff at Gifts&Care anyways, so I just added the red/black paste. Let's see how it works.
Starting with a Pasted Balsa is one of the "Least expensive" ways to try things out.. It works rather well as a re-fresher
One more (possibly dumb) question concerning the Strop paste. Since there's no descrition whatsoever: I suppose the black paste is the finest grit?
Just wanted to say thank you for the recommendation. I used the red and black paste on a two-sided paddle strop yesterday. Just a few strokes with my Gold Dollar on each side, after that the usual stropping routine on blank leather ... I had a very nice and smooth shave
