Minimal stone investment?

[albsat]

Guys,

Is this stone combo a wrong investment? It is Sun Tiger 1000/6000 grit and with a very affordable price.

Sun Tiger Combination Stone, Grit 1000/6000, 150 x 50 x 25 mm | Combination stones | Dictum

Sun Tiger Combination Stone, Grit 1000/6000, 150 x 50 x 25 mm | Combination stones | Dictum

www.dictum.com

 

[JPO]

Guys,

Is this stone combo a wrong investment? It is Sun Tiger 1000/6000 grit and with a very affordable price.

Sun Tiger Combination Stone, Grit 1000/6000, 150 x 50 x 25 mm | Combination stones | Dictum

Sun Tiger Combination Stone, Grit 1000/6000, 150 x 50 x 25 mm | Combination stones | Dictum

www.dictum.com

I would recommend spending a little more and get some stones that have a proven track record.
If you plan on using a pasted strop this might be enough for you.

Naniwa Combination Stone, Specialty Stone, Grit 1000/5000 | Combination stones | Dictum

Naniwa Combination Stone, Specialty Stone, Grit 1000/5000 from category Combination stones with 30-day right of return at Dictum

www.dictum.com

Naniwa also sells a 3/8 combo stone.

 

[Legion]

Guys,

Is this stone combo a wrong investment? It is Sun Tiger 1000/6000 grit and with a very affordable price.

Sun Tiger Combination Stone, Grit 1000/6000, 150 x 50 x 25 mm | Combination stones | Dictum

Sun Tiger Combination Stone, Grit 1000/6000, 150 x 50 x 25 mm | Combination stones | Dictum

www.dictum.com

Mmmmm… I would probably not. I started with a King as my bevel setter, which is similar to this, and it worked, but there are better stones available.

Would probably be a better knife than razor hone.

 

[sd_baker]

I am not having success with lapping films or balsa with my (former) shave ready cheap razors.

Seems like going from lapping film to stones is an XY problem. Maybe you should start a thread describing what you're doing with the films and what's working / not working.

Lapping film is easier to get an edge going assuming you have a decent progression of them and a proven flat surface.

 

[sbogill]

My idea of a minimum investment setup would be a King 1000/6000 combo stone and a naniwa s-1 super stone in 10000 or 12000. If you wanted to phase in the super stone later you could get the king 1000/6000 then go to a pasted strop and get the finishing stone at a later time. It’s not an ideal setup but it’s as you said a minimal investment setup. It would be workable. Then you would have as long as you wanted to keep adding to it.

 

[rhgg2]

I keep buying stones and I don't think I've reached the minimum yet.

 

[Captain Howdy]

Norton 4k/8k would work.

Coticule with a slurry stone would work.


I'd like to ask, though, what you mean by "not having success"? Are you simply unable to get the blade to treetop? Or are the shaves themselves not comfortable? I ask because I shaved with a shavette for years, then after trying to transition to traditional straights I ended up spending a lot of time and money on stones and different honemeisters because I wasn't getting comfortable shaves with any traditional straight razor because of multiple false assumptions on my part.

 

[Alum of Potash]

Guys,

Is this stone combo a wrong investment? It is Sun Tiger 1000/6000 grit and with a very affordable price.

Sun Tiger Combination Stone, Grit 1000/6000, 150 x 50 x 25 mm | Combination stones | Dictum

Sun Tiger Combination Stone, Grit 1000/6000, 150 x 50 x 25 mm | Combination stones | Dictum

www.dictum.com

Yes, that will get you headed in the direction, two caveats being that you will need to lap the 1000 side endlessly to keep up its fighting strength and that you will still need a finer stone like a coticule and perhaps a pasted strop to arrive at comfortable shaving. From my experience, a Suehiro/Cerax 1000/3000 is a far better option than the King combo, again followed by a coticule and either a pasted strop or a Welsh purple slate.

Again from my experience (in using smaller format hones), the 1000/3000 Suehiro combo at 130 mm x 40 mm 18.90 euros is doable for straight razors. Combined with a 125 mm x 40 mm selected coticule for 89.00 euros, you'll be in the ballpark. And if you want to take a chance on things there also is the standard coticule for 61.00 euros. (Just be sure to add a polite note stating that you intend to use it with straight razors so that they can try to select something in this range.)

 

[sbogill]

Yes, that will get you headed in the direction, two caveats being that you will need to lap the 1000 side endlessly to keep up its fighting strength and that you will still need a finer stone like a coticule and perhaps a pasted strop to arrive at comfortable shaving. From my experience, a Suehiro/Cerax 1000/3000 is a far better option than the King combo, again followed by a coticule and either a pasted strop or a Welsh purple slate.

Again from my experience (in using smaller format hones), the 1000/3000 Suehiro combo at 130 mm x 40 mm 18.90 euros is doable for straight razors. Combined with a 125 mm x 40 mm selected coticule for 89.00 euros, you'll be in the ballpark. And if you want to take a chance on things there also is the standard coticule for 61.00 euros. (Just be sure to add a polite note stating that you intend to use it with straight razors so that they can try to select something in this range.)

I wouldn’t call a suhiro 1/3 combo better than a king 1/6. I think the suhiro is really bad about loading up—that is if you are talking about the blue & yellow one. I hated that stone.

 

[Alum of Potash]

I wouldn’t call a suhiro 1/3 combo better than a king 1/6. I think the suhiro is really bad about loading up—that is if you are talking about the blue & yellow one. I hated that stone.

I think the Suehiro 1000/3000 combo is a great combo for straights. I've used it followed by a coticule and a Welsh purple slate arriving at great shaving edges with razors. As for loading up, I have found that it's important to keep rubbing the forefinger across the hone's surfaces as swarf starts to build. Actually, one can keep it going for a while that way, longer than with the King combos from my experience. And the 1k side cuts more rapidly than the King which peters out quickly. But, yes, the Suehiro combo is an old-school soaking synth, so it will load up and need to be lapped frequently. But for the price and the consistent result, I find it to be very good.

 

[sbogill]

I think the Suehiro 1000/3000 combo is a great combo for straights. I've used it followed by a coticule and a Welsh purple slate arriving at great shaving edges with razors. As for loading up, I have found that it's important to keep rubbing the forefinger across the hone's surfaces as swarf starts to build. Actually, one can keep it going for a while that way, longer than with the King combos from my experience. But, yes, it an old-school soaking synth, so it will load up and need to be lapped frequently. But for the price and the consistent result, I find it to be very good.

Fair enough. It did seem to cut well. I just didn’t like to have to keep rubbing it with a cleaning stone so much.

 

[albsat]

Friends,

What do you think of 1000/6000 Imanishi Bester? I rarely read comments here about this brand.

 

[psfred]

If the 1000 side is the typical Bester ceramic, it will be a great stone. Somewhat harder than a King and more wear resistant.

No experience with the 6k one, but it should be fine.

 

[BobYourUncle]

Unless you are restoring razors, just get a Naniwa 5K/10K and a good strop. Will last you a lifetime and handle most issues of maintenance.

 

[Stapelfeld]

Friends,

What do you think of 1000/6000 Imanishi Bester? I rarely read comments here about this brand.

I recommend either @Gamma progression or @lightfoot using shavettes until you have enough $ to buy good quality stones. I see you're interested in a combination stone so if you're thinking of going that route then I would suggest ignoring all those named brands that don't have a well known following for razors and using @Eshebert king 1/6k stones but like I said I still think you will get better edges either by waiting until you have more $ or going the way gamma said. Cheers