Advice request - Want to make sure I don't make a mistake

I've been shaving with a Straight for about a month now.

So I've read all the posts regarding hones. I really one to get one. I'm a total newbie, but I just can't get it out of my head. My main razor needs a touch up and I don't really want to send it out, I want to do it myself. I have recently won a W&B that I'm going to send for new scales, a minor clean up and a hone. That's the reason I want to get a hone for my other razor as it will become my back up or second in my rotation depending on how good it gets.

From the advice I've read I should start with a finishing hone, seeing as I'm a newb. I have the two set of Dovo pastes, red and black for touch ups and it's not getting there any more. I understand this may be the 1D 10T error, but I still want to go to a hone for a starter. Anyways, My question is this, I think I should start with a Chinese Water stone:
http://www.fendrihan.com/chinese-natural-sharpening-water-stone-12000-grit-p-515.html

Would that be better than trying to pickup a barber hone? Most of the barber hones that I've seen going on Ebay right now are ending up almost the same price range anyway so it's not an issue with saving money. The impression I get from the information I've read so far is that it would be better as this would be finer than a barber hone.

Any advice would be gladly appreciated. Please correct me if I'm misunderstanding some of this. Thank you!!

I've posted this over at SRP as well if some people think they're seeing double. LOL

I have that stone and I like it, although I also find I like almost any stone once I've spent time understanding it.

Some tell me this hone is very slow so I would take that advice in as well. I find that 30 passes is not unusual for finishing, for me.

Others say they may use 100. Now that would be really slow.

It is not the best hone on the planet, but for the price point it could be one of the better values.

I find the slow honing warning to be, of course, worth while because buyers should know what they're getting, but I put a shaving edge on my Dovo the other day with the 12K, and I just don't find 100 passes on a hone to be very many. If I'm going to take the time to get my hone out and get everything wet, I'd almost rather spend a few minutes honing, rather than 30 laps and I'm done without feeling like I had the pleasure of honing... That's just me though.

This is the hone I also want to get for finishing for these reasons that I have picked up on the boards.

1. Joel's glowing review and endorsement of this stone.

2. Very hard so it shouldn't need constant lapping.

3. Slow cutting so making mistakes should be difficult.

Joel called it "an absolute steal".

Its cheap and it works. For the $$ the results are impressive for a brand new item.

However, the thing takes forever to lap and forever to get a good edge on. So if your time rich & money poor and don't mind doing the same thing for 10x as long as a more expensive stone, then this stone is for you. I'll never buy it though. I also hear the finish isn't as good as the Shapton 16k or Nani 12k.

If you want to speed up the Chinese hone (btw, it ain't a 12k), all you have to do is to use a slurry stone. The only person I only know who is selling them at this time is Rich (username Zib) at SRP. The rubbing stone accomplishes two things, it refreshes the edge and it creates a slurry to speed up cutting. Just like with a coticule you initially use the Chinese hone with slurry and then for final polish you just progressively dilute the slurry until it's just water.

Wish there was a way to thank people on here like SRP. I appreciate all the comments. It may be just the ones who are commenting, but it seems that most people commenting on this thread at SRP are suggesting I go for a barber hone instead of the Chinese stone. They feel that I should be able to get a Barber hone for less, but every time I try on the bay they come out as expensive or more. I may be just looking at a bad time. Have to do some more looking....although looking ends in buying.....and SWMBO has banned me from any more purchases until the end of the month. LOL

Utopian said:

If you want to speed up the Chinese hone (btw, it ain't a 12k), all you have to do is to use a slurry stone. The only person I only know who is selling them at this time is Rich (username Zib) at SRP. The rubbing stone accomplishes two things, it refreshes the edge and it creates a slurry to speed up cutting. Just like with a coticule you initially use the Chinese hone with slurry and then for final polish you just progressively dilute the slurry until it's just water.

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I may end up going this way. Sounds good and I did read another post regarding the slurry stone. Not sure if it was here or SRP. I'm spending more and more time on SRP so maybe over there. Thanks!

Utopian said:

(btw, it ain't a 12k

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What would you say it is then?

I found the hone to be painfully slooooooooow. It was my first hone and it cut so slowly, I couldn't tell if it was improving the edge or not! (So I sold it. In retrospect, a Filly wasn't the best razor to start with.) In addition to using a slurry stone to speed things up, you can also use a small dmt hone to create the slurry. My advice, then, would be for you to use the TPT every 40-50 laps to see if you can discern an improvement.

professorchaos said:

I found the hone to be painfully slooooooooow. It was my first hone and it cut so slowly, I couldn't tell if it was improving the edge or not! (So I sold it. In retrospect, a Filly wasn't the best razor to start with.) In addition to using a slurry stone to speed things up, you can also use a small dmt hone to create the slurry. My advice, then, would be for you to use the TPT every 40-50 laps to see if you can discern an improvement.

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It is a slow stone. When I started honing, I kept under-honing when I hit the C12k because after around 30 laps, I figured I had to be done already. In actuality, I wasn't.

I have found anywhere from 50-100 laps to be the sweet spot for the HCS razors I have honed (I have not owned anything stainless, so I can't speak for those blades). I guess if the razor was particularly fussy, 150 laps might be in order.

I've gotten some wacky results though if I go too far. The blade will still shave smoothly, but it is no longer aggressive enough to catch arm hair for mid stalk carnage. Again, though, there is little adverse effect on performance.

I got a C12k because that was all I could afford. I'm staying with it because it's all I can afford. I don't care that it's slow, and I don't feel all that deprived, because it gives me some awesome results.

You can get some buttery smooth shaving edges with one after you learn how to make it do it's magic, and you can get good shaving edges with it straight out of the gate. Plus if you don't like it you can always sell it.