Hone time?

So, today is my birthday. I was waiting to see if my mom could find the coticule we had at her old house. No dice.

I would like to expand my razor selection (maybe) and I am getting near needing a hone for my razor (I think.).

Stropping on the pasted side of my strop (.5 micron diamond paste per the packaging) gets me a better edge, but it's starting to pull at hairs.
I usually follow that up with about 100 (each way) laps in the smooth side.

Is there a good source for hones at not too much cost? Also, if I go for a coticule, is it as much of a pain as I imagine to have a 2" coticule and 4" razor?

thanks, Happy shaves
William

BST is a great source for hones, though they are not as common as other shaving items. Vendors are also a good place to look. If you think or know what you want, you could post a WTB ad in the BST.

Happy B-Day!

All my stones are narrow and I actually think it's a big advantage. A narrow stone forces you to do an X-stroke and this means that, if the razor is slightly warped or has a smiling edge, you don't even have to think about it because it gets honed correctly automatically. This is why every vintage hone I've every seen (and all barber hones) are narrow.

Also, you can hold a narrow hone in your hand and this makes it very easy and natural to control the pressure of contact between the stone and the razor.

Warped/smiling blades and the pressure of the honing stroke are the two biggest problems that new honers have.

That said, The Perfect Edge has a 6" x 1" coticule for $60.00 and a 6" x 2" coticule for $80.00, neither of which are that unreasonable considering the versatility of the coticule.

Congratulations on taking the, IMHO, proper move of learning to maintain your own razors. I actually agree that a 2" stone is excellent, if not perfect, for honing razors. Even when using larger stones, I still utilize the X stroke, but a narrower stone seems much easier for me (especially when dealing with a blade with "issues")

For example, I honed a razor made from scratch that had some grind/bevel issues. These issues caused the 3" stone to be more difficult to use, so I switched to my narrower coticule, used a modified version of the Unicot method, and had it shaving superbly within 25 minutes (tops). That was after the gentlemen that owned it had "given up" on the viability of his little pride and joy as a shaver... Smiling, warped, or unevenly ground razors are very especially well suited for narrower stones.

Now, that's not to say that you can't handle razors with "issues" on wider stones because you certainly can. It's just a matter of learning/mastering varying techniques and knowing when each technique is appropriate.

Enjoy the journey. It is a frustrating and satisfying one.

richmondesi said:

That was after the gentlemen that owned it had "given up" on the viability of his little pride and joy as a shaver...

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You can say what you want about "giving up" but that was a pain the butt to hone even for you

JRichmond said:

You can say what you want about "giving up" but that was a pain the butt to hone even for you

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indeed

richmondesi said:

It is a frustrating and satisfying one.

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Oh yes.