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Can you sharpen a straight solely with a barber hone?

I've been curious to find out if you can bring a straight to a shaving edge with just a barber hone, if so, is there any barber hone that can actually do this?
 
They all can. Some will take a few hours. Some will take a few weeks.


Realistically? No. Even double sided barber hones are usually 4-6k on the rough side. Beveling on that grit is certainly possible, but not fast enough to be reasonable.
 
I saw a guy sharpen his straight on youtube and it only took 4-5 passes using a barbers hone. Granted his straight must have been shave ready and he would therefore only be doing a touch up to keep the edge keen. I use my Chinese 12K for touch ups and then back to my leather strop. A Chinese 12K water stone is pretty much a barbers hone just a bit finer.
 
yes you can.

if it is completely dull, it would take about a year, if it is already sharp, it will take about 5 mins
 
To set the bevel, you really need a 1000 grit stone or perhaps lower. You then need perhaps a 4000 grit and an 8000 grit stone (you can get these in a single double sided stone). The only stone you can really do everything is a coticule but you need to really know what you're doing to use one to it's full potential. Honemeister all have a number of stones so they can progressively move up making a great edge. I'm a basic, self use honer and I've got a 400, 1000, 5000, 8000, 12000 and balsa strop.
 
I have used a barbers hone to maintain an edge that was professionally honed. One you notice the dullness take it to the barbers hone. Did that with like 7 passes and it was back to like before.
 
I bought a new Dovo in 1981. It was not shave ready but five passes on a Swaty "three line" barbers hone fixed the problem. I maintained that razor for 28 years using just that barbers hone, so it is entirely possible. This year, a member of the Italian forum brought me a Dovo with a noticeable chip in it from hitting the metal handle of a loom strop. I was able to take out the chip using a Norton 4K with slurry. It took me about an hour. If you're a honemeister sharpening 20 razors a day, you need a faster hone to do something like that but, for occasional problems, a 4K is perfectly adequate.
 
This is all great help, thanks guys! so then what's a good basic honing setup that will cost less than $200 for someone who will only hone his own blades?
 
I heard I could start with a 12k Chinese Polishing stone and that would be all I need, is that true?
 
I heard I could start with a 12k Chinese Polishing stone and that would be all I need, is that true?

Yes. It's even slower than a barber hone though if you want to remove nicks - the Chinese 12k/Peoples Hone of Indeterminate Grit is one of the slowest hones out there. If the razor merely needs a touch-up then the PHIG will get it done in 10-15 mins. If it needs bevel work then it may take many hours (or a year or so).

Just about every other hone we discuss around here "can" be used as your only hone - it just might not be very good at some tasks. If you want a do-it-all hone that isn't aggravating to use then you really want a combination hone. It's really impossible for one hone to be good at removing nicks and putting on a nice-shaving edge.

The Norton 4k/8k combination hone is probably the canonical do-it-all hone. It was the hone that most of the "mid-timers" (> 4 yrs experience) on this forum learned on, back before the Shaptons and Naniwas became readily available. The 4k side will take most nicks out in under an hour, which isn't as fast as a 1k but a heck of a lot faster than a C12k or barber hone, and you aren't likely to need to do this very often after your first year anyway. The 8k side will produce a nice-shaving edge if you do your part (and will produce a really outstanding edge if you follow it up with a bit of stropping on newspaper), and will touch up an edge in only 5-10 laps.
 
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99% of barbers going back two centuries liked coticules.

If you want the simplest fastest setup. I like DMT C, EF, EE and a Coticule. But the DMTs just speed up the lower grit work a little.
 
If I was you, I'd buy a 1k stone, a Norton combo 4k/8k and a Chinese 12k.

Those 4 grits (in 3 stones) will mean you can set a bevel (1k), do minor touch ups (12k) and anything in between. You can also hone a blunt razor from scratch by going up the progression.
 
This is all great advice thanks, but for example, if I over hone, a 12k can reset the bevel?

A china 12k won't set a bevel in your lifetime. I have no idea what people mean when they talk about "overhoning". I've never encountered any issue with ruining a bevel by spending too much time on a stone. The closest thing I've found is a wire edge cause by overuse of an extremely high grit hone, but we're talking over 30k here. Not something you'd need to worry about unless you get into jnats (or possibly some high end synths?) most likely. And that is a damn site far from ruining a bevel. The worst I've seen bumped me back to an aggressive 2 or 3k shave. But I'd assume it varies with the razor.
 
My Chinese 12k hone does a good job of polishing the blade. I don't think it makes the blade a great deal sharper but it makes it cut better if that makes sense. Certainly worth having one but you're never going to sharpen an edge on it. That's why you really need something like an 8k.
 
Thanks :D, honing is so confusing.... so if I hone 220/1000k to 4000/8000k to 12k there is no chance of getting a wire edge?
 
Thanks :D, honing is so confusing.... so if I hone 220/1000k to 4000/8000k to 12k there is no chance of getting a wire edge?

What's a wire edge? I don't think you'll need the 220 that often. Something that low is really good if you need to get rid of a chip though.
 
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