A bit overwhelmed by honing gear

Here's the deal, I've used straights off and on, mostly off for over 25 years. the first one I got when I was 16 at an antiques mall, and my grandfather honed it up for me with the stuff he used for his woodcarving tools and did a marvelous job getting it so it would easily pass the falling hair test.

Fast forward to recent years I got a Wade and Butcher in like new condition form a flea market and had a friend who is a barber hone it up for me. She didn't actually do that great a job, it was still a tad dull for my tastes, but I managed to finish it on a cork paddle with green rouge, and now it's great. I don't use the straight much, because it's just too time consuming, and I can't really do my head with it because I lack the feel for blade angle to safely do the back of my head. As that's like 70% of my shave I don't use straights much. So my wade and Butcher is set for now, but my barber friend moved to Tennessee, & I just got a lot of 5 straights and a DE off craigslist for $25 plus shipping, thinking I would clean them up and likely resell most of them. More than making them pretty though I want to try and get them all to a shaveable edge, and I don't know of anyone locally who can do that for me, So I'm thinking I should learn to do it for myself, but when I look at the array of honing tools people talk about on here I get overwhelmed.

I'm hoping someone can lay it out for me what's the minimum hardware I need to refurbish a razor. I have a DMT 3 piece set with small diamond stones in medium, fine and extra fine which I use for my kitchen and pocket knives. I know it's nowhere near fine enough for a razor blade, and I have a cork paddle with green rouge, and an old horse hide strop. I figure minimum I need at least one razor hone, but what type am I looking for? This is where I get overwhelmed with the wealth of info on this and other shaving sites.

If you're looking for a one stone hone, and you already have a series of DMTs for bevel work and stuff, I would suggest a coti with slurry stone.

Munxcub said:

If you're looking for a one stone hone, and you already have a series of DMTs for bevel work and stuff, I would suggest a coti with slurry stone.

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This is the DMT Kit i have. would these be appropriate for bevel work? I'm thinking for most blades I wouldn't even want to touch them with the blue coarse stone unless there were some major nicks.

I have a DMT600/1200 combo, I don't know where that fits in with their designation of fine, extra fine, etc... but it's green and red. Can't remember which side is which. I use the coarser side for chips, the finer side for bevels, and then the coti from there to final finishing. So far so good. Took about 2 weeks for me to figure the coti out, but if you've got honing experience already (I had none) you should be fine.

Munxcub said:

I have a DMT600/1200 combo, I don't know where that fits in with their designation of fine, extra fine, etc... but it's green and red. Can't remember which side is which. I use the coarser side for chips, the finer side for bevels, and then the coti from there to final finishing. So far so good. Took about 2 weeks for me to figure the coti out, but if you've got honing experience already (I had none) you should be fine.

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The green and red are fine and extra fine in my kit. If I added the white and/or tan would that be adequate for finishing a razor? the stones in the kit are small to fit in the handle for the aligner kit. I think I would prefer a larger one to lay on the table for razors.

You could add those, look around for posts about finishing on the DMT8k. There was one recently. I'm still not convinced that it would be enough to get the razors to a smooth finish. Sharp for sure, but comfortable for shaving I can't say.

Perhaps getting some pasted strops for after the 8k there, some 1 micron paste and maybe some CrOx to finish it up with.

Munxcub said:

You could add those, look around for posts about finishing on the DMT8k. There was one recently. I'm still not convinced that it would be enough to get the razors to a smooth finish. Sharp for sure, but comfortable for shaving I can't say.

Perhaps getting some pasted strops for after the 8k there, some 1 micron paste and maybe some CrOx to finish it up with.

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I think the cork paddle with green rouge polishes up the edge very nicely. that's what was missing from my barber friend's hone job.

mattface said:

I think the cork paddle with green rouge polishes up the edge very nicely. that's what was missing from my barber friend's hone job.

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Green is probably CrOx.

why do you want to torture yourself and flatten your wallet? Forget about all that crap and get yourself a Feather straight razor. Scary sharp blades and no investment in honing crap. No brainer.

winston61 said:

why do you want to torture yourself and flatten your wallet? Forget about all that crap and get yourself a Feather straight razor. Scary sharp blades and no investment in honing crap. No brainer.

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6 of 1 really... initial investment in a stone and a blade and you're done... disposable blades = ongoing costs.

winston61 said:

why do you want to torture yourself and flatten your wallet? Forget about all that crap and get yourself a Feather straight razor. Scary sharp blades and no investment in honing crap. No brainer.

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I do most of my actual shaving with a DE, but I appreciate the elegant simplicity and scary efficiency of an old straight blade, and I enjoy the process of refurbishing and sharpening razors.

If you're looking to resell them why bother with honing, sell as is.

If you must you could add a cheap finishing stone (while using the DMT) like the C12K to see how well you can bring up an edge.

mattface said:

The green and red are fine and extra fine in my kit. If I added the white and/or tan would that be adequate for finishing a razor? the stones in the kit are small to fit in the handle for the aligner kit. I think I would prefer a larger one to lay on the table for razors.

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You probably need something as a finisher beyond the 8K. An inexpensive way out would be to get a 4000/8000 combo and a Chinese 12K and you're good to go.

I agree with Wid, pick which ones you're going to sell and just clean 'em up, don't bother with honing. The ones you're going to keep you should send off to one of the many honemeisters, unless you're set on doing it yourself.

The set of small DMTs you have will work for bevel setting, but you'll really have to watch and test carefully to make sure the bevel is thoroughly established and consistent down the length of the blade. If you're going to hone more than a couple blades, you'll want a regular size bevel setter in addition to an 8k-range hone.

The DMT D8EE is $71 from Crafstman Studio... I got mine from there and have been fairly happy with it. It's kind of hard to read when you've maxed out sharpness on it or if you've overhoned (not much feedback). The DMT 8k creates a sharp edge if your bevel is set well, but you will need to use the green pasted strop afterwards to make the edge smooth and comfortable.

For the same price, you can get a coticule bout and slurry stone. There's a ton of info from other coti users on how to get the best results from your stone, and the stone itself provides great feedback to tell you where you are in the honing process. A coti is also great for maintenance- after you set a few bevels on those tiny DMTs you will want something easier, and a coti will both set a bevel and finish the edge. A proper coti edge will not require a pasted strop to be smooth and sharp, and you can also do touchups after a few shaves on the coti instead of/in addition to the pasted strop to keep the bevel in good shape. CrOx on a strop tends to round the bevel out after a while.

If you're finishing with green CrOx paste on a strop, there's a lot of options in the 8k range (Nortons, DMTs, Naniwas, Shaptons, coticules, etc.) and all of them will give you a good edge. Still, if you're only doing a couple, and you're not a full-time straight user, it makes more sense to me to just send them off.

http://thesuperiorshave.com/Coticules.html
You know you want one. You have everything else already.

Phil