Hones, strops & not wasting money

I've held off on buying anything because I have no clue what I'm doing and hate to waste money. I've read a good bit, but I'm still left with too many options and want to narrow this down even further.

I know there is a level of risk and variabes when starting out, but I'm sure there is a fail safe behind all of this--along with a ton of opinions.

What I'm looking for a is a hone for maintaining an edge and a strop that is long and wide enough to keep me happy for many years of use.

What is a fail safe hone size & type for maintaining an edge?
What is a fail safe strop length, width & material?
Basically something that I would hold on to for many years without regret.
6"x2" blue/yellow combo coticule?
3"x24" horse hide & linen strop?
The idea here is to maintain and use what I have without spending hundreds of dollars. I don't plan on or want to restore razors, that's a job for the pros.

Thanks,
John

Sounds like what you are looking for is a reasonable cost strop, that is of good quality. I would suggest you take a look at StarShavingSupplies. He sells some very nice 2.5, and 3 inch strops (some of them are even latigo) for about $40-50 shipped.

I had a 3" wide version in the past, and was very satisfied with it.

Here is the link to his shop on Ebay:

http://myworld.ebay.com/starshavingsupplies/

Any strop of at least 2-1/2x17 stropping area. Latigo is good but I prefer shell(horsehide) and hones 150x40 or a little longer is good wider if your blades all have a straight bevel and no smile. Those dimensions will keep you content for a lifetime. You get any smaller and its a matter of preference to some but not most.

I would guess you might want a Latigo strop and a barber's hone.
Maybe add a Chrom-Ox balsa strop?
This setup shouldn't cost more than $100.00

I purchased a Coticule stone for finishing and I love it.
They do take a while to get the hang of, but if you're only doing a tune up like me, then it's a piece of cake.
I like the fact that I can go from dull to sharp if I need to.

As for a strop, I recommend Kangaroo leather in a 2.5" width.
I don't use linen or pastes, just kangaroo every day, then cow/roo when needed and finally the coti with water when the others won't cut it.

+1 Star Shaving. I have bought a couple of his Black Badger FS brushes and I am quite satisfied that I got the best possible bang for the buck.

I recommend 3" wide stone and 3" wide strop. You are unlikely to find a coti that wide and long, but a Chinese 12K will git 'er done. A 2" or 2-1/2" stone is perfectly acceptable but I do prefer the 3" stone and enough length for a good stroke.

Another option is a large paddle with paste, instead of a finishing stone. Or two paddles. Try 3u or 6u diamond on one side, 1u diamond on another, .25 on another side, and an unpasted side. Once the strop leather is well primed with diamond, it only needs a tiny dab every several stroppings. Or you might want the fourth paddle surface to be pasted with .5u CrOx and use your hanging strop for the unpasted strop.

A decent strop (Legion, TonyMiller, SRD Buffalo (my bro has this one...not me))

a coticule (set a bevel and maintain a finished edge).

A good deal doesn't mean cheap, necessarily.

$80-100 on a good strop, and $75 on a good stone...you'll be set forever...until you just *have* to have another one... ;-)

I knew I would get a lot of different opinions. LOL

It sounds like a small coticule would be a good choice. I'm a minimalist, so if I can have a single stone that's versatile than that's the way I want to go. That's why I was considering a 6"x2" blue/yellow combo coticule. It seems like a good investment.

The strop is another issue and comes down to paddle vs hanging and then all of the other variations. It's hard starting out, but very easy to spend a ton of cash once you get rolling. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so damn addictive. LOL

Thanks for the replies and the link.

Also, there are loom strops that look interesting.

+1 on the Star Shaving Big Daddy, I have one and love it. My only wish was that it had a linen back side to it instead of felt. However the felt is still good for applying pastes, even if is not much good for stropping.

The smaller Coti is a good one stone hone, not to mention very addicting to use. I prefer the edge off of a finer hone, however once you learn your coti, you can get a very very good edge off of one. Boker makes a 7x1.5 that is fantastic deal right now, however the vendor does not let you pick out your stone like the Superior Shave does. If you want to go bang for the buck get the Boker, if you want to pick out a nice coti for yourself the Superior Shave is the only way to go.

Star shaving strop of your choice.

Barbers hone.

I have 45.00 in my maintenance setup, but I paid to have it honed to shave ready to begin with.

life2short1971 said:

Any strop of at least 2-1/2x17 stropping area. Latigo is good but I prefer shell(horsehide) and hones 150x40 or a little longer is good wider if your blades all have a straight bevel and no smile. Those dimensions will keep you content for a lifetime. You get any smaller and its a matter of preference to some but not most.

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Pretty much agree here. I find 2" strops too narrow, maybe can go a bit less on stropping area (let's say 14"+). I definitely prefer HH and Canvas/cotton/linen to felt. IMHO felt is USELESS if it isn't pasted. It's a pasting surface, not a cloth component strop. 150x40 is also the smallest hone I'd recommend for a beginner. That size used to be quite cheap from Ardennes, but they just had a price jump (it's still not terrible), so I'd recommend browsing SuperiorShave for a bout that is in that general range or else watching ebay (175x40mm vintage coticules often sell for reasonable amounts). In either case, get a rubbing stone, they're ~$10 from SuperiorShave. Ardennes tends to ship them with stones (at least with all I've ordered from them, costing from 18 euro up to 90 or so), so consider that when looking at prices.

For others looking, Dicks (I think they're changing their name, so if anyone remembers what the new name will be please post), a hardware store in the EU, sells a cheap Japanese natural hone as "Honyama Razor Hone". It's a good sized perfectly suitable touch up hone for about $35 each if memory serves. I bought two and both were about 5x3". They only ship express though, so $30+ shipping makes it too expensive if you're outside of the EU.

There are other options, such as a China nat (often called a China 12k or something similar) or vintage barbers hones, but I find these options better. Spyderco UF has shown promise, but I haven't tested it enough to feel comfortable recommending it yet.

A great cheap strop is a RupRazor Filly strop. It is plain but good leather with CrOx pasted on the back for in between honing. A 2in Chinese 12k can be had for under 30 bucks and while a bit slow it leaves a wonderful edge.

life2short1971 said:

Any strop of at least 2-1/2x17 stropping area. Latigo is good but I prefer shell(horsehide) and hones 150x40 or a little longer is good wider if your blades all have a straight bevel and no smile. Those dimensions will keep you content for a lifetime. You get any smaller and its a matter of preference to some but not most.

Click to expand...

What he said. Get yourself over to Zack Whites, buy a strip of 2 1/2 inch latigo or bridle, a couple Dee rings, a half dozen Chicago screws and a square of leather and make three strops for lifetime of stropping fun. Make different lengths and find the one that works.

Go to a thrift store and get a canvas belt for a couple bucks, attach it with the Chicago screws to your leather.

Get a 40 x 150-175 coticule, any layer, and your are set.

michiganlover said:

Sounds like what you are looking for is a reasonable cost strop, that is of good quality. I would suggest you take a look at StarShavingSupplies. He sells some very nice 2.5, and 3 inch strops (some of them are even latigo) for about $40-50 shipped.

I had a 3" wide version in the past, and was very satisfied with it.

Here is the link to his shop on Ebay:

http://myworld.ebay.com/starshavingsupplies/

Click to expand...

If you want something from StarShaving, rather than going to ebay, why not just go straight to Ron's site? http://shop.starshaving.com/

Just by lookin at the advice on the forums here, your lookin at like $80 in equipment

Thanks everyone. I bought a SRD Modular Paddle Strop from "lamontqsanford" on the BST. I was looking at buying one from SRD, but I got a great deal on a really nice set up.
3 pieces of hardwool felt; 1 treated with crox spray, 1 with .5 diamond spray and 1 untreated. Plus the bottles of crox spray and .5 diamond spray.
And the leather.
It's a magnetic set, so changing the felts is really fast and easy. I'm still waiting for it to be delivered, but hopefully I'll get it this week.

I still haven't found a hone yet. Mainly because I can't decide on buying a coticule or Swaty barbers hone. The coti is expensive, but if I ever decide that I just suck at honing I can easily sell it. If I decide on keeping it then I have a great hone. I found some Swaty hones on eBay, that is another option and it's much cheaper.

I have a razor that is shave ready coming home this week, so if I can maintain it properly on the strop I won't need a hone for a while. I'll make sure to practice a lot on the other straights that I don't really care about before trying a shave ready straight on them--I don't want to kill the strop either. LOL

A coticule is going to be a much better option if you are looking for versatility. Also, you don't need a combo stone. Just a yellow coticule and slurry stone will do everything you need.

Also, if you are willing to invest some time and patience you will not suck at honing.

Catseye said:

If you want something from StarShaving, rather than going to ebay, why not just go straight to Ron's site? http://shop.starshaving.com/

Click to expand...

Sweet! I didn't know Ron had a site!