newbie help- stropping/honing

What is the difference between stropping and honing? Do I need both a strop and a hone? Do I need compound for the strop and hone, and how is this used? On the strop/hone or on the blade? Right now I'm not using a straight edge, but figured on maybe "cleaning up" old SE blades that seem harder to come by(Gem razor) than the great number of DE blades that are out there. And, I do plan on trying the straight edge someday. Would this be a decent hone?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/180711706646?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Thanks in advance!

First, the "hone" you are linking to is a slurry stone, not a hone by any means.

Stropping is done to keep the edge keen between honing, honing is taking your blade to a stone to remove metal to make it sharper, simply put.

Read this:

http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Interactive_Guide_to_Straight_Razor_Shaving

Thanks! I did a " quick search" but I really didn't get any good info doing that.

If you're talking about disposable type SE (or even DE) blades, they're so thin that honing them back to a keen edge might be an exercise in futility. They're not made to be honed. One trick I've heard of, but never tried, that soldiers in the field back around WWII used to do to get a few more shaves out of their DE blades was to strop them on a leather belt when the blade started 'wearing out'. They wouldn't last forever even doing that, but it'd buy them a couple more decent shaves with that blade before they finally chucked it.

That link is a cinder block..hehe..dont use that...

??

So, do I need a hone or strop if I'm not straight shaving? I recently purchased a strop for use on autostrop and old GEM blades- will that be enough to get a sharp blade? Is a honing stone needed for straight shaving? Or is stropping enough?

hotreds said:

So, do I need a hone or strop if I'm not straight shaving? I recently purchased a strop for use on autostrop and old GEM blades- will that be enough to get a sharp blade? Is a honing stone needed for straight shaving? Or is stropping enough?

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You can not make a dull blade sharp with stropping. Stropping is for keeping a sharp blade sharp, for a while.
Generally you will need a decent hanging strop. There's a LOT of options for sharpening, but you can keep a blade going for quite a while with a second strop pasted with sharpening paste.

hotreds said:

So, do I need a hone or strop if I'm not straight shaving? I recently purchased a strop for use on autostrop and old GEM blades- will that be enough to get a sharp blade? Is a honing stone needed for straight shaving? Or is stropping enough?

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OK......... GEM blades are easy to get . I just found out myself. West coast Shaving as SE gem blades by the hundreds. They are one of the vrndors here at B&B. To try to answer the rest of your question about hones and stropping, here goes. In order to get a straight razor to a sharpness that you can shave with you will HAVE to hone it and on more than one hone. Here are the hones and their grit numbers that I use, I have a 1000 grit water stone, a 4000 grit water stone, a 6000 grit water stone, a 8000 grit water stone and a 12000 grit water stone from China. All the other stones are from Japan. After reading all that don't panic. use the wiki and research honing stones. All the stones can be had easily. I got all of mine at a wood working store called " Woodcraft". You will start with the low number stone and work your way up to the large number stone. Now the best way for you to see how to hone go to http://www.custom razors.com and watch his video on honing, one of the best I've seen. After you use the hones you will need to "strop" the razor, what you are doing then is polishing the edge to help with the sharpness. After each shave all you have to do is strop the edge and shave again. After a certain number of shaves and only you will be able to determain that , you will have to hone the edge again. How ever, you will be able to do "touch-ups" on the finishing stone before you have to do a full hone job. Are you confussed yet? There are no cut and dry answers for what you have asked, but what I have told you is the basic for what I do, and I shave 3 to 4 times a week with a straight razor. good luck..........JR

jrp316 said:

If you're talking about disposable type SE (or even DE) blades, they're so thin that honing them back to a keen edge might be an exercise in futility. They're not made to be honed. One trick I've heard of, but never tried, that soldiers in the field back around WWII used to do to get a few more shaves out of their DE blades was to strop them on a leather belt when the blade started 'wearing out'. They wouldn't last forever even doing that, but it'd buy them a couple more decent shaves with that blade before they finally chucked it.

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I've also heard of stropping them on a piece of flat glass, but really, blades at this time are just to cheap to do that..................JR

So honing is to sharpen, stropping is to keep sharp for a period, after which the blade would need to be rehoned? I reckon this would be a deecnt beginner's honing stone?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/310340181694?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Tusen takk

Saw the other answers after I posted this. I will check WCS for GEM blades- now I need to get ahold of some autostrop blades. Hopefully the auto I won on fleabay will have a few that I will be able to use to see how I like that shaver. I reckon I will scout around for the various grit water stones before I get serious about straight shaving.

I appreciate very much the answers, gentlemen. Light is dawning on Mr. Fog!

hotreds said:

So, do I need a hone or strop if I'm not straight shaving? I recently purchased a strop for use on autostrop and old GEM blades- will that be enough to get a sharp blade? Is a honing stone needed for straight shaving? Or is stropping enough?

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You don't need either, you don't hone or strop SE or DE razor blades, you only do that with straight razors..............JR

Hotred, for your first straight razor, If you buy it from say wippeddog or one of the other known razor men you can do without the hones for awhile. It should come to you "shave ready" and all you will need is a cheap leather strop in the beginning. Honing is not something you just wake up and say " guess I will hone a razor today". It's not rocket science by any means, but there is more to it than putting a edge on a axe. And FYI conticles are for maintaining your edge not for getting a edge......................JR

hotreds said:

Saw the other answers after I posted this. I will check WCS for GEM blades- now I need to get ahold of some autostrop blades. Hopefully the auto I won on fleabay will have a few that I will be able to use to see how I like that shaver. I reckon I will scout around for the various grit water stones before I get serious about straight shaving.

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You may be confused by the autostrop, that razor was kind of a gimmick i think to compete with gillette. I have one and I have 2 blades for it which I found in random places. They are very hard to come by. On certain autostrop models you can convert a single edge blade to fit by removing the back and nipping off the corners. there are videos on youtube showing how to do it. If you use those you can just toss them like regular DE or SE razors.

If you get a straight you just need a strop to start, forget the hones until you figure out if you like straights. you'll get quite a few shaves out of a shave ready straight before it needs to be honed and even then you can send it out to get it sharpened by someone else. Or get a shavette which never needs a hone or strop.

You would indeed would be best off getting a decent straight from Whippeddog and the strop kit he sells, you can keep the edge going for quite a while with that kit.

And yes that small coticule would be a great "barbers hone". Coticules aren't just for maintaining an edge btw, they are quite versatile.

Blix said:

You would indeed would be best off getting a decent straight from Whippeddog and the strop kit he sells, you can keep the edge going for quite a while with that kit.

And yes that small coticule would be a great "barbers hone". Coticules aren't just for maintaining an edge btw, they are quite versatile.

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I don't have one so I'm not sure of all they do, but I have read a lot of post about maintaining the edge on a razor. Because the stones I mentioned earlier I don't see the need for one, but if I evr run across one at a steal I'm sure I will get it......................JR

fine wine said:

I don't have one so I'm not sure of all they do, but I have read a lot of post about maintaining the edge on a razor. Because the stones I mentioned earlier I don't see the need for one, but if I evr run across one at a steal I'm sure I will get it......................JR

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You sure should, cotis are really fun to use, and you get these amazing smooth edges when you do it right. Used with slurry it's not that hard to do a razor from the ground up.

Thanks again for all the great info! In fact, I do have a Parker Shavette. Maybe I'm trying to get too much too soon- something I do too often when starting a new hobby! God help me if I ever get into cars or watches! So far I've been very happy with my DE and I have won a number of GEM SEs on the bay, so I plan to try them as well as soon as the blades I ordered come for them. With blades for the GEM type razors- do I need to watch out what blades I get? Will "industrial quality" not be good for shaving?

There aren't many choices for single edge blades. I think it's pretty much down to GEM/personna or treet. The industrial blade will not work for shaving. they have a much duller edge and are not coated. Those are made to go into window scrapers and such. I tried shaving with one and it made 2 swipes before i tossed it out.

Thanks- that's what I figured- so many for so cheap couldn't possibly work for shaving!