Slurry help

I'm about try my luck at honing.

I have 3 whetstones.
1000
3000/8000
12000

My Question is what do I use to make a slurry on each stone? should I get another smaller stone? what grit?
of should I could i use some wet/dry sandpaper? Again what grit would I use for each stone?

Sorry If this is really simple or stupid, just trying to give myself the best chance of having some success.

You don't need to make slurry on synthetic hones. Just hone.

Do NOT use sandpaper to make slurry.

Thank you for the reply Gamma - Is this considered synthetic? http://www.woodcraft.com/product/2004920/5985/natural-water-stone-8-x-2-x-1.aspx

Other 2 stones-
http://www.taidea.com/outdoor-240.html
http://www.taidea.com/outdoor-242.html

HereForTheEdge said:

Thank you for the reply Gamma - Is this considered synthetic? http://www.woodcraft.com/product/2004920/5985/natural-water-stone-8-x-2-x-1.aspx

Click to expand...

No - that's considered a doorstop.

Just kidding, I'm just not a fan of the Chinese 'finishing stone'.
FWIW - they're not 12k.
I've seen slurry stones for them on auction sites. Not sure you need one really.
Someone is going to say a slurry stone for them is essential, someone else will say they're only useful on Wednesdays - etc.
Whatever you do - do not use sandpaper to make slurry.

HereForTheEdge said:

Other 2 stones-
http://www.taidea.com/outdoor-240.html
http://www.taidea.com/outdoor-242.html

Click to expand...

Those are synthetic.

Thanks Gamma, I appreciate your comments.
d/w I get your door stop reference its cheap and well I'm getting what I pay for, but as this will be a hobby, of passing interest, i'm not going to lay down a heap for something in a higher price range, especially since I don't plan on selling anything I hone on it.

Gamma said:

No - that's considered a doorstop.

Just kidding, I'm just not a fan of the Chinese 'finishing stone'.
FWIW - they're not 12k.

Click to expand...

Eh, they're probably 12k if you extend the norton scale to that. Problem is, the 8k stone is as far as I know as high as Norton/Mesh scaled stones go, so after that everyone switches to JIS (Which actually stops at 8k too, but various manufacturers determine what their stones WOULD rank if it continued, so we follow that), and even the finest I've owned wouldn't compare to a 12k JIS edge.

In truth it is unlikely to make your razor any sharper after the 8k taidea (Which unless Im mistaken is JIS), but it should make it feel more comfortable during your shave. As I recall from my Taidea, their binder was VERY fragile, so they were extremely aggressive cutters.

Going to it from an 8k JIS won't require slurry.

It's all so complicated!
Anyways, hopefully it will give me an idea of what I'm getting into, and I can upgrade later if I'm so inclined.
Thanks guys for answering my noob questions.

HereForTheEdge said:

It's all so complicated!
Anyways, hopefully it will give me an idea of what I'm getting into, and I can upgrade later if I'm so inclined.
Thanks guys for answering my noob questions.

Click to expand...

Its a little overwhelming at first but it's a pretty quick learning curve. Just keep at it, read new and old threads here and ask any questions you might have. Everyone here is eager to help. And welcome to the forum!

David

All good advice here. Perhaps bring the blade through the 8k and shave it and see. I have a cnat 12k? and find it works ok with some very light slurry although with water only it can take forever.

HereForTheEdge said:

Thanks Gamma, I appreciate your comments.
d/w I get your door stop reference its cheap and well I'm getting what I pay for, but as this will be a hobby, of passing interest, i'm not going to lay down a heap for something in a higher price range, especially since I don't plan on selling anything I hone on it.

Click to expand...

Was only joking around on the doorstop thing - a few people really like those stones.
You don't have to spend a lot to get a finer finisher - a bottle of crox costs about 5 USD and a linen hanger can be an old cloth belt if you have one. A slab of hard balsa costs a few bucks more but that can be used as a substrate for Crox also.

There are plenty of not too pricey options for higher 'grit' finishers out there - best to figure out what you have first though I think.
I don't know your synths - but Ian does and his call on the fragile binder is probably correct. You can probably adjust for an aggressive stone though.

I picked up a piece of balsa for making a strop at the local hardware store the other day, and have ordered this - http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/261426890461?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 but think I might need to get some .25 or .1 if i can find some. I had also read that this can work better than the diamond on balsa http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/321370917158?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649 (I keep seeing crox and am assuming this is similar?)


This is the Bengall I have coming- http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Vintage-...4YcFtfAxMGHBiF8di%2B0%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc \

Although I still need to get a leather strop and something shave ready to compare my efforts against - checking out Hobby forum now

Thank you David for the warm welcome

Hey - my bad - I didn't realize you were new here! Welcome to B&B.

Yep - that green powder can be used to mix up a Crox paste - a lot of guys use mineral oil as the vehicle.
The iron oxide (red) is less fine usually - but not always.
To folllow an 8k stone - you may find that the .5 µm crox works fine. Adding .1 'may' help, the finest Crox I've seen was .3µm.
Diamond comes in finer grades, but it's a different beast; .25µm diamond will put on a ridiculously sharp edge (if the ground work was done well) but many find it to be harsh. Diamond edges can be smoothed out with practice though. I did best with folling the .25µm with 0.1µm and doing a lot of laps on a paddle strop. Trial and error will get you to 'there' - takes time to sort is all out sometimes.

Thanks for the welcome Gamma, I've been lurking here and wicked edge for a few weeks reading up as much as I can. The information you have provided has been fantastic! No doubt I will be asking more as I get started, but thanks again for all the info so far.

You're welcome - glad to help.
If you have questions, you can always shoot me a PM too.

Go slow, have fun!

Thanks everyone - this is a quick clip of my progress with my vintage Bengall honing so far.