Is the the right set of stones?

I have been shaving daily with straight razorss for a couple of months now. I am one of the "crazies" who started honing and straight shaving at the same time. I did this partly because I have several easily acquired Arkansas stones (I live in the Ouachita mountains), and partly because I never do anything "part way". I can get a decent edge now, using a soft Ouachita for bevel setting, and then a medium Arkansas, followed by a hard black and then finally, a translucent finisher. The problem is, it takes me several hours to get a good edge. It can easily take 2-4 hundred strokes per stone, with zero tolerance for any technical errors.

I enjoy buying old razors and cleaning them up, so I need a quicker system. I don't want to buy half a dozen sets of stones before settling on what is "best" for me (yeah, I know....it ain't never gonna happen!!). So, I am thinking about getting a complete set of Naniwas. Here is what I am considering:

1K Chosera, 5K, 8K, and 12K "new" super stones. I would also buy a DMT 8C 325 for lapping/maintenance of the stones.

Is there anything that I am missing? Should this set last a "lifetime" for someone sharpening 2-3 blades a week, at most? I understand that a honemeister can replace them every year or two, but that would be after sharpening thousands of blades per year, correct?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!!

That will work. But since you have all the great Ark finishers from 8k up you could spend the same and get 1k Chosera, JNat with full Nagura progression or a Coticule. Then go to Surgical Black and the Translucent is optional. The Naniwa stones work great but don't provide the experience of the natural stones.

I would recommend a Naniwa chosera /pro 1000 and a fast coticule (LaVeinette or one of the Renge Stones), if not satisfied with the edge you can use your ark as finisher. (i like coticule finish very much).

If you only do razor sharpening even a honemeister wouldn`t need more stones.

You can also do synthie only with your arks as finishers, so your choosen setup will work too, for livetime as well.

For lapping dmt is ok for synths and coti but not for arks.

Greets Sebastian.

That's perfect set of hones among other options but you won't go wrong with that choice for consistency and ease of mastering.

gary

I'd swap the 5k for a 3k, or just add a 3k.

I would spend the extra $40 or so to get an Atoma 400 instead of the DMT-C. My DMT was sticking like crazy to stones when lapping. The Atoma just glides along, making lapping a breeze.

Thanks for the kind replies and advice!

It's all you need




But you'll end up buying more regardless....it's just how it goes around here....

Gamma said:

I'd swap the 5k for a 3k, or just add a 3k.

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Yes. I'd swap it, You can do 3k to 8k reasonably well, the 5k is nice but unnecessary. 1k to 5k is a bit of a chore, though.

I do not have the Naniwa 12K. But I find my Naniwa 10K to easily beat my Shapton 12K (which is supposed to be about the same) and even the Shapton 16K (which is supposed to be 20% thinner).
So it the rest of the Naniwa line-up is up to that standard, you are set.
I wish I had started this way, instead of the hodgepodge I have.
My 1K and 6K are king, which are great but not full width.
My 4/8 K are norton, which are good stone, but very coarse. The Norton 8K is similar to a 5K in the Naniwa scale.
If I was starting from scratch, I'd probably get the line-up you described.