Preferred stone just for touch-ups?

I'm not quite ready to take the plunge into honing just yet, as I've been able to maintain my razors so far with the occasional use of a pasted strop. That said, my wheels are starting to turn a bit, and I'm wondering what stone would be the ideal choice once my razors need something just a little bit more than a pasted strop. Coticule? Barber Hone? 4k/8k Norton? 12k Naniwa?

I know Coticules are supposed to be difficult to "learn", but I'm guessing that applies more towards taking a razor through an entire progression. I don't really have any plans at this time to do any bevel setting. Anyway, I'm curious to get people's opinions. Thanks in advance!

Of those? Coticule.
Overall? Thuri.

Can't go wrong with A good coti or a good thuri.
Thuris are really really easy to use and leave killer edges.

From your list either a coti or a good barber hone (Swaty)

12k Naniwa and never look back

Coticule. You are correct in that the difficulties are more in learning the full capabilities of your stone and I would add that learning your coti can be fun and rewarding.

If you are using a pasted strop (I like them as well), be aware that they do change the edge geometry, and may make a touch up on a fine grit hone perhaps not such a straight forward affair.

You may therefore also need a more -midrange hone to correct the bevel/edge geometry before going to your finishing/edge refreshing hone.


Basically, once you start buying hones, you find you need to by more hones....

La Verte coticule most of the time.

Coti or Franconia for me.

greatbolo said:

12k Naniwa and never look back

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+1 and perhaps a balsa strop

I'm in a similar boat to you, (though I don't use pasted strops)
And on a recommendation from Brooksie967 I bought a Jnat and a tomo nagura to do my own touch ups.

Ulricus said:

I'm in a similar boat to you, (though I don't use pasted strops)
And on a recommendation from Brooksie967 I bought a Jnat and a tomo nagura to do my own touch ups.

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It's a great place to start if you already have the majority of the work done on your razors or want to maintain an edge. At that point you can also tell if honing is something you want to get into or just continue with touching up razors!

Brooksie967 said:

It's a great place to start if you already have the majority of the work done on your razors or want to maintain an edge. At that point you can also tell if honing is something you want to get into or just continue with touching up razors!

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Master enabling!
I like my trans ark at the moment

BakerAndBadger said:

Master enabling!
I like my trans ark at the moment

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Hahaha, he doesn't need help! Have you seen the razors he's been buying lately?

I've yet to try an ark but don't think I'll bother. Pretty happy with everything a Jnat can do at this point.

Brooksie967 said:

Hahaha, he doesn't need help! Have you seen the razors he's been buying lately?

I've yet to try an ark but don't think I'll bother. Pretty happy with everything a Jnat can do at this point.

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Shhhhh

And Noah's got a Toyo up that would be gone already if it weren't so close to Christmas.

I've been honing a couple dozen razors recently, comparing my finishing hones. Majority opinion seems to put Charnley Forest below the Thuringian and the coticule. But I get really fine edges off my Charnley. I'm no expert, but so far as I can tell, this particular Charnley competes well with my Thuringian and both my coticules. But hey, I'm fond of even my Chinese 12k. Maybe over the years, as I gain experience, I'll make finer discriminations. I've honed maybe 60 razors by now. Seldom do I succeed in getting a razor to pass the hanging hair test (full clean cut at every point along the blade) before submitting a razor to the pasted strop and leather strop. Seldom, but sometimes. I've gotten a clean pass on the hht, before stropping, with all three of my top finishers: a Charnley, a coti, and a Thuringian.

Got pics of the Charnley? You say you use a pasted strop. Have you compared the edges of the Charnley, Coti and Thuri without using a pasted strop? I'll be honest, if I were going to a paste afterwards, I'd probably use a charnley over a coti or thuri too. Both coti's and thuri's thin the edge more than my charnleys, and in my experience with pastes, they benefit from having a bit more bulk at the edge for them to work with. Going to a paste off a superfine stone like my Jnat creates a horrible edge.

SliceOfLife said:

Got pics of the Charnley? You say you use a pasted strop. Have you compared the edges of the Charnley, Coti and Thuri without using a pasted strop? I'll be honest, if I were going to a paste afterwards, I'd probably use a charnley over a coti or thuri too. Both coti's and thuri's thin the edge more than my carnleys, and in my experience with pastes, they benefit from having a bit more bulk at the edge for them to work with. Going to a paste off a superfine stone like my Jnat creates a horrible edge.

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Here's a picture of the Charnley: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/391664-3-Coticules-1-Thuringian-1-Charnley-Forest



As the ad for the stone says, it is very hard, harder than either of my coticules or Thuringian.

The comparison I was making was the way the blades performed on the hanging hair test before being stropped.

Most of the razors that I've been able to get to pass the hanging hair test before being stropped are razors with very thin blades, full hollow or extra full hollow.