CBLindsay honed my straights, I'd like to maintain the edges. I have a DMT 8000 I purchased about 5 yrs. ago, any other stone recommendations to maintain these edges...
Maintain edge
- Thread starter meanpr
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Strictly for maintenance, the Naniwa 12k would be hard to beat.
Steve56
Ask me about shaving naked!
Yep, Naniwa 12k.
Cheers, Steve
Cheers, Steve
I don't maintain edges, does light use of a synthetic for touchups on a natural finished razor maintain the feel of the natural despite the touchups for some time?
In my experience, no.
kelbro
Alfred Spatchcock
Not in my opinion. It is like touching up on a diamond pasted strop. Crisp, clinical edges.
My experience is that they are crisp and clinical, but effective and smooth edges. For a minimalist approach to edge maintenance, that would be my recommendation as well. When the Naniwa 12 K no longer is effective, taking it back to the 8K DMT will likely gain more life out of it after a 12K finish.
I would say You could,not go wrong with 8 k and 12 K naniwa
kelbro
Alfred Spatchcock
FWIW, I prefer crisp and clinical. That, to me, is an effective edge and provides a smooth face typically in one pass. One man's smooth can be another man's harsh.
I never got much use out of my 8K DMT so I sold it off a few months ago.
10K Shapton Glass followed by 16K Shapton Glass usually gets an edge where I want it to be.
Bingo!
I have had great success keeping an edge alive by using balsa stops as described by slash McCoy. I personally like the .1 micron diamond paste vs the .25 micron but .1 micron Iron Oxide works too (although I think more laps might be needed.
As far a low cost and easy I wonder if a "12k" C-Nat would do anything constructive? I had one but never used it to maintain an edge.
As far a low cost and easy I wonder if a "12k" C-Nat would do anything constructive? I had one but never used it to maintain an edge.
I was expecting to read "coticule" somewhere ...
Sure a coticule would work. You could,not go wrong with either I just feel some one starting out should learn to hone with manmade hones and I think naniwas are a good choice. Natural stones are much better for some one more experienced. I like both, in fact at the moment I,m loving the 20kG.I was expecting to read "coticule" somewhere ...
- Thread starter
- #15
I'm going to try the balsa strop route, see how that works. I'll probably look for a Naniwa 12K down the road. Thanks for all the suggestions
The latest razor I purchased was honed on a natural. The shaves were great and the edge felt wonderful. I did a touch up on a Naniwa 8k then 12k, followed by balsa strop and leather strop. To be honest, I did not notice a difference in the edge. Maybe it's because I have pretty tough skin, so I can't feel a difference. The one thing that I did notice is the edge seemed to last much longer from the natural stone finish. I am new to honing, so I am happy with the Naniwa's. Eventually I will try moving to the natural stones though.
If expense is an issue for anyone I think (and use) Whipped Dog's 1/4 12k hone is a good deal. It's a 12k Chinese hone that Larry cuts in 4 pieces and sells for about $15 each although a full size hone is only $40 I think. The 1/4 hone is nice however as it's perfect for holding in your hand which is how I do it.
I then follow that up with a pasted paddle strop before going to my regular full size leather strop.
To maintain I just use the pasted strop until that isn't enough and then go back down to the 12k hone. You can maintain that way for a long time.
I then follow that up with a pasted paddle strop before going to my regular full size leather strop.
To maintain I just use the pasted strop until that isn't enough and then go back down to the 12k hone. You can maintain that way for a long time.
8K won't be fine enough, get either a coticule recommended by Jarod @ Superior Shave or a JNAT from maybe Alex at Japan Stone, the latter will be a tad more costly than a coti, also maybe consider an Apache Strata, you can also use film but i have no knowledge on it's use.
Just about any stone that is a 'finisher' will work for that task. Objectively and subjectively, the term 'work' covers a lot of ground though.
If I'm going to do a 'touch up', I tend to use the stone they were finished on initially. I can, have and no doubt will continue to feel a difference when I use a different type of stone. Different isn't neccessarily a bad thing, sometimes a change in feel is good.
But it can also be disappointing sometimes.
Most of the time, I just rehone the blade from the ground up.
If I'm going to do a 'touch up', I tend to use the stone they were finished on initially. I can, have and no doubt will continue to feel a difference when I use a different type of stone. Different isn't neccessarily a bad thing, sometimes a change in feel is good.
But it can also be disappointing sometimes.
Most of the time, I just rehone the blade from the ground up.
