Buying a hone and second razor

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Hi,

I am a newbie to straight shaving and i am looking for some help when it comes to purchasing your first hone. I only want to buy one at the moment for touch up etc rather than restoration, is there a particular grit that would be a best all round and Also i've seen mention of couticle stones for honeing, are these any good?

Basically what would you guys recommend for a first hone lol

Lastly, i started straight shaving recently and love it! (despite the many nicks and cuts at the beginning lol)

I currently shave with a Dovo "Prima Silver Steel" and i am looking for a second razor as i understand that alternating razors is a gd idea (plus i like the idea of starting a collection lol)


So with this in mind i was originally looking at TI razors, particularly the inclined nose C135 razor or one of the Spartacus Dreadnought point razors. But i have seen on the net that there are major problems with the quality control of TI razors as well as somewhere i did read that they were prone to rusting.

Any help regarding TI razors or recomendations of different razors that would be gd for a second razor would be greatly appreciated by a novice like me :D
 
I can't help with TI razors but with regards to touch up hones 8000 grit upwards is generally considered a finisher, so good for touch ups.
I don't own one but modern synthetics such as a Shapton Glass stone at 16k grit and Naniwa Superstone 10k or 12k are good. I understand that vintage barbers hones tend to be in the region of 8K although some are better and natural stones shouldn't really carry a grit rating as being natural they vary however in current production there are cheap but slow Chinese 12k stones (although probably not really equivalent to 12k) which work well with some effort and coticules which tend to come out equivalent to the about the 8-10K range.

If we are just talking about maintaining 2 razors a pasted strop (not your main one but a spare) will keep the edge going for quite a while between honings. One of the problems is that honing is that it is a bit of an art and takes some learning (although some seem to take to it easily) you may want to get a less valuable razor than that Dovo or a TI to learn with as many people have inadvertently wrecked the edge of a good razor just trying to touch it up.
 
Jeltz said:
I can't help with TI razors but with regards to touch up hones 8000 grit upwards is generally considered a finisher, so good for touch ups.
I don't own one but modern synthetics such as a Shapton Glass stone at 16k grit and Naniwa Superstone 10k or 12k are good. I understand that vintage barbers hones tend to be in the region of 8K although some are better and natural stones shouldn't really carry a grit rating as being natural they vary however in current production there are cheap but slow Chinese 12k stones (although probably not really equivalent to 12k) which work well with some effort and coticules which tend to come out equivalent to the about the 8-10K range.

If we are just talking about maintaining 2 razors a pasted strop (not your main one but a spare) will keep the edge going for quite a while between honings. One of the problems is that honing is that it is a bit of an art and takes some learning (although some seem to take to it easily) you may want to get a less valuable razor than that Dovo or a TI to learn with as many people have inadvertently wrecked the edge of a good razor just trying to touch it up.
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Thanks for the advice. I will look for something around the 8k grit mark or maybe a couticle. I just needed to know where to start lol

I've dropped my Dovo before and used a 1000 grit whetstone (used for sharpening the global knife we have at home) to get out the dents in the edge of the blade. If i drop that or my new razor again in the future will a 8K/couticle be sufficient to remove th dings rather than having to rely on the 1000 grit that i used before?
 
For a good inexpensive finishing hone, I'm still recommending the Müller thuringians available from Neil sometimes and Olivia. Other than that, I agree with Nic.

In theory you can reset a bevel with a coticule, but in practice it's going to be a long job if there's any edge damage. My weapon of choice for that sort of thing is a 600 grit (sic) DMT diamond plate.

I've heard both good and bad things about TI razors, so I don't necessarily give much credence to either, but they have plenty of fans. Spartacus here is a TI stockist ... maybe he'll chip in. As regards rusting, proper razor care is the owner's responsibility.
 
Hi -

re the hone first, I would say a 10k naniwa would be hard to beat as a finishing hone, though a 12k chinese is a good budget option. The jump from a 1k stone to a coti is very big and it would take a long time to polish the edge clear of the marks left by the 1k. If you have dinged the blade or otherwise blunted it my advice is get it sorted by a pro honer and then use a 10k/12k as mentioned above to maintain it.

TI had a few QC issues a while back and now and again their goldwork is a bit shaky (this is all done by hand and they get pushed to high speed at times due to workload) but on the whole they have come a long long way in the last three years. They have a style and flair that no other maker possesses and the blade edges when correctly set are superb. They are no more prone to rust than any other carbon blade and I have never ever had a problem with this.
 
Thanks guys,

Andy i'd heard the same gd and bad things about TI so wasn't sure what to beleive and i knew from Neil that this website was the best place to come to seek advice.

Spartacus, i managed to get rid of the dings by starting off with the 600 grit that was on one side and then using the 1000 grit and some how managed to get rid of them lol (i am sort of used to sharpening baldes from where i work at the mo and at home, so practised on an old knife from the kitchen before using my razor lol)

And i think that i will go for a 10,000 grit for touching up and maintaining the razor so thanks for all your advice guys!

Spartacus i've looked at the TI range on http://www.thiers-issard.co.uk/thiers-issardstraightrazors.html and can't decide whether to get the C135 bladed inclined nose spartacus or one of the dreadnought shaped razors, any tips on these razors and forgive me for sounding naive but what is the difference between the C135 blades and normal carbon steel razors??
 
Hi -

on balance I would go for the dreadnought as the point is a bit more 'forgiving'. As to C135, this is TI's 'carbonsong' steel and is especially hardened -so they say - for better edge retention etc etc. In use? very little difference that I can see. The festonne-back historic steel blades (that's all the 6/8 dreadnoughts) are old style carbon steel but the 7/8 dreadnoughts with 'Dreadnought' mark and the 7/8 inclined nose 'Dominators' (both my own trademark logos and arriving soon) will be C135 steel.
 
Brilliant, thanks for the help!

Do you know when they will be arriving? I'm off to uni in sep as a mature student and would like to get my second blade before i go :)
 
The Norton 4000/8000 or the Naniwa 3000/8000 are the stones I would buy if I had the cash>also a Chinese stone and slurry stone for final polishing is a good inexpensive stone as mention by someone earlier but be prepared too do many laps with this (50 to 100 recommended ).Then a pasted strop which can easily be made from an old pair of denims.As regards a second razor it of course depends on how much you want to spend.I recently purchased a Gotta 120 Hamburg Ring for £10 on ebay to replace my old Gotta and once polished up on the Chinese stone is an excellent shaver.There are a few Gottas on ebay at the moment.
 
Lots of good info re the hones allready. One thing about the TI though, I love the design and I've got a new 2011 limited edtion (80 made) and if you buy, buy from The Invisible Edge! I noticed the finish was bad on my TI (at the toe, it's not an even surface there and it will rust eventually) and I wrote to TI three weeks ago and told them about it, with picture - they haven't even cared to answear! :mad:

I tend to go with vintage blades though, in general I think they're of better quality. But you can also get a good modern razor from the German company Revisor.

This is a picture from the toe of my TI razor, in C135 steel:
012570x800.jpg
 
If I were you Mikael I would clamp that in a vice and take those marks out with a piece of wet and dry paper start with a 400 grit and work you way up with a 600 then keep on going you will polish that edge perfectly well quite quickly.

PS pretty much what the other guys say, you wouldn't want to finish a razor with anything under a 8000 stone. and to reprofile a edge well all depends how much damage there is to start, I use a 1000 King stone for this purpose, then on to a 1200, on to the 6000, then the 8000, then I check under a magnifying glass then if the edge looks farly uniformed and is shaving my hairs fairly easy, I go to the first paddle strop with a little chromium oxide powder, then recheck with the magnifying glass to make sure I have a smooth edge with a mirror polish, then onto the second paddle strop with a little black honing paste, finished.

Regards Jamie
 
pugh-the-special-one said:
If I were you Mikael I would clamp that in a vice and take those marks out with a piece of wet and dry paper start with a 400 grit and work you way up with a 600 then keep on going you will polish that edge perfectly well quite quickly.
Regards Jamie
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Cheers Jamie! Maybe that's what I end up doing, but I think Thiers at least could answear and tell me: No, we don't ... or maybe: Yes, we would like to suggest ... It's not like I'm asking them to take back a vintage blade, it's a 2011 limited edition.

Not answearing is just stupied and rude, I think.
 
That is unacceptable. Although only a very thorough inspection by the retailer would catch that. It looks as though the razor was left to rust in some bin somewhere, then ground and the grinder forgot to grind the toe.

Looks like a case of pitting from the '50's.
 
asharperrazor said:
That is unacceptable. Although only a very thorough inspection by the retailer would catch that. It looks as though the razor was left to rust in some bin somewhere, then ground and the grinder forgot to grind the toe.

Looks like a case of pitting from the '50's.
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It looks bad, but it's not that bad (it's a blow up picture and it's actually hard to miss if your eyes are starting to give up - like if you need reading glasses :D). No rust (yet, allthough it will come), but you're right re the grinder forgetting to grind the toe.
 
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