Where to purchase hones?

4 years worth? I thought the straight users said it was cheaper in the long run than DE's ?

It is... eventually, just not in 4 years. It's not a claim I have made but lets look at it;
Buying hones is your last hardware purchase for the life of the razor - decades. Buying Feather DE blades in 200 packs, at $70 (mensbiz) and using a blade for three shaves - $550 gets you 13 years worth. So on that rough calculation, straight razor shaving is cheaper, it just takes 13 years to break even.
 
I don't have expensive hones so I suppose I was lucky. My favourite finisher is my CNAT estimated 12k with a self slurry stone. If I was wealthy I definitely would have H.A.D.

I am not wealthy, but I subscribe to the "only a rich man can afford cheap tools mantra". I'd rather buy the right hones up front... which I don't have cash for at the moment so I will continue to send the away for honing. I'm yet to decided which is more of a pain; honing, or sending them away.
 
bah, sifn't use Voskhods @ 11c/blade (or 41 years of shaving @ 365 days a year)

Maybe... I chose Feathers because that's my prefered DE blade. In fact I have a box of 200 unopened that, well, may well never be!
 
Oh cool, thanks.
The FB guys are pushing me towards a Jnat but after looking at the prices of those I am astounded! A $40 Cnat is looking bloody attractive at this point. Just don't want to sell myself short on edge quality is all. @bald as you are obviously happy with your edges off the Cnat?
 
@Sxot many people like the Cnat as a stone. I've honed for others here in Adelaide and they seem happy with the results. I will say this though. $40 for a Cnat is affordable if for some reason you are unable to achieve honing "perfection" in your learning phase and decide to give it away. In the hands of a very good honemeister most stones will produce a shave ready edge but until experience is gained with pressure and feel and knowing when to move on to the next stone someone learning will sometimes get a top blade but most times just an average blade. I bought and scavenged as many blades as I could find and started practicing. I've spent tens of hours nearly getting it right only to learn what I did right but more importantly understanding what I did wrong. If you get the Cnat, lap it both sides and you will have 2 surfaces to work with. Mine is lapped both sides and both sides behave slightly differently. It is a natural rock after all. The other alternative is a 10 or 12k Naniwa synthetic as your finishing stone. Followed by light CrOx then leather. Many guys use that combo and find it very good. When you reach the limits of those stones you will have saved enough to apply for a mortage to buy a super duper Jnat - or contact @Mark he often has great stones for excellent cost, plus he has real experience to back his advice.
 
Some good points but this is always controversial. It's not always about the finishing stone, in fact it's only expensive to start because you obviously need to buy a set, which is a bevel setter, something to work with for midrange, a diamond plate to flatten your stones with before every use (mainly with synthetics) all this adds up to be more costly than most Jnats out there but you generally buy them once a lifetime. It all depends on your budget, I started buying different types of natural stones, when I was introduced to Jnats I kissed the rest goodbye and so did many others. You don't need a mortgage to buy one, you can get a exceptionally good full size jnat for around $200 give or take that will last many lifetimes or a smaller one for around $100-$150 depending on size.
If you find that you're taking it as a serious hobby you will probably end up with a dozen natural stones anyway and a few different types of synthetics to complete a synth progression. If you're honing for others you should have both imo or just synthetics at the very least, some razors will play a lot better with than others on specific stones but that's nothing to worry about yet. So ask yourself, are you only aiming to keep your razors sharp? Do you want to learn the art and experiment with different methods and hones? Are you in a position to drop a bit of money into it initially and enjoy your investment for many years? Depending on what you're aiming to do you could either start with as little as $50 for diamond film from 16um - 0.5um (1k to 30k) or you can go as high as $500 for pro series hones like Naniwa/chosera or Shapton pro/ Glass. Do your homework
 
Just wanting to keep my razors sharp. Don't have a lot of money at the moment, but see myself getting a full progression down the track. I've shot off an email to JNS for a recommendation.
 
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Cannot beat the generosity of fellow P&C members.
A complete hone set incl. 12k Naniwa and 3 str8s for 1/2 the price of those stones.
 
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