I just ordered my first straight razor (only ever used electric, cartridge, and disposables before), and when I started looking for places to get it honed, I realised there may not be any honemeisters nearby. Due to the expense of return postage honing, plus my anxiety of sending a somewhat expensive blade away, I'd like to hone it myself if I can't find anyone nearby.

I actually have a little bit of experience with honing tools. I have a double-sided, very coarse oil stone, also coarse grinding wheel, and a 6k King stone. I used to glue sandpaper to glass when I needed to bridge the gap between the coarser stones and the 6k. This setup was quite acceptable to me for chisels and planes, but I'm sure I need a better setup for a razor.

A lot of tutorials I see regarding razors say to use 4k, 8k, and 12k, or something like that. I'm having trouble finding any setup that includes 6k, so I'm wondering what people would suggest for combining with a 6k for a reasonably priced set of stones. I was thinking maybe getting a 10k which I could hopeful keep the blade sharp with for a while, and then using the 6k every now and then, as needed, and then buying something coarser down the road when it needs a full rehone.

Also, I'm quite happy with the quality of my 6k, so I would be okay buying more King. I also see ones that are even cheaper on Ebay, say, $30 per stone. I'm assuming these are complete crap?

I'm a bit short on money at the moment, so if the consensus is that I need to spend a ton of money, then I will probably buy a DE to use while I save up for stones.

What are peoples thoughts? I'd appreciate any advice or suggestions. Basically, I'm looking for the cheapest I can put together a honing setup, given that I already have a 6k stone.

Cheers :)