Thread: What about a honing contest?

I was looking at this as more of a combined and organized assessment of your personal honing skills, than a clear cut winner -vs- loser contest....
As I stated before this sort of thing has been going on behind the scenes for as long as I have been on here.... The only difference here is that said aspiring "honemiester" (a term that gets used way to easily) gets more than just one opinion on their skills, and their skills are compared to others that are closer to their level of skill, instead of just against one person's skills (normally a very experienced "honemiester") this I think is a great idea...
Also keep in mind that there will probably be NO clear cut winner, since razors can only get so sharp, and so smooth, and I am pretty sure that a majority of the people entering razors, will be able to achieve this level....
The difference here, to make what I was saying very clear...
Member X thinks that he is getting pretty good, so he asks an experienced Honemiester to access his edges and sends the razor to him....
That Honemiester has only one edge really to compare this razor too, ie: his own...
In this "contest" Member X's razor will be compared to say 19 other razors all honed by people that are way more evenly matched when it comes to experience level, and the "honemiester" is comparing all 20 razors as a group, and not just against his own abilities....

Did all this rambling make any sense whatsoever????

Originally Posted by gssixgun

That Honemiester has only one edge really to compare this razor too, ie: his own...
In this "contest" Member X's razor will be compared to say 19 other razors all honed by people that are way more evenly matched when it comes to experience level, and the "honemiester" is comparing all 20 razors as a group, and not just against his own abilities....

Did all this rambling make any sense whatsoever????

Well, yes, there's that too.

If people are worried about the agony of defeat aspect you could have a check box for each contestent to specify if they want their name/screen name to be kept private. Then in the above context you could get back your placing in the competition and no one would know that you even entered.

the reason i would enter the contest would be to see what someone else that is good at honing thought of a razor that i honed, he could point out things i could be doing wrong to me so i think it would be valuable critique of my skills, i really dont care about winning or losing just the valued opinion of someone that knows way more than i do about honing, a sort of learning tool instead of a contest to me, but i wouldnt turn down a livi razor as a prize either lol

Originally Posted by jwoods

the reason i would enter the contest would be to see what someone else that is good at honing thought of a razor that i honed, he could point out things i could be doing wrong to me so i think it would be valuable critique of my skills, i really dont care about winning or losing just the valued opinion of someone that knows way more than i do about honing, a sort of learning tool instead of a contest to me, but i wouldnt turn down a livi razor as a prize either lol

Yup, that's exactly why I'm planning on entering. LoL, I have yet to even produce a truly shave worthy blade!

I did think about this post and finally decided to let it go.This is my opinion and i know some of you won't like and may be hate me.
This is what i think.
at first idea to have this honing competition is excellent but there is couple things needs to be fix before we can say it is fair competition.
i am 1 of the person who said yes and after thinking i decided not to participate in it.
1 st i think i will be the winner.
2 nd this honing will be fair competition if all people who is in it would have
1 st same blade
2 nd equal amount of time
3 rd same type hones include everything which people will use to make razor ready(strop,chro2,hones etc.
Now some of the people have the best hone belgian others has escher another one God knows.
how it will be fair game if i use my CHARNLEY FOREST stone and put final edge to blade?that wouldn't me my skill i think.
I would be glad to be in this competition but because of the above reason's i am Sorry guys.
In case if any of you want to challenge me i am ready just to show how much differences will make having right tools.This is my 2 cent
or if you want to challenge each other just do it buy using 2 different hones escher -thuringiaan,or belgian and see how much it will be different from 1 to another,of i am not including chromiumo2 etc.
good luck

hi bud gl,

Isn't the point of the competition to find the absolute best? If so, what tools that are used for the job wouldn't matter. Results are results, right? Maybe there could be another award for best edge relative to the tools used? One test for the edge, one test for the person honing? Or maybe just include the data for the methods/tools of each entry with the results. That might give everybody more insight into the competition.

I agree with that. A large part of getting the best edge is going to include "tricks of the trade" and personal "secrets". Things like variations on pyramids, your sooper secret pasted newspaper, etc. Not restricted to just a test of physical ability. I think if you limited the tools you would have the reverse problem. Surely people have refined their technique and routine to the tools they have at hand.

[QUOTE=crazycliff200843;282810]

Isn't the point of the competition to find the absolute best? If so, what tools that are used for the job wouldn't matter. Results are results, right?

sorry it does matter.
just try this.
take 2 same blades and only use 1 st one belgian hone and on second one use norton 4/8k
end check the result you will see it does matter.
Same person does exact skiils and spend same time but results are different ??