Thread: Attaining consistency?

This is one reason I'm not a big fan of people jumping on the "honemeister" wagon and honing razors for people before they are ready. It really does take a few years to get good at it (not that I am).

For me honing came in a few epiphanies that just hit me like a brick one day. One, you are sculpting a edge like an artist, not honing. Two, polishing is important, and three, geometry has to be evaluated before you start honing.

The third is probably the final step you start thinking about, after you hone around 100 or so edges. By about the 200 point you start falling into a good pattern.

I would suggest you start every new honing project with a careful look down the spine and look at the spine wear. Then evaluate what that spine wear will mean on the edge when you start honing. Another approach is to evaluate what occurs to the edge after honing. I like to start by using a 12K and do some polishing, then, evaluate what I'm seeing against the edge. Lots of other people put "black marker" of some sort and then polish. Personally I think this is a silly approach, but it works, so I've never before said that in public. Essentially though I would say that you are probably not evaluating what the hone is doing to the edge carefully enough, or early enough.

Lots of guys hone a razor and then when they are done they start to evaluate where the edge is actually sharp. By then you've done a lot to aggravate any geometric problems that were already created originally.

The mental mindset I use for honing is to think of a triangle between spine, edge, and back to the spine. Anything that might interfere with this perfect triangle must be fixed first when you begin your honing.