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I noticed the first couple of shaves with the straight that I use the toe of the razor WAY more than the heel. Is this normal? If it is then do you hone just the toe when the time comes? If not then does the heel get over honed? Ohh so many questions.
Not really its about 50/50. I try to use as much of the blade length as possible. When you do hone, hone the entire blade. This way the bevel stays uniform. Questions are a good thing here.
For tight and detail areas I use a mixture, when I first started I was using more toe,
I have found I use more heel now and find for me there is more control that way.
Regular pass it is as much of the blade as will hit what is flat.
Different parts of the blade for different areas. I do admit that the toe gets a lot of attention (burns, neck on the sides, up into base of the nostril), though the heel gets used for the top lip and chin.
For me it really depends on which area I'm shaving and to a lesser extent which hand I'm using. I find closer to my mouth gets more heel use than toe. closer to my ears gets the reverse. Everything else is fairly even.
I "think" I use them both about equally. Maybe a little more toe but only a little.
I've found that most effective for my beard pattern is a lot of "windshield wiper" passes, so in several areas I'm holding the heel still until the end of the stroke but then move it across trailing the toe. North to south, south to north and east to west or west to east strokes just don't follow my beard growth patterns.
I use the whole dang blade. If I am trimming side burns I am not going to lop off an ear using the heel. By the same reasoning I am not going to lop off a lip trimming my stache with the toe.
Slicing and guillotine strokes, so the toe does a bit more.
Well all of this makes sense because I have a Goa-Tee so I tend to use the toe in many spots and where you would use the heel I don't shave.
So what do you recommend for honing then? Focus on honing toe more or equally? If equal then what about over honing the heel?
Wait. What? Huh? What the .....? LolQuote:
Originally Posted by 10Pups
Honing is always the same. Hone the whole blade nice and even. You shouldn't have to be honing THAT much anyway. You want to keep the razor geometry straight or you will be adding problems to your honing later not to mention making a razor with 6/8 on one end and 3/8 on the other .
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steel
Hey the picture is in my head and looks okay from here :rofl2:
It is natural for new shavers to keep hard on the toe. I think I taught myself to use the heel end more as I was learning. I felt I should use the entire edge and worked on it. The heel end on thin razors is the stiffest part of the blade. Good for tough work! It is my weapon of choice for ATG on the neck, trimming close around the bottom of a goatee beard. Depending upon the razor, it can be a sweet spot, even/especially with a goatee beard.
Just watch out for the ears and nose! ;)
All my strokes are scything strokes,I use the entire blade,heel to toe.
But, of course! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by pixelfixed
I don't really use the toe at all, I use the belly and the heel. I use the heel to cut around my goatee, which is why I like a nice square heel.
As a barber I tend to use the toe more out of the habit of shaving around ears and the nape of the neck....faces end up leaning more towards the toe just because of that
Never really thought about this, but I guess I use the heel around the chin and neck and the toe gets ear duty and upper lip
I would like to say I use the whole blade evenly, but that is not exactly accurate.
My favorite razors have spike toes AND heels. Those razors see even use.
Most typical (non-custom) razors seem to have a rounded heel and accordingly, they are not my preference for detail work, so I utilize the toe more on these razors.
Am actually wondering now if I use the heel more because my first razor had a really spiky toe; and I sort of shied away from using the toe for fear it's cut me...
I remember first starting, I used the toe half of the razor much more than the heel. However, the more I shaved the more I realized how to use and appreciate the heel as well.
I'm a righty and I shave with my razor in my right hand exclusively, so I favor the toe for my right sideburn and right chin, and the heel for my left sideburn and left chin, then it's all toe for my upper lip. I like to think my whole razor gets used.
All depends on the shape of the users face, hollows and other features can make it much more comfortable to use either heel or toe in those areas, and that's perfectly fine. No right or wrong. Some people may prefer the use of the heel in areas like above the lip because honestly its a lot easier to control the portion of cutting edge closer to the hand than the portion sticking out and away. Effective use of the toe can be harder to attain imho.
As far as honing, most beginning honers will tend to over one the toe end and not give the heel enough attention so you'll want to pay extra attention and be very intentional with keeping even pressure. And like it was already said, hone the blade evenly. Overhoning is a controversial topic and I'll say, don't give it a second thought. When your blade needs touching up you are not going back to a courser stone to reset the bevel. The coursest stone I go to for touch ups is an 8k. And I try not to let my daily users go that far before a touchup, but as soon as the shave doesn't quite feel as good as I know it should I'll go my 12k or equivalent and do a few "stropping" strokes, spine leading. It doesn't take a lot of lapping, just a few laps and test the edge. For me that's what works best and keeps me from having to hone my daily users to death!
Wow! That's some great advice. You are new here?Quote:
Originally Posted by silverloaf
New to the forum yes, I joined a little while ago and just got around to my first post in the new member introduction today, haha. I'm not new to straights, but certainly wouldn't "hang my hat" on the same level as some of the great gents here. Its nice that we all get the opportunity to learn and be refreshed by sharing and asking questions. The thing I try to remember is that everyone has a different face so my methods might work for crap with you, and the other way around. And the way we hone razors doesn't have to be exactly the same either. There are so many honing strokes that its rediculous. Experimenting and feeling a connect with what's going on between the stone, the razor and your fingers tells you if a certain honing stroke is being effective for what youre trying to accomplish. I probably look like two different people when I'm removing chips or correcting a frown vs touching up my edge on an 8k or 12k, haha. And the same goes for stropping, if you're stropping stroke doesn't look like lynns that doesn't mean your doing it wrong. In my mind It makes sense that every golfer has a different swing, so every wet shaver may have a slightly different set of body mechanics to accomplish the same end goal. Bearing in mind that golfers and wet shavers both have a "range of movements" that need to be the parameters to stay within or you certainly can mess things up. Ok. The rant is done. Contradicting myself was accomplished. Thank you and good night.....;)
Well said. Here-hear :)
If you honed the edge equally how can one part be over honed ? ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Steel
I liked the question about overhoning the heel because logical thought is "I've mostly produced wear on the toe so the bevel at the heel is still nearly perfectly formed and polished. If I hone evenly then I'm bringing the toe back to perfect condition but the heel will form a wire edge." I might be wrong as to op thinking but that's my take. You will need to remove metal from the heel to bring the toe back into shape after all the "face time" with stubble has caused enough microchipping that stropping cant resolve, but its microscopic and can be done without going to a course stone. At the coursest an 8k with slurry will handle the deal. Overhoning on this scale is really not something to be concerned about. If a wire edge forms it is usually at the hands of courser stones and will actually be polished off once you hit 8k and higher. Also, Nice and even honing done periodically extends the life of a razor because it negates the need for aggressive honing. Rant complete, sorry:ziplip:
Yup. What he said. But evidently over honing is very hard to do and easily corrected anyways with back honing so I am no longer worried about this. Plus I am purposely using the heel more now. Thanks everyone.Quote:
Originally Posted by silverloaf
The degree of "wire/burr" you can create with a polishing stone is also easily remedied with a Cro pasted strop & sometimes just canvas but if you create one it may mean you should have been on a coarser stone to start with. You can also apply pyramid honing principles.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steel