Thread: "The Expert" DIlemma of Honing/Stroppimg

So you can't expect any razor you buy to be honed and shave ready unless the vendor is someone who knows how to hone razors. So you have to send out your razor to be honed by one of the experts. Nothing wrong with that.

In the meantime, you can try to hone on your own. But everyone says, "Whoo boy, that's difficult, son, don't you try that, better send out your razor to be honed by a pro."

I've always been a self-reliant kind of guy. Like, I can see the value in getting a razor honed by a pro so I know what a good edge feels like. But I don't want to be sending it out every six months to a year for a rework. I want to do it myself.

I have Lynn's DVD where he demonstrates honing on the Norton combo stone. Is this not sufficient? If not, what else do I need?

(I guess the same dilemma applies to stropping, and the same question about Lynn's DVD applies.)

Along with this site you have all the resources you'll ever need. Honing, in principle, is simple. You have to learn the feel on your own anyway.

That's all you need. Period. I refer you to a quote made famous by Sir Isaac Newton.

"If I have seen further it is by standing on ye shoulders of giants"

That's exactly what you do by studying the pros like Lynn. You are gleaning tons of hard learned technique, just by studying what he does.

It is fair to say you can use the 80/20 rule on honing and stropping, much like you can on anything else in life. You can spend 20% of your time getting an edge 80% as good as the pros. The final 20% will take you at least the 80% extra time, and likely you won't get a honemeister edge. But, do you really care if what you end up with is a nice shave ready blade? Sure, it may not be as buttery smooth as they could get it, but it's a subtle difference. A bad hone job will be easy to identify early on in a shave test. And, that is not subtle, trust me on that one. My point is, the difference between what you can achieve and what a seasoned pro can achieve isn't so different that you won't be able to shave with what you get. In fact, men have done it for a long time themselves.

That's my $0.02.

- John

Originally Posted by Smedley

I have Lynn's DVD where he demonstrates honing on the Norton combo stone. Is this not sufficient? If not, what else do I need?

Luckily you have everything else you need right here in this community.

If you can't get your questions satisfactorily answered in the Forums, Randy will likely be only to happy to skype with you for closer contact.

You should get a honemeister honed blade to know what to shoot for but YOU CAN DO IT! It can be a challenge in the beginning, but persistence pays off.

X

I have to disagree with John. If you decide that your willing to settle for an 80% sharpness factor then you have just compromised your shaving experience. You might as well shave with a DE. I think we should always strive for the best we can do and the sharpest edge we can attain. It really isn't that much more difficult to hone to that nth degree. The law of diminishing returns does not apply here. Very often just a tad more honing will give vastly improved results.

I know for me (and I still consider myself a novice at this thing after almost 4 years) once I shave with a truly sharp razor I simply don't want to use one that isn't up to that standard.

Duke, I think you may have misunderstood my post, and then maybe not, who knows?

My point was, you can in fact hone your own razors and get excellent results, even if you're not a honemeister.

Regarding 'sharpness factor', I didn't mean that you should set your target on something 80% sharp as a Lynn hone, or even that you spend less time. What I actually meant is that you can get nice shaves from your own honing and stropping, even if you're not in the top eschelon of honing Gods.

Put another way, you can have a blast throwing a Corvette around the corners all day long. Sure, a Ferrari would be nice, but Corvettes are fun too.

So, I'm not sure if we still disagree spendur. If you meant that I was in fact saying, set your target low, well, then we simply have differing opinions.

Good luck Smedley.

PS Howard from www.theperfectedge.com is a great guy to chat with about honing any and all sharp things.

I'm also a noob who wants to be able to 'hone my own'. In my limited experience, I've found a coticule to be invaluable. Sure, they're pricey, but they finish the job off just right!

1)Honing is not hard,not a black art,and does not take an expert to perform well.
2)It,s just a razor,and honing stone not a space shuttle
3)Lots of experts in all endevours like to mystify their practice
4)70 Years ago there were lots of people who couldnt even read or write sucessfully honing razors
5) Just do it,you cant hurt the razor unless you are really too dumb to be out on your own ,and shaving yourself anyway
Best regards Gary

Thanks for all the feedback, gents.

I have one straight I will be sending out to get honed by a pro, and one junky one I will start to practice on after I feel what the real deal is like on my skin.

You may want to check it out under a microscope too. That can be very helpful. They run about $10 if you don't go to crazy.