Thread: Benchmarking

So you have bought yourself a straight razor and entered the world of wet shaving! Sweet! You have made a large leap. But inevitably, as with all things sharp, there comes a point where they become dull. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your mindset), said dulling comes quicker for the new straight razor user than the seasoned user due to a variety of reasons really, namely; poor angles when shaving, poor stropping technique, etc., etc.

Hence, learning how to hone or maintain an edge should be as paramount to the beginning straight razor user as shaving itself. And this is where being a member of SRP really shines!! Where the internet really shines! But I got to tell you something you’re not going to like hearing… short of the SRP wiki, a bit of what you read here is malarkey!! 95% of what you read on the net is absolute malarkey! Even this is malarkey!!

Now before you get all defensive about your sources of knowledge, let me explain. There is what I call a certain amount of voodoo in blade maintenance and honing – you’ll discover it soon enough. What works for one, doesn’t always work for another. This is because it is VERY hard if not impossible to account for all the variables. Everything is a guideline. I mean if you tell me you are only applying light pressure… well what does that mean exactly?

More importantly – we are a forum of gentlemen. Hence, when you say something is working for you, who am I to say you are lying? I mean seriously, if you tell me that you are doing 100 laps on a brick with diamond paste before every shave and that its working for you… who am I to say you are lying? Of course sometimes guys are called out on their technique, and then things get really fun!

Inevitably, brick/diamond man will produce a picture under 400x magnification showing how smooth his blade is etc, etc. This in turn will have many who “chase the edge,” guys like me, buying said paste, scouring their back yards for a decent brick, and going hog wild… only to suffer the worst razor burn ever! Of course, I’ll blame the brick and keep looking… ultimately, wasting my time lol.

You may be more skeptical, but many of us aren’t, and I like many… am that sucker they talk about that is born every day. I have done it! Often! And ultimately I became dejected as would anyone - especially if you just blew their entire honing budget on it! Many of us are looking for shortcuts. Shortcuts are great! But shortcuts like in anything, can only exist for those who know what they are doing first. Just ask Columbus lol!!

__________________________________________________ ____________________

Ok so if everything is malarkey including this, why should you even read any further? Why have you read this far?? Well, hopefully because of two things. One, the truth is right there in front of your face, it’s just not as sexy as a magic natural hone or a magic paste. You'll see. And Two, you can speed up the process to where you can discover your magic hone or paste for yourself, because it’s out there waiting for you!! But you have to create a system or what I call a benchmark in order to find it! Only a very few of us get as lucky as… Columbus lol.

__________________________________________________ ____________________

Ok so what’s benchmarking? According to Bing, it’s, “a standard against which something can be measured or assessed”


The best benchmark I have ever seen or read - something I refer to often is here:
Frequently Asked Questions - Straight Razor Place Library

Seriously - allot of thought has gone into this - read it often!!