Thread: It's Here! Now then, to hone or not to hone?

Behold! The magnificence that is my first straight razor. Many of you have seen it in a previous post here, but this post has a different matter to address...

I have failed to locate a sharpening service reasonably close to my home, and the idea of packaging up the blade and sending it off with the mailman after finally laying eyes upon it is hard to consider.

Now, I am no stranger to sharpening stuff, I am no stranger to patience, and I am not opposed to spending the necessary buck to do a job right. So I ask myself, and by posting this, the community as well, "Would it be unwise to purchase a 4k-8k stone and some chromium oxide paste and give this sucker a personal honing myself?"

The condition it arrived in is not great. The shave it gives is coarse and the bevel is visibly uneven. However, it does cut hair, so I bet I can start right off with 4k. Otherwise, I already have a nice arkansas stone to set a bevel. Still, I am unsure of the technical challenge of sharpening such a fine blade beyond that of sharpening a chef's knife. Perhaps it is too great…

I can sharpen my knives free-hand to shave hair from my arm, and those are 20+ degree bevels. That's with either a granite slab and sandpaper or my arkansas stone, as well as a pasted strop I made. Perhaps that offers perspective on my sharpening skills.

What do you think, community? Foolish? Worth a shot?

Even tho it may be hard to do I would suggest sending it out to be professionally honed so that you have a base line of what it shaves like with a proper edge. If you just started SR shaving master stropping, building lather and shaving technique before even trying to hone. Just my $0.02. Trust me when I say that honing razors is a horse of anothe pickle when compared to knives or farm implements.

Originally Posted by guitstik

Even tho it may be hard to do I would suggest sending it out to be professionally honed so that you have a base line of what it shaves like with a proper edge. If you just started SR shaving master stropping, building lather and shaving technique before even trying to hone. Just my $0.02.

That's what I thought. I am not sure of the likelihood of achieving a proper edge without the experience in sharpening specifically razors. I would hate to feel like I did a good job, as a knife sharpener, and then live with second rate shaves forever.

I am hoping that honing a razor properly is relatively assured with knowledge, similar experience, and patience, but I can't say it is myself. Those 2 cents may add up quick here with future replies.

My vote is to get it pro honed. You will learn what a truly shave ready razor is. As a beginner honer myself I only touch up my pro honed shave ready razors. I have ebag specials to practice on.

Originally Posted by nodakjohns

My vote is to get it pro honed. You will learn what a truly shave ready razor is. As a beginner honer myself I only touch up my pro honed shave ready razors. I have ebag specials to practice on.

Noted. That's 2/0 for professional honing. Geez... I might not sleep tonight waiting to actually shave with this thing.

Hone it Hone it Hone it! That's my vote. You will hear people saying that the skills are totally different and they are but I found many to cross over too like the basic principles, the X stroke, progression, bevel setting, refining, ect..

Just because you can sharpen a knife doesn't mean you will be good right away at sharpening a razor but you will have a head start on most IMO. The biggest differences are you go up to a much higher grit stone (12k and above), very little pressure is used after bevel setting in comparison to sharpening a knife, and the razor lays flat so you don't have to worry much about angles.

Own the blade and show it who's boss. Hey unless you grind that puppy into a tooth pick you can always send it out if you cant get it.

Then again, you may want to play it safe and spend some money and time to send it out to someone else.

Send it out. JMHO. Honing is great to learn but you must have a goal to aspire to. Without a properly honed razor from SRD to compare my results against I would not be getting the edges I do today. I clearly was settling in the beginning.

Originally Posted by Sirnanigans

I have failed to locate a sharpening service reasonably close to my home, and the idea of packaging up the blade and sending it off with the mailman after finally laying eyes upon it is hard to consider.

Sirnanigans, you are in Chicago. There is a large contingent of straight razor shavers in the busy metropolis of my former home. Go to the link below and scroll down to Illinois. There you will find TwistedOak listed as a honing/help resource. You only joined this month and have a long, enjoyable road ahead of you. Read the Library, or at least the FAQs. A lot to be garnered there. Start your trip with a properly honed razor, you won't regret it.

Local Help - Straight Razor Place Library

There are a few meets here and there in Chicago, take advantage of them and meet fellow shavers. For all you know, there may be one living right next door to you.

Have it pro honed so you know what a honed razor feels like.
And it looks like Razorfeld already found you a local honer.

I still do both. I started with pro honed razors and then learned to hone. I still send out the occasional razor to keep new benchmarks around. I have used edges from quite a few people. It is nice to try them even though I am quite capable of honing. In hindsight it was a good place for me to start so I can't help but recommend it.