Thread: How long does it take to learn to hone?

Good point; I'd say the hours of study are varied by the type of instruction and the methods of practice. The students back ground is important too. If he has honed knives before it changes the time (but it doesn't always lessen the time). We also have to decide when do you know how to hone? When you can hone one razor, when you can fix a razor that is ruined? When you can hone smilies?, fix a frown? clean away oxidation, hone a singing razor? Hone stainless? etc.

There is atleast one straight razor shaving clinic that teaches you how to hone a single razor, the one you'll use that night, in about an hour. Now, to say the student has learned to hone might be a stretch.

The assumptions I make when I say 6 months is some guy reading these threads, receiving no instruction, buying a few razors and trying to figure it out himself in the evening while he is doing his regular day job. I think its safe to assume a few posters are probably drunk on occasion, from what I've read anyway.

Or to put it another way, the 6 months comes from watching 8,000 guys enter this forum and try to learn to hone. The post dates are all posted and you can see when they started and when they "got it" very clearly.
This assumes that when they think they got it, they really did. Most of us probably know less about honing then we really do.

I've seen guys who have honed thousands of razors not clearly understood some of the simpliest, most basic ideas and decided they don't work. I've seen guys with a little experience break out a piece of newspaper and hone up a razor. Which one has learned the right way? Got me.

But, six months is a good timeframe to work with, because that is how long it takes for the average person on this forum, which is a pretty good sample.

So feel free to throw out my average based on observation and answer your own question.

How many hours does it take?

Given that my honing experience (in hours) can be counted on the hand of blind butcher, there is no way I could offer an estimate with a straight face.

I'd be interested to see results of a poll of newbie honers and see if any habits and routines are prevalent. If the vast majority put in an hour of honing practice an average of three times a week, then simple arithmetic dictates that approximately 70 hours practice will result in something approaching competancy.

***WARNING! The following is pure conjecture and may depart from sense at any moment.***

Establishing a quantifiable benchmark of competancy presents a challenge. Honemeisters appear to be honemeisters because they recognise they recognise the appropriate time to change a variable, be it sharpening medium or pressure (any more variables?). They recognise the look, feel and sound that signals a change is required. Would a honemeister require a microscope? A honemeister wastes no time performing 50 laps on a 4000 grit stone when 25 would do the job. Is it fair to say that a trait of an amatuer honer is the failure to recognise when one should move on in the honing process? If so, time taken to hone a razor at a defined stage of bluntness could be a method of ascertaining meister-status. The clock stops when a successful hanging hair test is performed on the heel, centre and toe of the blade (would a honemeister be satisfied with that benchmark, or would further subdivision of the edge be necessary?)

- Defining "blunt" and mnufacturing it on demand.

IF time is to be a method of benchmarking, then it is only fair that all test participants start from the same point. What method of wear is commonly experienced, quickly manufactured and replicable? Do the honemeisters find that such an animal as "garden variety blunt razor" exists, or is each razor a fresh and unique challenge? Can two razors which have comparable bluntness take vastly different times to sharpen?

Such a vast topic, about which, I know nothing.

Well now I think we're really starting to agree with each other.

Only to add a few more thoughts, since you bring up Erricson and I am an instructional designer by trade we need to clarify what the enabling objectives actually are. For example, in my humble opinion learning to shave is required of anyone that says they know how to hone. I've only met one guy that said he could hone a straight razor but had no idea how to shave with one and ofcourse my concern is "How do you know its really going to produce a good shave?"

Now, what I do is often hone a razor until its sharp. Silly me, but thats the way I do it. Why, because I don't know any better. But, if you ask Lynn he often refers to learning how to hone each razor. That makes me think that he actually knows the specific honing strokes, grit, and pressure needed to hone, say a TI, vs a Dovo. That is kinda hard for me to even think about, but it wouldn't surprise me at all. That takes us back to my point about "when do you arrive" at learning how to hone.

And the reason it took me 4 years is because, besides being stupid, I kept realizing that I could get better, and better, and better, and really still haven't stopped learning. I thought I could hone a razor for a while and then found out I couldn't. Until I created a razor that cuts hairs, was smooth as silk, was easy to strop, and never nicked the user I realized that the level of really good honing is very far away from just "honing".

But, here is where I get a little annoyed. I hear lots of people say something like "It only takes an hour to learn, once I trusted a light touch, but it took me 5 months, 3 weeks, 6 days and 23 hours to get to the point where I knew when and how to do it, but it only takes an hour to learn to hone, of that I"m certain"

Knowing what I know now I take no issue with the 1961 barbers manual that says "it takes about 10 years to learn how to hone well".

But, you count up the hours for the newbies, include the time it takes them to learn to shave, and I'll buy whatever you come up with.

Its like so many things - easy to learn, a lifetime to master.

Anyone with basic motor skills, a hone and some patience will be able to get an edge from blunt to shave. The difference I guess comes with a better and better and more comfortable edge, and that is where the time comes from.

I guess that 4 years ago you got a blade that was blunt to a position where you could shave with it. Thats honed in my books. What we are talking about after that point is *mastering* the process.

Si

About 6 months. Then I progressed in small increments for 3 years, every so often, by reading and experiemnting. That took me from 95% up to 99% and sometimes 100% to my satisfaction. I still am learning by little bits. It has been a treck. There is no better accomplishment in honing than to get that BBS shave. Technique is still being worked on. Everyones hair groth is different and requires much study.

Monte

It takes an infinite amount of time if, like me, your standards increase faster than your skill.