Thread: Am I the only one who doesn't want to hone myself?

No you aren't alone. I have a full suite of chosera/naniwa superstones and pretty much never use them. I touch up the few razors i use but really only need the barber hone and couple of slates i also have.

Short answer is No. I've been doing this for 3 years, I don't hone, as a matter of a fact unless your honing for other people or damage your razor it goes a long time without needing to go to the stones, I can't figure out why you need to hone once a week or even once a year, learn the strop , send it out and when you know how to strop and shave you won't need to hone , just maintain. Tc

I like to drive and could mount new tires myself if needed but I choose to hire someone else to do it.

I rotate/maintain them myself....

Having a sit-down with a knowledgeable person would help a lot using YOUR stones, IMO.

Honing is rather easy to learn, given the skill set, on synthetics with the right instruction. If you wing it and listen to everyone, notsomuch.
Staying the path and not veering toward naturals (as some will suggest) will keep a base of knowledge growing.

Always time for the other things later after you learn to get good results on some more standardized synthetics, I suppose.
JMO

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Having a sit-down with a knowledgeable person would help a lot using YOUR stones, IMO.

Honing is rather easy to learn, given the skill set, on synthetics with the right instruction. If you wing it and listen to everyone, notsomuch.
Staying the path and not veering toward naturals (as some will suggest) will keep a base of knowledge growing.

Always time for the other things later after you learn to get good results on some more standardized synthetics, I suppose.
JMO

I found some nortons that I might buy, and I found lynn's "honing with nortons" youtube video. I don't think there are any baltimore SRPers that are active around,(I did use the "find members in your area" thread instructions) but one added question about the nortons I've been drooling over, they only go up to 8k I keep hearing about 12k or 24k etc. do I need these or will an 8k get me shave ready?

You can get a very nice shave from an 8K edge. I recently read a thread where a very experienced honer has gone back to 8K and all but abandoned most of his naturals and high grit synthetics. An 8K edge done well is a beautiful thing. For the longest time I went to 8K and then a natural. I have only very recently started playing with the higher grit synthetics.

Search the JaNorton thread, couldn't post the link

To each his own, that's what makes this place great, I however like honing. Easy and pretty straightforward to me...

I enjoy knowing that I am shaving with a razor that I restored and honed. It is satisfying to use an edge that you created, especially when it works good. Nothing wrong with just maintaining and having others hone for you though.

You need to do what is most comfortable for you. And it really depends on how you are approaching SRs. If you only want to have 3-5 new SRs and use them in a rotation, then sending them out to be honed may be the best approach. For me, I like to use vintage razors that I find in the wild. I have about 25 SRs and I decide to invest in a set of stones and do my own sharpening. It didn't make sense to send 25 SRs out to be sharpened. Honing is very easy -- there are so many great resources on the web.