Thread: a little confused about honing...

I am about to purchase a pre-sharpened razor, but will I end up having to hone the blade in a period of a year? Even if I take care of it and just strop it every time I use? Or is it really going to matter on how the blade keeps it sharpness? So it may last a month or it may last a year just all depends on it keeping its sharpness?

Raidel, razors have to be honed when they need it, not sooner nor later. It depends on may factors when that would happen for you (technique, beard type, etc.). For average people this usually happens bevery 2 or 3 months (without accidents). You may be able to get away with some honing by using some strop paste, an abrasive added applied to the strop but sooner or later the inevitable will come....

Al raz.

Welcome to SRP! Sooner or later stropping wont be enough to keep the razor sharp, thats when you pull out the barbers hone and give the razor 3-5 laps aquick stropping and back to the shave!

alright makes a lot of sense. I was looking on e-bay for barbers hone and I saw they were like $12...that doesnt mean they are bad I hope? lol I tried looking on other websites and I couldn't find any. I'm assuming the barbers hone is any hone that is 10k grit or higher?

No. Some are more coarse than that but for the most part, yes, they will be higher grit. Nun2sharp was right in that they are intended for just a few strokes for touch ups. If you start with a properly honed razor, you can get by with nothing but a barber hone.

but can I just get the barber hones that are on ebay for like $12. Or is there a another name for the barber hone, that I can use to find it on other websites. Or a grit number range?

i would actually order a hone new or let an expirienced member help you with your first honing attempts. Since you can mess a lot up, but you also learn a lot

I'm quite happy with my 4k/8k set, but defiantly see several ways to improve my honing an looking forward to mastering it.

Perhaps your safest bet in Barber hones is called a Swaty. Look for one that has 3 lines of text embossed into the hone. The other are an Apart or a Frictionite 00 ( it has 2 different grit sizes, one on each side). These are safe bets.

There have been a few SRP members over the years that swear by the Swaty hones and use nothing else for honing. Please understand that the initial honing establishes the cutting bevel and polishes it. A Swaty would take forever to do that job.

Originally Posted by Raidel

I am about to purchase a pre-sharpened razor, but will I end up having to hone the blade in a period of a year? Even if I take care of it and just strop it every time I use? Or is it really going to matter on how the blade keeps it sharpness? So it may last a month or it may last a year just all depends on it keeping its sharpness?

The answer to your questions are yes,yes,yes,& yes.
Some hands on help would be great to speed your learning curve but do your research, read the Wiki & "never let a knife guy put your razor on his wheels or hones".
You'll do fine.