Thread: Honing Problem

Originally Posted by papasote

On a side note, I got to thinking (maybe I'm just not thinking outside the box here), but consider this. If a razor has been used for any amount of time, one would assume it was honed, stropped and kept relatively sharp; otherwise, the person using it would not really be able to shave properly. That being said, let's assume it hasn't been neglected or mistreated either. Years go by after no use and someone decides to purchase this razor from somewhere like ebay. How in the world does the bevel get so dull that an entirely new bevel must be set in? If the original user was only using it for shaving purposes, the blade would have had some sort of decent bevel (or blade, not sure of the terminology) to where the next person that picked it up could simply do a little honing and get it shave ready again (assuming it wasn't honed after its last use). Does this make sense or am I not using my brain? The metal edge doesn't just magically round itself off.

Many times a razor spends years lying around somewhere. People might use it for cutting rope, scraping gunk off something, opening boxes, slaughtering chickens, you name it. The razor might become rusted, and someone without razor knowledge may still be handy enough to sand and polish the blade. Sometimes, some young fellow finds his grandfathers razor, tries it out on a piece of wood, hones a bit on granddad's old and worn-out woodworking hone, tries it on his face, says "nah" to himself and puts it on Ebay...

Bottom line: the possibilities for a razor to be completely dull are endless, and a straight razor in a drawer attracts plenty attention throughout the years of non-use.

About your honing. It's not rocket-science but it does require some knowledge. The wiki of StraightRazorPlace is a good source for that. It also requires a few motor skills, that resemble the learning curve of learning handwriting. That takes regular practice. Last but not least, learning how to hone requires a fair deal of result evaluation, that you can't perform without some confidence in your own straight shaving abilities.

When I was new at this, I figured honing razors was going to be easy. The big challenge in honing knifes and chisels, I always found was keeping the honing angle constant. With razors, keeping the angle constant seems easy, so how difficult could it be?
Well, I'm still learning, and I guess that counts for all guys that offer honing services in the Classifieds. So for all newbies, that ever read this post, I would like to point out the folowing:

Learning how to hone:
1. learn how to shave.
2. study the theory.
3. start out with a few dull razors in fair condition
4. learn to tackle problematic razors.

Approaching it backwards is a great recipe for frustration.


Best regards,
Bart.