do any good "honing machines" exist?

Are there any simple machines that a complete noob could use to aid in honing? I'm sure that hand-honing by an expert would give the best results, but would something like a paper-disk sharpener possibly give better results then my first attempt at hand honing?

I am still planning on sending my razor out to a honemeister when it arrives, but I'm just thinking ahead. I'd hate to spend all the money on a set of hones and then end up ruining my blade in a month when I try my own honing.

I guess I could just buy a second razor, and alternate sending them out for honing.... Man, this can get to be an expensive hobby! definitely will be hiding the credit card statement from the wife for while :w

Get your razor professionally honed and buy yourself a barbers hone, youll keep your razor shaving sharp indefinately without buying 20 pounds of rocks.

He probably wouldn't appreciate being called "simple," but given that Lynn hones 20 to 30 razors per day, I'd say he is the closest to a honing machine.

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Originally Posted by nun2sharp

Get your razor professionally honed and buy yourself a barbers hone, youll keep your razor shaving sharp indefinately without buying 20 pounds of rocks.

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+1

In my experience, not so much with razors, but with honing anything, a machine is take up space, not to as good a job, and risk destroying what you're trying to hone on it.

Stick to the K.I.S.S. principle on this. Like the man said, start with a perfect edge, try not to do anything stupid (like knock a chunk out of the edge on the faucet) and you can keep it shave ready for ages and ages with a barber hone, and/or pasted strop depending on your preference.

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Originally Posted by Utopian

He probably wouldn't appreciate being called "simple," but given that Lynn hones 20 to 30 razors per day, I'd say he is the closest to a honing machine.

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Funny that's exactly what I was going to write - yes there is, located in Medina Ohio the top model is called 'Lynn Abrams' :)

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Originally Posted by nun2sharp

Get your razor professionally honed and buy yourself a barbers hone, youll keep your razor shaving sharp indefinately without buying 20 pounds of rocks.

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He's right. You can find swaty hones on ebay. Just make sure they're not the fake ones and they're the real deal. The fakes will say "Three-line", etc on them. The real ones will have 2-3 lines of writing on them and say they're from Austria. Also look out for bad chipping and pits in the hone before you buy it.

Even if you don't want to learn how to hone (I thought I didn't want to know either, but now I'm addicted to honing) you should be able to use a barber's hone easily. They only need about 5 strokes to do the job.

They do exist, but can do a lot of damage if you're not careful, like most power tools.
Here's one being used. The fella's a member here, but i can't find him, or his add in the classifieds. YouTube - Honing a straight razor on a Shinko machine

The hard part about the machines like this is the grit plates too. It's hard to find them fine enough to be able to shave off them. There is a ton of possibility for problems on these machines ie, heating blades, over flattening edges and spines, etc. Good for repairs though and even making wedges.

Lynn

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Originally Posted by ben.mid

They do exist, but can do a lot of damage if you're not careful, like most power tools.
Here's one being used. The fella's a member here, but i can't find him, or his add in the classifieds. YouTube - Honing a straight razor on a Shinko machine

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His name is moviemaniac and he hangs out at the Shave Den alot.

My father can remember a machine in a barbers shop when he was young - the barber put the open razor into some sort of carrier or belt system, it got taken into the machine and came out ready to strop. I've never been able to find out what it was called or what it really did, though.

Regards,
Neil