Thread: New blade coming

So you want someone to hone your razor for free eh?

I know there are a few guys who say they do that from time to time so you need to check the posts to locate some of them.

You might also find someone who takes pity on you and will do it.

In the end though I would just save my money and then pay to have someone do.

I think that the original poster is saying that he would like to learn to hone his own razors. (Problem is in these times and possibly raising younguns not everyone has the ready cash to invest in stones). I for one have found the greatest pleasure in the honing process. I have purchased about a dozen antique shop razors and have learned to make them SR. I have not learned this by myself but with the help of many here. I find it a great sense of accomplishment to make your own razor capable of shaving them whiskers. I do not doubt for a minute that the honemeisters can do a better, faster job of it, but they can never give the owner of the blade the satisfaction of doing it him or her self. I wonder why so many are telling him to send it out when all he really wants to do is do it for himself. An admirable quality IMHO.

Thanks, mkevenson. That is exactly what I want to do, and that is, exactly my problem.

i just don't think there is a single inexpensive hone that can fix your razor.
the DA seem to need more than just honing.

once the shoulder is fixed i think some people have used lapping film to hone those.

if you don't have a spectrum of hones capable of taking a razor from chipped to shave-ready, or not able to get somebody else do it for you your $15 razor may be just a waste of $15.

Originally Posted by gugi

i just don't think there is a single inexpensive hone that can fix your razor.
the DA seem to need more than just honing.

once the shoulder is fixed i think some people have used lapping film to hone those.

if you don't have a spectrum of hones capable of taking a razor from chipped to shave-ready, or not able to get somebody else do it for you your $15 razor may be just a waste of $15.

K, I think this was not meant for this thread.

I think of the pro honing as sort of a start up costs. As I told my mrs its easier for a new straight shaver to learn to hone with a blade that that has been honed once right then it is for a new straight shaver to take a dull blade and hone it to ultra sharp for a new straight shaver.

Here's the deal. Spend the $15 a pop, or whatever price you can find or bargain for (some people will sometimes offer to do it free) and you're golden for like 6 months to a year. You may only need a balsa strop with CrO (<$10) or a nice-ish, fine barber hone ($15-$30) to refresh the edge now and then. Both are good investments, even people with $1000s in hones will use either pasted strops or barber hones or some kind of touch up technique. All of these touch up techniques will be *reasonably* cheap. The exception being natural finishers, which are technically meant for finishing but I've had no problems touching up on them (though they really are too expensive for solely that reason).

If I am reading this right, he HAS a shave ready DA and MIGHT GET a $15 antique shop razor. Even if the DA is not SR, I would still advise to get one or both pro-sharpened and maintain it. This is cheapest for starting. I am at the point where I have RAD, but am poor, so I end up buying (comparitively) a lot of $10 to $20 razors that NEED honing. So I am investing in hones. Because in the long run, honing ten razors @$15+shipping a pop is more expensive than doing it myself.

Originally Posted by rcardon

K, I think this was not meant for this thread.

uhm, no, my post was actually to your situation.

you've already spend whatever money you've spent for your DA and you think if somebody just gives you a hone you'll buy another $15 razor, will hone both and will be set for life.

so, first of all wait for your razor to arrive. try to shave with it. if it doesn't quite work strop it on newspaper for few thousand passes and see if it makes any difference (my money is that it won't do a thing). next step would be to spend $4 and buy a small pack of chromium oxide from ChrisL (it's a lifetime supply if you do it right), put some on a newspaper and strop several thousand pases (check at 10, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000 if it makes any difference).

if you can't get your razor sharp that way, it's very unlikely you'll be able to get it with a cheap barber's hone either.

of, course the razor at your local shop may be already well honed, but from my experience so far that's about a 1:500 chance.

Sorry for not posting this in the original post, but the DA will be SR, it's from a member here.
The one from the antique shop seems to be in good condition, no dings, or rust spots. It seemed fairly sharp, but not SR.
I hope this helps to clear the confusion about my reluctance to spend extra money.
Just to clarify, I was not asking for a hand out, just suggestions, leaving it open for people to make offers, one of which I have already had, you guys all know Utopian's standard offer, which I do appreciate.