I'm sure i'm not the first to ask this...

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Originally Posted by cyrano138

does everyone pretty much keep the spine and blade pressed to the hone as they sharpen? i read in one of the help files, and it stands to reason, that over time this would wear down the sides of the razor as well, causing the angle of honing to change as it diminished, eventually causing the razor to stop sharpening well.
also, in the honing vid on this site, it looks like the fellow (norton schick?) is only putting the sharp part of the razor to the hone, holding the spine slightly off of it...

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i posted this earlier but i think it was overlooked or lost in the shuffle or something. hope you guys don't mind my reposting it. any thoughts?

The blade is held flat against the hone at all times! The distribution of pressure is equal from the edge to the spine and from the heel to the toe of the blade. Again, this rule always applies.
Don't worry about the angle change caused by the reduction of the thickness in the spine. What is more important is that the amount of wear be equal along the length of the spine. There is also wear on the edge itself. Some of us use tape on the spine while we are honing. This prevents the spine from wearing down. It is primarily an issue of appearance.

Generally speaking, the amount of pressure to use is only the amount necessary to keep the razor flat on the hone. The exception is when you are removing some major nicks and/or oxidised steel from an old Ebay/antique store razor. Then I use 1-2 lbs of pressure.

The videos can be mis-leading. When I have been involved with a video honing session it has appeared that the other person does not have the spine on the hone. That was not the case. It is just the visual effect of the video camera. Never raise the spine off the hone.

Hope this helps,:)

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Originally Posted by cyrano138

i posted this earlier but i think it was overlooked or lost in the shuffle or something. hope you guys don't mind my reposting it. any thoughts?

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Originally Posted by randydance062449

Don't worry about the angle change caused by the reduction of the thickness in the spine. What is more important is that the amount of wear be equal along the length of the spine. There is also wear on the edge itself. Some of us use tape on the spine while we are honing. This prevents the spine from wearing down. It is primarily an issue of appearance.

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so the razor could still feasibly last a lifetime, even if the spine is being gradually worn away?

Absolutely!

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Originally Posted by randydance062449

Some of us use tape on the spine while we are honing. This prevents the spine from wearing down. It is primarily an issue of appearance.

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Doesn't this gum up the hone? I'm not overly worried about collecting or appearances so I hone all my razors flat. but I would worry that taping the spine would cause the hone to get gummed up and be a real pain to clean and lap. How would you avoid this and what type of tape would you use?

Cyrano, depending on where you're from, you may find some good razors very inexpensively at flea markets and/or antique stores. I got a griffon for 2 bucks that I used as a razor for practice honing on.

One of the honemeisters here gave me a handfull of junk razors to practice on also.

I've still got one left if you need a razor to practice on. It's not a high dollar razor by any means but it's a good one to start with and it can give you a decent shave when you're done. P.M. me if you want it.

If you go to flea markets make sure none of the razors frown at you or have what I can only describe as cartoon mouth. The frowning is when you hold the blade in front of you with the spine on top and the cutting edge on bottom and the center of the cutting edge is higher than the tip or heel. The thing I don't know the proper name to, the cartoon mouth, is when there's a couple spots on the cutting edge that's higher and the cutting edge looks like rolling hills or something. A smiley blade where the tip and heel are higher than the center seems to be ok, some of the guys on here prefer it.

I'm not trying to sound like I know more than the veterans here but just sharing what I've done to get by on an uncertain (self employed) income. Hope it helps.

Glen F

The tape does not gum up the hone. You will be cleaning the hone either way. I have used Duct tape, scotch tape and now electriical tape. I prefer the electrical tape. The hone does not wear thru the electrical tape.

cyrano,

Just a few words of encouragement from a relatively new guy. I started out doing this back in August and had a very similar attitude. I do my own honing and, it turns out, those years as a Scout paid off. But I started with one from one of the guys here and am so glad I did! It gave me a ballpark to shoot for and kept me actively shaving while I worked out my honing skills. I since passed that one on to a friend and have used just one razor for the past 6 months. I'll be remedying that soon, but you can absolutely do it. I think, in the end, it will have more to do with the quality of the steel and your daily care than anything else.

I also find, BTW, that when I have it well honed, I don't always have to shave everyday. Of course I often sport some form of beard, but even when I just have 'staches, I seem to be able to skip one now and then.

Best of luck, and good shaving to you!