“Beginner to Beginner” Tip #2 - Honing
Last night I completed the honing process for an old Wade and Butcher wedge I purchased recently. The edge was pretty darn dull when I got it. I am new to honing razors – attempted to hone only a handful of razors thus far. For certain, this was the first time I attempted to hone a razor in such poor starting condition and it was the first time I attempted to hone a wedge.
For my fellow newbies, I thought I’d share what I learned during the process:
1/ I learned that honing a razor is tremendously time consuming, particularly in the bevel setting stage. (For all you honemeisters out there, I have a heightened level of respect for what you guys do!) It took me 5-6 hours of work spread over several days to get the razor in shave ready condition. I certainly hope that the time investment reduces as I gain more experience. I guess my advice for fellow newbies is to be patient and persistent in the beginning. Frustration in the beginning over your speed of progress is counterproductive.
2/ It’s stated many times on this forum that the shave test is the only definitive sharpness test. For a newbie (at least for myself), this statement didn’t appear practical. Do I really have to progress through all the hones, strop, lather, shave, and repeat over and over again until the razor is completely dialed in? This approach just didn’t seem efficient to me. However, I learned very quickly that the shave test just may be the only test that works for a newbie. For me, I don’t yet have sufficient skill to determine sharpness with the TPT – or any other test for that matter. I literally had to lather and shave to determine sharpness. Accordingly, I did all my honing at the bathroom sink. Perhaps this is why it took me so long to achieve success. In any event, my perspective on the shave test changed 180 degrees as a result of this project.
3/ The HHT sometimes receives criticism for being an imperfect test. I didn’t appreciate this fully until this project. Multiple times the razor was able to pass the HHT yet the razor simply refused to give an acceptably comfortable shave. Simply put, I learned that there is a meaningful gap between passing the HHT and shave readiness.
4/ I learned that stropping really is king. This shouldn’t be a surprise, as it’s mentioned on these forums on a regular basis. Sometimes, however, things don’t sink in until one experiences something for himself. For me, I couldn’t get my razor to shave ready condition off the hones unless I did what seemed like an absurd number of strokes (200+). I now fully appreciate the benefits of stropping!
Anyhow, hope my experience helps a fellow newbie in some small way.
Happy honing!
PS: It sure was a pleasure shaving with the old W&B this morning.
