Thread: Don't be afraid of the hone(s)!

I have been shaving with a Dovo purchased from SRD, and my grandfather's razor that I sent to Lyn to hone. I tried honing one of grandfather's other razors, but was very unsure of myself. After shaving for two months with the Dovo (honed by someone at Lyn's shop) I began to wonder if I should try to hone it. Keep in mind that during this two months I was not only learning to shave, but learning to strop. I must have made every mistake in the book with that baby, including dropping it once!

So I took the huge risk of trying to hone my "go to" razor. After honing and stropping I took a shave, and WOW, what a difference. When I got the razor from SRD I didn't know how to shave, so it was only OK. Now that I know how to shave and its sharp it feels great!

The (im)moral of the story? Noobs, don't be afraid of the stones. After a reasonable amount of shaves with a razor honed by a master either take it to the hones yourself, or send it back to the honemeister. You will be happy you did!

Enjoy,

Ive

I got a barber's hone from a local barber shop cheap; $20. It works great to freshen up an edge. Go slow and light for 8 passes and wow, what a difference!

I just got my first two razors about 2 weeks ago I believe. On day one I dropped the Voos. Well there it was two small nicks on the edge by the tip of the blade. It took me 4 hours to get the blade honed like I wanted, but totally worth it. A fully functioning razor again. While I do have prior experiences sharpening knives, only practice will get the razor where you want it. Don't be afraid, watch Lynn's DVD and go for it!

I agree, don't be afraid of the hones. Learning to hone does work best when you can be patient and are not relying on that particular razor for your shaves but in a pinch have at it. Learning to shave and hone at the same time can be done, I did but it is a long road and ya need to be tenacious or you will give up on straight shaving.

When you begin honing, blade/edge assessment is very important. If you have an idea of where the edge is when you start, you'll avoid going any lower in grit than you have to, avoid unnecessary work and take off only the steel that needs to be removed.

Remember. Before 1900 everyone honed and they didn't even know how to turn on a computer or drive a car! So how hard can it be!!

Originally Posted by Johnus

Remember. Before 1900 everyone honed and they didn't even know how to turn on a computer or drive a car! So how hard can it be!!

If ya think about it, this may be why the Gillette razors became so popular and eventually replaced the straight razor. New blade, new, sharp edge. The edge gets dull, toss it and get another new blade with a new sharp edge. Now that is simple. Shaving with or being shaved with a straight razor with less than optimum edge can be very uncomfortable and even painful. With 'everyone' (which I doubt everyone did) honing their razors there had to be a lot of just average edges about and a bunch more sub par edges. It is really hard to describe a properly honed straight razor without actually trying it (with a good shave technique) or having someone that has a lot of good experience shaving others. There are two barbers at my shop that have given me a shave with my razor. The more experience barber gave a great shave that I could only hear. The less experience barber was like a woodpecker, very fast and short strokes. I would never have the less experienced guy give me a shave again even though the razor was my own and gave me great shaves both before and after this guy had at me. There is nothing like a well honed straight razor used by a person with good shaving techniques. When straight razors were the tool of choice I doubt everyone was as proficient with them in both shaving and honing them as some of the others or even some of our SRP members and people providing professional honing services.

Nobody should be afraid to try honing their own razors. The best approach would be to have one that is shave ready and one to learn honing with. Not everyone can afford or desires to take the best approach and as a result some move on to other interests.

In looking at some of my old barber manuals under the shaving chapters it is said a reason for loss of patronage to a shop or barber could be traced to uncomfortable shaving. So even years ago not all people in the shaving world were masters at it.

Joed is correct. that's exactly why double edged, disposable blades became popular. Along with the fact that many men went down to the barber to be shaved. The safety razor itself was in response to fellows with morning "shakes" feared the straight razor in their own hands.

Barber shops aboard some of this country's finest limiteds were there mostly to shave patrons during the morning of arrival at destination as many men were not comfortable shaving aboard a train traveling at 90mph.*

It took me a long time, and much experimentation with hones and pasted strops to get a true, satisfying edge. A lot of what I learned came from SRP during the early years when I first joined in the Yahoo age. But it was worth it. As with any skill, once you have a routine down it takes no time at all, and you can help out others.

Mitch

* The popular entertainer Al Jolsen would, while the rest of his family was having dessert in the diner after Dinner, go to the barber shop aboard the "Super Chief" to have a haircut, shampoo, manicure, and a shave. (According to a book on this particular train.)