Thread: honing easy?

Originally Posted by jaswarb

The best advice for now is concentrate on developing a good stropping technique. It will make learning to hone much easier for many reasons.

Far more important: good stropping will help you maintain a keen edge instead of destroying it by incorrect technique.

Honing is ridiculously easy, getting that wicked sharp edge that wipes off whiskers with that buttery feel.... Well, there in lies the rub.

As I've said before, honing is an acquired skill which becomes an art form.

If your looking to hone razor's, I'd see if you can find a decent str8 on fleabay and learn to hone on one of those instead of your main razor. More than likely you'll have to set the bevel and hone the razor from start to finish. Then you'll learn how your hones work and how the razor sharpens on your hones.

As for maintaining the egde the 8000k and your strop should be all you need unless the stropping technique has kind of whipped the edge or it develops a chip in it.

Everyone has made valid points. I to wanted to hone my own razors.

The problem you are going to face is with only one razor you will infrequently need to hit the stones and when you do it will/should only be a light touch up. The 8k side of that will be okay for that but personally I would use something a little higher or a coticule. But your technique is going to be slow coming when you have a single razor and are only trying to touch it up every 3-4 months.

For me it was not until I was dong 1-2 razors a week that i started to get consistent edges that I was satisfied with.

I know Phil and Lynn both offer the second honing free on new razors. Take them up on it and wait a bit before buying stones. Add a second razor so that you can send one out for honing and still have your second to use.

Me is wondering why if honing is so easy why there are over 100000 "Un-Archived" posts about Hones and Honing on just this forum let alone the others???

Me thinks Mr. Deadrift done smacked the proverbial nail on da head .... (Post #12)

As a beginner newbie my comments weren't intended to imply that honing is easy but rather honing is a skill the learning of which is best subordinated to learning to strop correctly. It is simple and inexpensive to send a razor to a "honemeister"(ahhh geee Glen or Lynn come to mind) to gain the best result possible and considering the benefits of their vast experience the cost is insignificant. Stropping on the other hand must be done daily which would requires living with someone skillful on the leather. One needs to either develop the skill needed to strop well or investigate the possibility of a domestic arrangement with a "honemeister" er say ahhh Glenn or Lynn. ;-)

Seriously though the thought of learning to hone on one's only good razor doesn't seem prudent. One will likely destroy several practice pieces before getting results worth testing on a face and I suspect there will be much testing on the face before acquiring a good result.

Yep. The Naniwa 3-8K is my workhorse stone. I use a 12K finisher after that but the 8K will give a very servicable edge. Good luck!

Originally Posted by Xilbus

So my blade is a dovo diamant and i got it from Phil at the classicedge.ca and he honed it before sending me the blade.
Should this be ok to keep it shave ready?
Naniwa Combination Water Stone 3000/8000 Grit
Naniwa Combination Water Stone 3000/8000 grit

Jaswarb, honestly your comment was right in the first place IMHO anyway

Glen thank you for all I have learned reading your posts and watching your videos. Your mileage across the stones earns you the right to express most any opinion.

I'm a little late to the thread, but I wanted to add my 2¢. Honing isn't black magic, but it does take patience and practice to get good results when first starting out. It's taken 8 or 10 razors over the course of six weeks for me to consistently get good results. I'd work on a razor for a while, think it was good, and then test shave it only to find out that it was still lacking. Then take it back to the stones for some more work, and then try again. It's only been with the last two razors that I've not had to go back to the hones for more work after the initial test shave.