Thread: Newb here. Got Some Questions.

Hello everyone. I've been lurking here for a bit, and now that I finished with my law school apps (literally about a minute ago) I figured I would reward myself with getting a straight. Since I'm now about to jump into straight shaving I figured I might well join here.

I have a few questions before taking the plunge though.

1. Is honing really that hard? It seems that some people (esp in the B&B forum) make it sound as if I'll have an easier time of it if I try to learn brain surgery. I bought the Lynn Abrams DVD and honing seems pretty straightforward to me. Am I missing some subtlety , or is it that people want to stress the importance of buying a shave ready razor the first time out?

2. I was thinking of getting a pasted paddle strop to freshen the blade up every now and again, but I was wondering how will I know when the blade will need a proper honing and not just a few passes on the pasted paddle?

3. Finally - and this may seem like a silly question to you (but if I can't ask a stupid question anonymously over the internet, well then where can I ask one? ) - what do you hang a hanging strop from?

Thanks in advance.

You've come to the right place. I'll answer how I can:

1. It depends on the workman and on his tools. A reasonably adept person with a couple of good stones (like the Norton combo) should be able to pick up the basics (keeping a blade in trim or restoring an edge that has just fallen shy) in a few hours of practice. There's always a more challenging project and a less talented honer.

2. You'll know when the shaves won't stop pulling regardless of how you try to get the edge back on the pasted paddle.

3. I've hung mine from door knobs, a door arm at the top of the door or a coat hanger stuck on the wall, but I usually keep it hung on the cross bar of my wardrobe which is just above waist height where I like it. Loop a loop of leather or string through the hardware and you can hang it wherever you like.

X

1. Not really, but does require a good sense of feel, developed only by practice.
2. What X said
3. All the strops I have have a snap ring or snap hook on them. I drilled holes in the edge of my bathroom counter and installed eye bolts to hang them from. I have four double sided strops hanging there now and three eye bolts.

I would stress the importance of buying a shave ready razor more than anything else. Many guys have not done that and given up in frustration. Honing is the most difficult of the skills needed and it does take some practice. Just do not practice on your first razor and, no, it is not brain surgery.

1. I'll let you know when I start honing.

2. Ditto to X. Or, when you drop/nick/open a box with/otherwise damage your razor (I wouldn't recommend *any* of these things, by the way) it will absolutely need the hone.

3. I use a heavy-duty mug hook from the hardware store.

like randy said, honing is definitely the hardest part of a lifetime of straight shaving. however, its most definitely learnable with a bit of patience and some time spent practicing. as with all things, good equipment means ease of use and the ability to learn correctly. so when its time to start your honing, buy the right stuff and you will have good quality equipment for a very very long time.
i live in NYC and i'd be happy to teach you how to hone when you get the right equipment.

like others have stated. when the razor starts to pull even though you have did the touch up with the pasted then its time. the pulling you will learn as you get adjusted to shaving.

i hang my strop from the towel rack in my bathroom. i put a piece of leather shoelace or whatever it is around the metal top ring and tied that onto the towel rack. its the right heigth for me. but u could put it anywhere in the bathroom or anywhere else really.

~J

Honing is easy. I've been an Instruction designer for about 9 years now and its not the complexity of the honing that is the problem, its trying to use the Internet as the mechanism for learning.

Those I've taught in person got it really fast, and those that get a Skype session with Randydance seem to get it very fast as well. The video Lynn provides would probably help a lot.

On average the learning curve is about 6 months. For me its been about 3 years. Why I can't tell you. I was ok in my second year but am only now getting what I would call "good" at it. There is a lot of documentation that suggests it takes about 10 years to learn. In that regards I think the Internet has cut the average learning time down tremendously. This site is averaging a six month learning curve which cuts, what, 9 1/2 years off the old time total.

There are several holdups with learning to hone:

Fear that you'll ruin the blade (as if its possible to somehow create a razor that ends up with a spine thinner than the edge )

An unwillingness to apply the right amount of pressure

An unwillingness to buy the right equipment

An unwillingness to learn all the techniques to evaluate an edge

Some preconceived idea of how to hone that ruins your progress (like experience as a knife honer)

An unwillingness to learn to strop correctly (or just an inability; the two actions are interlinked and therefore if you can't strop it impedes your progress on the hone)

Misinterpreting our advice (this occurs either because people only read the posts that sound good, or don't read ALL the info in a post, or can't evaluate the meaning of a group of posts that sound contradictory)

Interpreting advice incorrectly (if I say to do something lightly what does that mean to you?)

Buying the right equipment but not using it correctly (like failing to lap a hone correctly)

Not explaining or evaluating the edge correctly (it seems dull but in fact is overhoned)

Trying to hone an unhoneable razor (like a poor quality steel)

Lack of patience

Misunderstanding the fundamental concept of honing itself (delicately creating ultra fine teeth, bracketed by ultra smooth bevels converging in a straight line along the edge of the blade) Ok, maybe that does sound difficult.

I thought of it this way when I started. It might take me years to learn to hone (it did) but I'd be in the same spot a few years down the line whether I learned to hone or not.

1. It's not that hard. It took me several weeks until I realized I needed to lap my hone. My next honing session got the razor sharp enough to shave with; it wasn't perfect, but it was shave-worthy. My honing has gotten better since then; I've got a long way to go, but meanwhile I'm pretty happy with my results.

2. What everybody else said.

3. I clip mine on a cord looped around the doorknob.

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

Some preconceived idea of how to hone that ruins your progress (like experience as a knife honer)

I found that sharpening knives helped me "get it" a lot faster. That's all a razor is, really. You just have to modify your process a bit, with different equipment. It's much more finessed, but the process is very similar. Get a good bevel and polish it.

Thanks for all the info/advice. I went over to thewellshavedgentleman and got a pasted paddle strop along with a hanging strop and the razor that Tony sells. After I let my credit card rest for a while I'll probably pick up a Norton 4k/8k and a cheap razor off of ebay to practice on.

Thanks again. I'll let you guys know how it goes.