Thread: Oldtime Barber Lesson

So I'm new to the straight world and was driving around time this afternoon and saw an oldtime barber shop so I decided to stop in and see if they did straight shaves. Turns out they did and the guy told me to go grab my straights and come back and he would show me how to hone and strop. Since I was about 5 minutes away from where I'm staying, I went and got my razors.

I was half expecting him to pull out a whole slew of hones, but (as the other half of me expected) he just pulled out a double sided barber hone and did a couple swipes before taking it to the strop. Then he ran the razor down his thumbnail and pronounced it good to go. I asked him if he ever used any other hone and he said he didn't.

I suppose, since I haven't shaved with it yet, I have no idea how his edge was. It just surprised me, after reading the intricate processes that some guys here go through, that this was all he ever does to his razors.

He did give me a small piece of advice on shaving which was to give a slight angle to the shaving strokes instead of going straight down. I suppose I'll try anything once, so maybe I'll give it a shot next shave.

Thought I would share this observation.

Thanks.

He was just showing you how to do the periodic touch-up(tune up) which is necessary to keep the blade in top notch shape. HE DID NOT show you how to establish a bevel or remove a nick, things that will require considerably more attention than just a few licks on a two sided barber hone.

I understand that his quick tutorial on the barber hone is the normal touch-up procedure, but I thought it was interesting that he says he never uses anything else. Wouldn't you have to establish a new bevel periodically?

No reason I can see to re establish a new bevel unless you have a nick or some other damage.

If you have a razor in A-1 shaving condition and you were a barber using your razors every day a few swipes on the barbers hone every day would probably be all you ever need. He's correct.

Only if you jacked up the original bevel . Like trying to saw thru a brick or chipping it and leaving a nick, The touch up removes just enough dull metal at the edge to resharpen the bevel.

A perfect example of the old saying "It is much easier to keep a blade sharp then to sharpen a blade"

What the barber told you to do about shaving at an angle is generally referred to on this forum as a scything motion. Rather than the beginning and end position of the razor forming a rectangle, it should form a parallelogram.