Thread: I want to know...

Started to hone from the get go.

I would not call what I did from 1981-2000 (I dropped my last straight about then and got back in to SR's in 2006) honing, I had learned to maintain my razors on one stone, that is what I had been taught by the barber that got me started with a straight...I knew how to do a standard X stroke, I knew about very light pressure.... BTW that worked pretty well too, but then again I didn't really know better until I learned to "hone" razors...
I used Lynn's standard pyramid method for the first 20 or so razors, then I started getting into the "all new" progressive honing method about when I joined this forum

Worked on that for the next 80 or so razors then started learning how to hone wedges... I volunteered to hone just about every damn wedge I saw on the forum, somebody would post that they were having trouble I would send them a PM "I'll hone it"....Soon after that I started restoring my razors, and for friends at about the same time, and have never looked back since...

Originally Posted by gssixgun

I would not call what I did from 1981-2000 (I dropped my last straight about then and got back in to SR's in 2006) honing, I had learned to maintain my razors on one stone, that is what I had been taught by the barber that got me started with a straight...I knew how to do a standard X stroke, I knew about very light pressure.... BTW that worked pretty well

I would consider that , honing . Maintainence honing is what I would call honing . Anything more , is what I call edge restoration .

As I recall probably around 6 months after I started with a straight I started honing (or some facsimile of honing). I really didn't know what I was doing. But that was way before this site and I didn't know about the SRP Yahoo site until later.

I started STr8 shaving & pseudo-honing in the early 80's... My biggest revelation back then was finding some instructions that said you had to hone with the spine on the hone.
It was often just dumb luck if I could get a shaving edge & not ruin it on the strop. Often went back to the Muck111 in disgust & then back to Str8s in disgust of Muck111's
For some of us learning can be a long hard road but perseverance pays off.

I learnt more in my short time on SRP than the years I tried on my own. A big public THANK YOU to Lynn & everybody here that shares their knowledge

I've been straight razor shaving for less than a year, but I started honing fairly early on. I figured I'd dive in head first!

I totally agree with other posters that you do get some razors that are really easy to hone, and make you feel like you know what you're doing, and others that are total stinkers. Theres one I have at the moment that I've had for months and I still cant get it anything close to sharp.

All I know is that the more I read, and the more I get into this hobby, the more I realise that I dont know anything!

Its great fun though, so its all good!

Tell you what I find odd. A couple of months ago I was talking to a former forum member who had an ad in the classifieds offering his honing services. He told me that he had honed a few hundred razors for members in a three month period. I was quite surprised that he had gotten that much business with all of the people advertising honing.

So it seems odd to me that 99% of the respondents in this poll say they hone their own. Maybe the folks who don't aren't voting or the fore mentioned honer was exaggerating the amount of business he was getting .

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I think many of use go through that. I just think of Babe Ruth. He didn't hit a home run every time he went to bat but he kept on swinging. Some times I get it right from jump street and others I have to keep trying. My batting average is improving though.

What I regard as amazing is the Babe's batting average - coupled with his slugging record. Babe has a .342 lifetime average. Not bad for someone who didn't get a home run every time he got up to the plate. I'll bet one of the few things higher than the Babe's batting average was a pitcher's headache average when he came to the plate.

Originally Posted by Bruce

What I regard as amazing is the Babe's batting average - coupled with his slugging record. Babe has a .342 lifetime average. Not bad for someone who didn't get a home run every time he got up to the plate. I'll bet one of the few things higher than the Babe's batting average was a pitcher's headache average when he came to the plate.

Might have been the beer, hot dogs and cigars. Maybe if Mark McGuire had tried that rather than the juice he would have had the same results without having to apologize.

I'm not quite at a year, but I started honing early on as well. Even a year ago, straights were cheap enough that you really couldn't say no to them on ebay. I don't KNOW, but I suspect that the next year will see newbies with substantially fewer razors and less need to get into honing.

I'm probably miles off the mark though!