Thread: Josh's Honing

Ed convinced me, and I'm already honing!

Originally Posted by ForestryProf

Josh,
As much enjoyment as you obviously get from all of the aspects of straight razor shaving that you do participate in, I am amazed that you exclude yourself (by choice) from one so central to the hobby. Given all of your free time right now, you have no excuse for not diving in. If you need a razor to learn on---DO NOT USE ONE OF YOUR MEATCHOPPERS, I will be happy to send one out.
Cheers,
Ed

I would NEVER learn on one of my meat choppers. I think the average price of my wedges is around $170.00, not including the one Bill is making, so there is no reakin way lol. Eventually I plan to learn to hone, thats not really in question. However, I still dont know if I will ever want to attempt honing any of my rather unreplaceable razors in my rotation until I am satisfied I can restore one completely so that if I mess it up I can fix it. That will take a while though, every time I pick up a new hobby the one thing that gets pushed aside is my wife, and she has had about as much of that as she will take. So I would imagine it would take a few years before I really get the hang of honing.



As far as the hand cannon, I have alterior motives hehe...if I sell the gun that which I dont use much anyway, my wife says I can buy the gun that I really want..which it so happens I already bought...she just doesnt know it LOL, so this will make life easier and make me feel better I really dont buy guns anymore that I wont carry...and the 454 really has no use unless I am hiking in bear country...which is not something I will be doing in the near future unfortunately.

oh and BTW to all of you voting...the more hobbies I have the longer it takes me to do things like...put together a vendor directory, and a list of people to avoid on eBay, and jackets, hats, shirts, sweatshirts, and a few other things I have up my sleeve...so think about that hehe

IMO Josh should learn to hone. I bought a Norton 4K/8K shortly after buying my first straight, actually out of necessity after rolling the egde during crappy stropping.

Honing isn't that hard if you're just refreshing the edge of an already good razor, as long as you follow the right technique and have a reasonable amount of coordination. My Norton came in a case/holder which the hone sits in while in use - and it has little rubber feet which stop it slipping on the bench. So it would be pretty easy to hone with one hand only.

Restoring a bevel to a 'project' razor is harder and needs more skill, it's not something which I can do yet. But you wouldn't really be needing to do this, just refreshing an edge from time to time.

It only takes 5 minutes to set up, hone, and pack away, so is pretty convenient to use.

Originally Posted by Iwan

IMO Josh should learn to hone. I bought a Norton 4K/8K shortly after buying my first straight, actually out of necessity after rolling the egde during crappy stropping.

Honing isn't that hard if you're just refreshing the edge of an already good razor, as long as you follow the right technique and have a reasonable amount of coordination. My Norton came in a case/holder which the hone sits in while in use - and it has little rubber feet which stop it slipping on the bench. So it would be pretty easy to hone with one hand only.

Restoring a bevel to a 'project' razor is harder and needs more skill, it's not something which I can do yet. But you wouldn't really be needing to do this, just refreshing an edge from time to time.

It only takes 5 minutes to set up, hone, and pack away, so is pretty convenient to use.

I have heard from Joe that the thick full wedges I shave with are VERY hard to hone, even for him. Joe hones just as well as anyone I have used, what do you all think the learning curve is for the big ol edges I use?

It's like a guy who owns an S7, a 71 Challenger, 4 Ferraris and a Shelby GT500 and doesn't know how to change the oil. C'mon Josh, it's easy to learn and what gives a REAL zest to our shaves.

Go Josh! Go Josh!, I can feel the momentum building already. I'm sure we'll find the leverage that we need.

I will eventually get one...although I wish norton made a 4" wide hone so that I could use a straight down pattern on my razors since most are a bit longer than 3". However the lapping has me a bit worried...and someone will need to walk me through the process over skype. But first I need to make sure after christmas to get a crappy practice wedge and not buy too many razors so that I can afford a hone....and then justify to the wife why I need one. However... I cant promise I will ever be confident enough to hone my wedges, so too bad lol. An 8/8 restored W&B barbers notch wedge is my first priorit though, just so you all know

Now if someone was willing to help me locate such a razor, it would certainly speed the purchase of a hone up

Originally Posted by JLStorm

I have heard from Joe that the thick full wedges I shave with are VERY hard to hone, even for him. Joe hones just as well as anyone I have used, what do you all think the learning curve is for the big ol edges I use?

Well, it's not that it's that much harder, it just takes so darned much longer, and the hair on my face only grows so fast for test shaving. And to be honest, I have a vested interest in making it sound worse than it really is...like Scotty on Star Trek. Make it sound 4 times worse than it is, and get it done in half the time you estimate, so you look like a miracle worker. Seriously, I enjoy honing, so I appreciate anyone who either can't, or doesn't want to, do it themselves. Hell, I gotta pay for the $1k worth of honing equipment I have somehow. Practice makes perfect, and there are some good 'uns around here to live up to.

Josh,

You just have to do it.