Thread: A project in the making...fancy yourself a great honer?

Brash as the title sounds (I'm hoping it pulls plenty of you guys in) there's REALLY a plausible reason for this. Because I have very little in the way of experience, skills, or any other viable offerings around here other than my input and silly questions I have come up with something that I'd like to try doing to give something back to the community. If not for you guys I'd have had a lot tougher time getting into this stuff so here's what I have in mind.

After discussing this idea with my wife she has actually given me the go ahead for the acquisition of a few new blades for my collection. You might wonder what this all has to do with anything so this is what I'm planning. In addition to getting some new razors for my collection I've decided to write an article on my experiences with a stack of razors honed by a stack of our members!

It started as an attempt to get my great-grandfathers razor restored to shaving shape. So I made arrangements for Bruno to hone it and my other non-shaving razor. During the PROCESS of deciding to send my blades to Bruno I actually had several offers for not only affordable honing services but FREE!!! and not from a single member either!

So I'm in the process of gathering a small cache of razors, one to each of the guys on my list, to be honed and when I get them all back together I'll take a shot at a shave with each of the razors in turn. Then with each experience I'll make notes from send-off to shave and once I get my data together I'd like to write an article for the community about the service, pricing, turnaround, and performance of each honers razor to the best of my ability.

If nothing else this would be a good way of getting together a full list of people willing hone razors for users as well as helping to drive some customers towards those who interested in this project. So here's the list so far, if you are interested in being on the list and aren't currently listed let me know and we'll make arrangements so that as I can acquire a razor you'll get your shot.

Bruno - Thistle Cut Co 5/8 / PRIOR 4/8
Lynn - Henckels 5/8 (MY favorite razor)
JoshEarl - Genco Easy Aces

The only hard part of this is that the razors will be slow as I don't have a WHOLE lot of dough to put towards razors and honing so the list might take a little time to progress. Anyhow, what do you guys think about this idea?

You can put me on the list if you like.

Had I known this, I would not have agreed to hone the razor. At the end of the day this is a single opinion on the honing of different types of razors. Every razor has its own personality and some are better shavers than others. Every person has their own beard type and technique. I don't see the value in this exercise. I don't see honing as competition. It is a hobby to me.

Please remove me from this list.

You guys have fun.

Thanks,

Lynn

See this would be the "something I haven't thought of yet" I didn't intend it to be a competition. I meant it to be a comparison of services offered. Guess that it doesn't come off that way in light of the contest viewpoint. Thanks for clearing up the issues surrounding the idea Lynn.

Yeah, I'm with Lynn in that each razor is as unique an experience as is each beard ...
but I'll still play. You can include me if you like.

X

I'm never claiming that I'm great. I can hone and have little money. So I charge a small fee. Once I'm done with a razor it's shaveready. That's all I can claim. Only thing I'm not good at is full wedges. Gave that a shot and I simply don't have the patience for it. Anything else....just fine.

I'll give it a go.

Thanks Lynn. I wanted to say sopmething but didn't want to kill the spirit of the idea.

My day job is in testing materials. We spend endless amounts of time reproducing tests to reduce variables.

Each razor, each honer, each tester will be different. Give a good razor to an average honer on a good day and he will shine. Give a bad razor to Lynn, Joe, EL, myself, etc... on a bad day and we may only get average results. My honing job may not shave Lynn well, his may not shave me well.

It's a cool idea and a nice gesture to try and give back to the comminuty but in the end may not show what any of these guys is really capable of.

I think the main point is each of these guys will deliver a shave ready razor that will work for 95% of the shavers. Experience helps them produce the highest number of good results time after time. The newbies will also deliver great razors but maybe not bat 100% each time. What DOES matter is I could assure you each will stand behind what he does and no customer will go away unhappy in the end.
Any of these guys will give it another go or tell you it can't be done. None will charge an arm and a leg. I can tell you from experience I can't afford to hone a razor for $20-25 and make money, I now let one of these guys do them. It is a hobby to them that yeilds a little cash for fun. These guys are here because they wish to help the new guy, not get rich.

Again, great gesture but probably not a test that will yield accurate or valuable results.

Tony

Yeah I agree, I just hadn't thought of those outside influences as much as I should have. Like I said it was an idea and this was the feedback I wanted. I'm just not going to tell the wife the project is off until I grab another razor or two

On the upside at least it seems like the CONCEPT of the idea wasn't lost to you guys. It WAS intended as a good thing not a competition or anything like that.

Originally Posted by Gawker

I'm just not going to tell the wife the project is off until I grab another razor or two

Crafty. I like it.

X