Originally Posted by
Utopian
OK, in that case some issues come up. A barber hone is best used to maintain a previously sharpened razor. Now, that is not the way that I did it but I was monitoring my progress with a microscope to help me figure out what I was doing. A jeweler's loupe is a cheap alternative. Regardless, it really would be helpful if you started out with a properly honed razor in order to learn how to shave. That's because it's harder to learn how to hone and shave as you have no proper means to assess both ends of the process. It would be like learning how to drive a manual transmission car while learning how to replace the clutch in that car.