Thread: So I want to start honing.. advice

I have been into straight's about 3 years. I have no new razors. I was lucky my first two razors I got at a antique shop had been well taken care of & I was able to just strop & go. That said I also got a great vintage strop at the same time. It is a Koken shell horse hide strop & I have been very lucky not adding any cuts or dings to it while learning to use it. I went thru many trials & tribulations with the next few razors I bought & picked up a John Primble Barber's Hone. I later found out this barber's hone is one of the top rated hones in the barber hone shoot out at another forum. This is a great touch up hone. I got a Coticule at a flea market real cheap a little later but couldn't get an edge I liked till much later.
Next I got a 1K-5K I think King water hone & later a 3K-8K Wei-Wei hone & a 10K Wei-Wei hone. I took a long time to get comfortable with these & Learned how important it is to keep them flat. I have got several more Barber hones & one of note is the Geo. Worthington "Clearcut" hone. It is right up there with the John Primble. I have just ordered a 16K Glass Shapton finish hone & I will probably order the Shapton 8K or 10K hones to replace my Wei-Wei hones.
The secret I have found when honing is to have your hones as flat as you can get & to use as light of pressure as will work with your hones. It may take a little longer "BUT" small mistakes are easier to fix than "BIG" mistakes!
Good luck to you. Lynn and many others have great videos out & I like Dr. Matt's videos a lot.

Dave"Slawman"Huffman

Keep it simple mate, get your first one or two razors, pro honed, so YOU know what sharp is. For your 1st 3 months, forget hones..forget them. Buy yourself an 8k waterstone, (Naniwa Specialty 8K), when your 'New' honed razor starts to tug. A dozen strokes on that hone, should see you go well another 3 or so weeks. Problem you have: You want stones....If you buy three or four hones, I'll wager that in the 20 minutes after the postman arrives with a box full of hones, you will find an irresistible reason to go to your new hones. The four day old pro edge is on the 1k....lol It's like buying a new car, 'You can't leave that thing alone, gotta get the key in the ignition. Patience.
Regards Bob