To hone myself or send out?

If you have never honed a razor it’s best to send at least one out to a reputable honing person so you will have a benchmark for what an acceptable edge is supposed to be.

Find a mentor who knows their way around all aspects of wet shaving.

1. Learn to shave (This includes face prep, learning a proper lather, stropping, and shaving. That is a LOT to learn, normally around 30 shaves)
2. Learn to touch up a razor. (There are many ways to skin this cat: barber hone, pasted strops, and high "grit" stones 8k+)
3. Lastly learn to hone because you have NOW built a proper foundation of knowledge of wet shaving. Honing simply is not for all people.

If I was stateside, I would send them out. It can be frustrating learning to hone and shave at the same time. Like rezdog, I had few options besides teaching myself.

I used to hone for a luthier. He always sharpened his own chisels etc & his razors always came back to me for touchups at very regular & short intervals. They were always in pristine condition & I almost felt guilty charging him.
My point is, even very skilful people may choose to have their razors honed by others. It's a worth while pursuit but you may choose to spend that money & time elsewhere.

To the OP's initial query, honing for me was part of the excitement of straight-razor shaving from the start. That said, if I had to do it all over again, I would start with a couple of beater straight razors to learn honing with, saving the decent stuff for later, once I had cut my teeth on honing the beaters. As to a complete progression for beaters, I would suggest one of the following:

Water stones: DMT coarse/fine combo for lapping and chip removal, Suehiro 1k/3k combo, for bevel-setting, a coticule, and a piece of Welsh purple slate.

Oil stones: 6"x2" coarse/fine Norton Crystalon, for dressing the Arkansas stones and chip removal, 6"x2" soft/black hard Arkansas combo, for bevel-setting and finishing. A red/black pasted loom strop would also be helpful off the black hard Arkansas stone.

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Originally Posted by Brontosaurus

To the OP's initial query, honing for me was part of the excitement of straight-razor shaving from the start. That said, if I had to do it all over again, I would start with a couple of beater straight razors to learn honing with, saving the decent stuff for later, once I had cut my teeth on honing the beaters. .

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This is exactly what I did. I'd search eBay for razors that looked servicable but not great. Some were questionable. Then I'd go through the effort to try to hone them. The best were shortened blades where someone obviously chipped or cracked the tip and shortened the blade to fix it. The steel was often in good shape but could not be sold for much because of its condition. These were good to learn on.

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Originally Posted by Jnatcat

If you have never honed a razor it’s best to send at least one out to a reputable honing person so you will have a benchmark for what an acceptable edge is supposed to be.

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I can't improve on the excellent advice you've already gotten, but THIS above, all day long-keep a benchmark razor honed by a known "honemeister" and practice on others until you can equal or even do better.

After all, few hone-meisters have the time to really tweak your edge to the nth degree like you will learn to do, possibly on some magical natural you fall in love with after some experience on synthetics.

Enjoy the journey regardless of the route you take-there are many roads to sharp!

I will never recommend any natural stones to a person learning to hone. Too many variables as ALL natural stones are different, some vastly different. If you learn to hone on synthetic stones like Naniwa, Norton, or Shapton...you can go anywhere and hone on the same stones....they will work the same as yours. You can ask particular questions and we can more accurately help you trouble shoot issues.

Lots of stones work great for knives, however aren't the optimum for straight razors.

Make a razor meet within driving distance, you can meet some sharp fellows at them who know a thing or two about razors.

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Originally Posted by outback

I was honing knives n such, by the time I was 8 yrs. old.
Always had a fascination for all things sharp. For the most part, I'm self taught. The guys here, taught me about the proper hones to use, to make my edges the best they could be. Smooth n Comfortable. I own a full set of Naniwas, dont even use them anymore, I love the Naturals more.

Take up maintaining, and honing your own. It is, very rewarding, though it takes time and patience.

Hook up with a mentor that can give you some hands on experience. It'll lessen the learning curve greatly

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Would you be interested in selling those naniwas?

I am going to be honing my own blades, but sending the Dovo out for honing (need to find someone). Now what stones do I need to buy? I did get permission from the boss. should I go glass? should I go with a set? so many choices, and so little time.