Thread: Hones in New Zealand?

That's re-establishing an existing bevel - i.e getting a previously shave-ready razor back to shave-readiness by refreshing the bevel then refining it again. Setting a bevel is different, especially on a freshly sanded blade, which will likely have little of the old bevel remaining and will need to be honed from scratch. That's not to say the Naniwa 4K won't set the bevel, it'll just take forever to do it
Think of it like touching up the paint on a badly scratched panel on your car, vs painting the whole thing from primer up - while a fine brush (Naniwa 4K) might be great for doing the scratches, doing the whole car with that same brush would take forever and be faster with a spraygun (coarse hone).

BTW, I may have a lead on a honing service in NZ - the guy hones hairdressers scissors, but my friend (a hairdresser) says he also sharpens straights and knives. I'm going to give him a call on Monday and check out locations and prices, as well as if he as any experience honing straights. If the price is good I may unleash him on one of my shitty old blades and let you know what he's like.

Originally Posted by mosley59

That's re-establishing an existing bevel - i.e getting a previously shave-ready razor back to shave-readiness by refreshing the bevel then refining it again. Setting a bevel is different, especially on a freshly sanded blade, which will likely have little of the old bevel remaining and will need to be honed from scratch. That's not to say the Naniwa 4K won't set the bevel, it'll just take forever to do it
Think of it like touching up the paint on a badly scratched panel on your car, vs painting the whole thing from primer up - while a fine brush (Naniwa 4K) might be great for doing the scratches, doing the whole car with that same brush would take forever and be faster with a spraygun (coarse hone).

BTW, I may have a lead on a honing service in NZ - the guy hones hairdressers scissors, but my friend (a hairdresser) says he also sharpens straights and knives. I'm going to give him a call on Monday and check out locations and prices, as well as if he as any experience honing straights. If the price is good I may unleash him on one of my shitty old blades and let you know what he's like.

Awesome, it'd be nice to know a place where I can get blades honed in New Zealand. :P

And, yeah, I see what you mean about bevel setting, my 1 & 2k grit sandpapers do a nice job of cutting a bevel (blade will cut hair, but it pulls).

The consensus among the honemeisters on here seems to be that once the bevel is set properly, you should be able to pop hairs. The hones after that just smooth and refine the edge so it's even and polished and not as harsh on your skin.

I'll keep that in mind when I finally attempt to hone this razor. I've got a while until I have to shave, it seems that the general consensus is that I look 13. I'm blonde so that helps

Hi Joundill

Have my grandad's old Bengall (TR Cadman & Sons). Took it in to the House of Knives in Petone. Their sharpening guy doesn't do straights but the guy in Auckland does. Cost me $12 and took about 10 days to come back.

Now I can't say just how good a honing job he did as it's my first and like others I am not aware of a "honemeister" here in NZ. That said - I have been managing to get what I feel is a pretty reasonable shave (for a beginner) and figured the $12 outlay wasn't too bad as a starting experiment.

I think there may be a couple more of grandad's raqzors out there. I guess now that I'm enjoying the straight experience it may be time to track another down and look into getting a pro-honing job done somewhere. Maybe Oz "Onimaru"

Originally Posted by nzFuzzy

Now I can't say just how good a honing job he did as it's my first and like others I am not aware of a "honemeister" here in NZ. That said - I have been managing to get what I feel is a pretty reasonable shave (for a beginner) and figured the $12 outlay wasn't too bad as a starting experiment.

Assuming you're using good technique with proper skin stretching if the razor doesn't pull I feel like it is a good job. With me where the rubber really meets the road is if I can get a smooth shave on the knob of the chin and on either side of the windpipe. For me that is what separates the so-so edge from the 'good' edge.

This is awesome, $12 is reasonable, even if it might not be the best hone, it's still better than nothing.