Thread: Looking to buy

Originally Posted by robertliford

I'm considering getting into honing. I haven't used a hone before and haven't had my razor honed since I got it over a year ago, and so far stropping has kept it in fine shape. If I send it off for honing once per year or every two years, it'll add up in the really long term but it'll take a while to learn, and the investment for a full set of decent hones is $150+, so it'll take almost ten years of once-a-year honing to make financial sense.

What am I missing? Does it make sense to hone more often? Maybe I've just gotten used to a dull blade? Thoughts?

This has little to do with the original post: "Looking to buy"
"Im looking to start working with natural combo coticule."

However you are correct the dollars add up
and it pays to keep track...

My recommendation...

Send your existing blade out for a professional honing.
The prices for honing I see are a bargain when you consider that they
may touch $500+ worth of hones and strops in some shops.

Also, there are some inexpensive but fine razors in the classified.
You want have two. razors. With two you can send one
out for honing every six months in rotation. One spare razor
and a couple professional honing trips.... It will take a couple
of years at the rate you dull your razor to cover the cost of a
decent finish hone kit. And learning to hone razors well is not
a free ride.

So do tell, what razor do you have that kept an edge for
a year..... If you can fine another just like it that would
be a good thing.

EDIT:
After a year a correctly honed razor might seem "way too sharp"
so use caution. For kitchen knives, if I let them get dull the week
after I sharpen them is when someone in the house cuts themselves.
I now sharpen more often....