Printable View
Sorry, this may be kind of a dumb question but I want to be sure.
I received a straight razor as a gift a year ago. I think it was probably in the 2-300 dollar range and from Germany. Anyhow, I've been maintaining the edge as best I can with a strop, but I've never been able to get it to pass the hair test.
I don't know much about hones, but I'm wondering if I need one. Are there any suggestions for what type of hone I need for the job?
Forget about the hair test; how is the shave?
Sooner or later, the razor will need a touchup. Any finishing hone can be used for this application. Knowing what your budget is would be helpful. You could go as inexpensive as a barber hone or spend as much money as you want.
The hair test is not any exact test. its just a indicator.
For example i cant do the test whit my hair but have no problem when i does it whit my girlfriends hair.
Yea, you need a hone of some sort. Stropping alone will eventually slow it's progress.
You don't need a hone just to get the razor to pass the HHT though.
You've done really well though with a strop alone.
I would suggest reading up on paddle strops with pastes or using a barber hone. Someone with your inherent skill and experience could probably use either with great efficiency and understanding. Ultimately it's not about diving into the edge with some horrendous 4-8K stone, but gently reshaping the outer bevel geometry.
Everyone needs to quit quit with all of the "tests", especially those who are newer to our sport...the only REAL test is the shave test. A razor either shaves well or doesn't. If it doesn't, it needs touched up.
Sorry for the rant, but it is true.
If your not really going to get into this hobby, I'd just get a Barber's hone. 3-5 passes done daily, will keep your blade shave ready. How does it shave...? You can check the classifieds here or Ebay. When it becomes too dull to bring back, you can send it to one of our honemeisters for honing. Now, if you plan on buying more razors, and really getting into this, we can talk hones...Drop me a pm if you need more info...
Rich
I don't think EVERYONE needs to stop with the tests; but I do think it is important to learn how to do and interpret the tests before attempting to use them.
3-5 strokes on a barber's hone daily, while it probably wouldn't really hurt anything, is definitely overkill. 3-5 strokes when the razor begins to pull is probably more like it.
May be overkill, but I find IME, that blades I do 3 lapps daily on a Swaty, do not require honing that often. A year or more is the norm. A Swaty is so fine and so small, the 3 lapps is negligible, and won't cause any harm. You can most definitley go a week with no ill effects.
I believe Utopian put this info out some time ago, Maybe I misunderstood him. I know he said he has razors at the gym, in a pouch, IIRC. When they dull, he turns it upside down...He is the King of Barber hones. I wouldn't mind hearing his input.
I think if you wait until your blade starts tugging and pulling, 3 lapps on a Barber hone is not going to bring it back...IME...
You hone them every day! So what do you mean when you say: "...do not requiire honing that often."?Quote:
Originally Posted by zib
It's really simple in my view. You don't fix something that's not broken. When your razors need honing you will know it because they will tell you. If you don't listen to them and put it off the job increases. If you catch them when it's more a comfort issue it doesn't take much to bring them back. if you wait until they start pulling then you have more of a job on your hands.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kees
Point taken.
I mean, I don't have to break out my Nortons, or Naniwa's or Coticule, or what have you and do a full blown honing session, that you would normally do with a dull blade....3 lapps on Swaty imo, is like a PM, Preventative Maintenance, and it does work. It keeps my blades shave ready, as I said, for well over a year.
TBH, I haven't done it for a while now, because I never get to use my other hones. I've been using Glen's Naniwa system with very good results...Whatever works for you. In any case, That's not what this thread is about.....
Let's get this back on track, and help the OP.
The shave hasn't been very good IMO. There's definitely plenty of pulling and it doesn't yield a very close shave (when compared to a disposable).
I'd probably want to stay under or just around the $100 range.
If there is plenty of pulling, you probably need to go down to at least the 4k or 5k level, if not the 1k.
(note, this does depend on how you define "plenty of pulling.")
Amen. Give the hair a rest. Cut whiskers. Be careful out there. Pleeeease.Quote:
Originally Posted by shooter74743
It's all relative, but a definitely a few notches above "uncomfortable".Quote:
Originally Posted by holli4pirating
I can't do real smooth strokes like I've seen in videos. Even in less-dense areas, I have to do a lot of repeated mini-strokes (I don't know what you'd call it) over the same area, and it's still bordering on painful.
Yup, then I'd say start off by dropping back to the 4k range and work back up.
Thanks for the input!
I don't want to go secondhand for this and I've been unable to find any info on favored dealers for this kind of stuff.
I'm thinking about this hone from Nashville Knife Shop:
Norton 4000 / 8000 Grit Waterstone - Straight Razors
It seems economical to get a 2-in-1 hone (for some reason, they seem to cost around the same as a single-grit hone), and this is in my price range.
I'm not being naive in my choice of dealer or product here am I?
I've never used it but that hone used to be the de facto recommendation and there's a wealth of info on this forum relating to it. You'll have to lap it first. Do a search and you'll get loads of hits.
Yes, this is true, but we were all new once, with little to go on. Because we're resurrecting an art that has skipped one or two generations, only the luckiest beginner has someone to show them "This is how a shave should feel." So people read about "objective" tests that actually aren't objective, try to use them, and post questions about them.Quote:
Originally Posted by shooter74743
Maybe we need a sticky at the top of the Beginner's forum about how a shave should feel, an intro to sharpness tests, and how you may not have a single hair on your body that will make the HHT work for you. Between the Wiki and great posts in the threads, we could come up with a sticky that could redirect this whole question.
The best description I've seen of how a shave should feel came up a couple of days ago... Fbones24 wrote "Try to just gently wipe the hair off of your face and that is probably still too much pressure."
That's where we should start, I think. It may not be useful to ask a HHT questioner "How does your razor shave," because they may not know how well it CAN or SHOULD shave. The best first question might be "Does your razor shave as if it's just wiping the hair off your face?"
That's my .02
A collague of mine shaves 3 times per week with a straight I sold him. He uses a Tony Miller pasted paddle strop. Nothing else. And apart from the one time a long time ago when he broke off his edge and I fixed it, the blade has never again seen a hone in 2 years time. And this guy has steel whiskers.
So no, you don't need a finishing hone. A pasted paddle or perhaps a barber hone will do just fine if you want to just maintain an edge that already shaves.