Newbie question on honing,

first, when you are over 60 it kinda feels good to be called a newbie. Now, I am an experienced de shaver so the process is not a problem. But till now all I had to do was replace the blade. Now I will have to fix the blade. My question is can I in honing ruin the blade? Or will I just do a terrible job that someone may have to fix? I guess stated differently is there anything I do that can't be undone? It seems like a part of the process that everyone who purchases a razor gets a hone. If that is the case I can't imagine everyone who purchases one ruins at least one straight edge? Is honing a case of practice makes perfect? thanks!

Other than putting some hone wear on it, you'd have to really do something crazy to cause irreparable damage.

Have at it, and good luck!

And, yes... Honing is "practice makes perfect" the more you do, the easier it gets.

Short of seriously chipping a blade or taking off so much metal that the razor isn't good anymore (which would take hours and hours), I suspect the hone-masters around SRP can fix pretty much anything you could do to a razor. Check out the workshop forum for some great pics of beat up razors that have been restored perfectly :)

+1 to what's been mentioned so far. Except for chipping a giant piece out of the blade (which is more likely to happen when you're NOT honing than when you are) you probably aren't going to do irreparable damage to a blade. If you've honed a pocket knife before, and read through the honing threads, and watch the honing vids, I doubt you'll ruin a blade at all. A little care and the right hones and you should be well on your way.

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Originally Posted by jebib3

Is honing a case of practice makes perfect? thanks!

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Only one way to find out! :D

jebib3,

As has been said, practice does make perfect !

It will not take you too long to be able to get a reasonable shave ready edge on your razor :)

Please have a peek at the most excellent set of video tutorials by GSSixgun :

YouTube - gssixgun

Good luck !

Have fun !

Best regards

Russ

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Originally Posted by PhatMan

jebib3,

As has been said, practice does make perfect !

It will not take you too long to be able to get a reasonable shave ready edge on your razor :)

Please have a peek at the most excellent set of video tutorials by GSSixgun :

YouTube - gssixgun

Good luck !

Have fun !

Best regards

Russ

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+9^157 on that. Glens vid's are amazing.

Hey Jeb,

I couldn't agree more with pretty much everything said. Check out the videos first. I'm sure it's been said over and over again that just because you can sharpen a knife does not by any stretch of the imagination mean that you can also hone a straight razor. (A lesson I very quickly learned) IMHO one of the most important steps to honing a razor is to make sure you have TWO straights, one of which has been honed by a honmeister. This way you know how a shave should feel and can make a comparison to the razor you're trying to hone yourself. I've screwed up plenty of edge but with time i've slowly started fixing them all. When you finally get it down and get a sezzy shave from a razor you honed yourself you'll feel like a million bucks. =) Best of luck to you!

When I started honing, there was no such thing as a bad honing. It was fun experience and a strong sense of satisfaction and I never ruined any razors. A few razors needed more laps than others, but that was the fun of getting to know your razors and honing tools. I did watch a few videos and read the wiki before honing my first razor.

Pabster

Just get some Eboy specials and practice honing to your hearts content before working on a "good" razor.

yes it's hard to trash a razor however you can do some major damage if you don't know what you are doing. maybe the edge can always be restored but if you overdo it and take too much off the spine that can be a real problem.

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Just get some Eboy specials and practice honing to your hearts content before working on a "good" razor.

yes it's hard to trash a razor however you can do some major damage if you don't know what you are doing. maybe the edge can always be restored but if you overdo it and take too much off the spine that can be a real problem.

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+1. I practiced with antique store or ebay razors to get the chops rather than mess up my 'good' stuff. I also used 1 layer of 3M electrical tape on the spine for the first year though I stopped using it after that. If you get some old razors make sure they are in good condition to begin with. Avoid chipped or cracked blades or scales and blades with significent hone wear. It is also a good idea to have at least one pro honed blade to compare your own efforts to.

Practice makes perfect if you're doing it correctly. So watch the vids, read the tutorials in the forum and SRP Wiki. Honing can be quite rewarding IME once you get the hang of it. The first time you shave with a blade you brought from dull to shave ready with your own hands it is a thrill. :gl: