Thread: To Hone or Pay Someone Else to Hone

About 4 months ago I decided to give straight shaving another go. I bought a shave ready razor a couple years back without realizing that it took both work and time to master, so I gave up on the thing. Anyhow, I'm back at it and am really enjoying it. Before getting back into it, I sent my razor out for a professional sharpen but after using it 4/5 times a week, and discovering I've been rolling the blade the wrong way on my strop, I'm feeling due for another sharpen (I'm feeling more of a pulling sensation while shaving). Given last time I spent about $40 all in to get a professional sharpen, I was hoping to get some advice on what I need to bring my razor back to life. I've been reading different posts but for someone with 1 razor who doesn't want to spend thousands on equipment, is there 1 particular hone anyone can recommend to fulfill my goal of getting my razor very sharp? Also, please let me know if you think I NEED anything else or will 1 paddle strop and 1 hone get me 99% of the way there? Appreciate the help!

IMHO, and from my experience, you would be best off with a few razors. One or two pro honed to use and to compare your own efforts on other razors. For honing a Norton 4/8 because it is a good workhorse hone and there is mucho documentation in the thread archives and in the SRP Wiki honing section on it. Also relatively inexpensive. With that hone you can go from dull to shave ready if you have the skill. A lapping plate, such as a DMT D8C 325 continuous plate is a great convenience but if you want to save $ sandpaper on a flat surface will serve the same purpose. Learning to hone with one razor is something that I wouldn't have been successful with. YMMV.

It's only been a very few years that there has been this explosion in honing media. Before that most of us used the Norton as our sole hone to do it all and maybe got a 12K for refinement and a 1K for real restorations. Back in the day most folks had one hone period they used to keep their razor sharp. So I agree the Norton is the way to go if that is all you want to do. Jimmy is right that you should have more than 1 razor. At least 2 so you'll always have a shave ready razor ready to go.

If your keeping to one or two razors I would stick a barbers hone and maybe a pasted felt strop. With this you should be able to keep a razor going for a considerable amount of time.

I think you have two options.

1) you're going to get something super fine that will maintain the edge for a long time without having to round it over like you might do with a crox charged strop, and send a razor off to get professionally honed only once a year or so.

2) you're going to get something to hone with that will work a dull razor as well as finish it and then maintain it.

for 1, I think you could use a c12k, but there is a bit of learning curve to using them. You could also get a balsa lap strop with crox, but that also has a learning curve, and to me is not as good as good as a super finisher hone. A high $$ venture in this area would be getting a short-length japanese hone that cuts fast with a slurry and fine with water.

For 2, I think you would want at least two hones - one that cuts relatively fast as a pre finisher and one that works as a final finisher.

I think if I'm being cheap, I could get along just fine with the chinese hone that woodcraft sells, but I need to have a diamond hone in the 325 grit range to make a slurry with it and keep it flat. It cuts fairly fast with a slurry, but it doesn't cut fine. It does a great job of polishing but cuts very slowly with water only.

I would also agree with the above that you should have several razors. I always like to keep at least two in top shape, so that if something goofy happens, when I go to shave in the morning, I can just pick up the second. Three out of my five razors were less than $20, but as a woodworker, I already had the tooling and stones available to make inexpensive razors shave ready. I think for most people who are dealing with good razors to start, you don't need to go below pre-finisher level unless you really round bevels over with a loaded strop (I don't use a loaded strop for that reason, and prefer a super-fine finish stone instead - geometry never gets out of whack).

Anyway, when you're learning to hone, that's probably a good idea, too, because you'll not get stuck with adverse experience with one razor holding you up - say if you hone and you're not getting as good of an edge as you want, and you're stuck with a razor that's pulling.

Lastly, honing is a skill builder of sorts. You might not be as good at it right off the bat as you'd like, but keep in mind that you can do it fairly cheaply (a c12 and a diamond hone should be doable for $100, and you can shave off a c12 comfortably with nothing but a bare strop or some palm stropping with good technique). Err on the side of any issues with known good hones being "the indian and not the arrow" when you're trying to figure out what you're doing.

Just to expand on why I don't think I could have learned to hone with one razor ..... Let's say I got it shave ready in a honing session .. how long would it be before I needed to hone it again ? If it was an extended period of time would I remember what I did to get it shave ready the last time I honed it ? How about developing muscle memory in terms of stroke, nuances of pressure ? I just knew that I would need a lot of practice. So more razors gave me the material to get more practice and after some months of honing many razors I did develop some skills that are ingrained now. Still learn new stuff as I continue to practice but the foundation was important. Just IME. YMMV.

Thanks for the suggestions. Sounds like I need to start looking for another razor to buy. In terms of the hone, I assume you're referring to a Norton 4000/8000 hone? If so, does anyone have any suggestions where I can buy or find something similar? Seems like everywhere I look they're out of stock. Also, does honing every 75 shaves sound about right? I tried slicing a piece of hair last night and without holding down both sides of the hair it wouldn't slice though it which is why I'm inquiring about hones/honing.

Originally Posted by Straightrazzin

Also, does honing every 75 shaves sound about right?

Well not to me, I'm used to shaving with freshly honed blades (honing myself) so I'm spoiled and would be hitting the hones waaaay before that...

Was just checking out some other posts and it sounds like someone else (no surprise) is having the same issue as me. Another member recommended a 12k grit Naniwa Super Stone. What do you think about this is my one and only, get my razor sharp hone? Seems pretty different from a 4/8k hone. Also, can anyone recommend a quality US straightrazor. Already have a Dovo so looking for something a little different, assuming they're any good!

A naniwa, or any 12k, is fine for touching up or finishing an already sharp razor. If you want something to sharpen/finish a norton 4000/8000 combo stone is more suited to the task. The 12k is icing on the cake.