Thread: Trying to clarify my understanding

Personally I would recommend a series of synthetics to learn on for consistency and ease of use. Another advantage is the huge knowledge base of stones with known characteristics on SRP. Norton, Shapton, Naniwa, among others. My first straight razor shaving experience began in 1985 or so. I bought 3 coticules from old barbers and got a brief honing demonstration from one of them. My inability to maintain the edges on the three coticules led me to give up shaving with straights and I just collected for the next 27 years until I found SRP in '07.

If I had an internet connection in '85 and the tutorials and vids available on SRP nowadays maybe things would have been different. That said, I still think the synthetics are better for a beginning honer. Get a coticule or two or three, after you've gotten good at honing your razors and then play.