Thread: Confused by all the Honing Information

Originally Posted by dirkr

I agree completely I don't get how I could be confused at all

I'm not really looking for "how do I hone a razor" since there are plenty of (very helpful) videos out there.
My main issue was to find some path within this rainforest of stones.

I think the 12K or 16K stone should be fine to start on (and considering the prices I've seen on the 16K glass stones I'm leaning towards a 12K :P). My only confusion now is whether a higher grit (paste or stone) is really needed. (I guess the answer would be, not really but it is advised )

Look at it this way. If you have an internet at your house then you can buy whatever you want and get it delivered in 48-hours or less. If you have a sharp razor and a strop you don't need to hone anything for several months. If you start reading all the honing advice for new guys right now, you might sort it out before your razor craps out.

You got your Belgian cuticle boosters, your Norton sniffers, paste and powder lovers, Ninniwawa specialists... it goes on and on. Honestly... I'm just trying to get a clean shave, not a Ph.D. (I got a Norton 4000/8000 and a lapstone. We already had water at the house so I didn't need to order any. Worked fine on an almost serviceable ebay purchase.)

Originally Posted by MisterMoo

We already had water at the house so I didn't need to order any. Works fine.)

love it!

I think I might indeed be over-complicating it.. I'll just watch some more movies and read some more articles and also check what is within my price range/"ship-able" to my location

Originally Posted by dirkr

That's the idea. I get that I'm trying to run before I can even crawl since I still got to do my first SR shave.
However I believe in getting as much knowledge as possible early so I don't have to start researching when I need the info and because of that maybe try to move too fast and miss some things!

Jikes, haven't even shaved yet and I'm already hooked

Don't blame you on the early start! I believe barber school is close to a year and I would venture to say that at least 3 to 4 month of it was dedicated to shaving and honing (just speculation on my part). But if you wait to get the knowledge when you need it, it may be too late. You may be overwhelm and make a hasty decision on what you get or do. Double O

Originally Posted by MisterMoo

We already had water at the house so I didn't need to order any.

Haven't you heard that distilled glacier water makes much better lather?

There are three basic skills that need to be developed for success with a SR, learning to shave, stropping, and touch-up/honing. All these skills, like golfing, have a learning curve. The two skills needed immediately are shaving and stropping. This is because one cannot shave well or learn to shave without having a shave ready edge and because keeping a shave ready edge requires correctly stropping the razor after each shave. Stropping is critical because poor stropping will fail to sharpen and will even dull a shave ready edge.

Touch-ups/honing will be required from time-to-time, but may not be needed for weeks of shaving as long as bad stropping has not ruined the shave ready SR edge. While it is unfeasible to send a SR out for stropping after each use, a SR can be sent periodically to a honemeister for honing or refreshing of its edge. Being able to meet with an experienced SR mentor to see good shaving and stropping demonstrated is very beneficial.

Time honored ways to refresh a SR edge are:
-A vintage barber's hone (many are reported to be about 8K, for use when the unpasted linen/leather strop starts losing effectiveness),
-A finishing hone (8K or better, for use when the unpasted linen/leather strop starts losing effectiveness). The 8K finishing hone can be thought of as being like a large barber's hone, This would be my choice. I use a DMT diamond whetstone to flatten and clean my water-stones before each use, but this can also be done with certain sheets of sandpaper laying on a large ceramic flat tile or plate of glass.
-Pasted strops (for use when the unpasted linen/leather strop starts losing effectiveness). I use both hones and pasted strops.

A shave ready edge can be maintained for a long time with this equipment before needing to have its edge reset. I like my 8K Norton and pasted strops for low cost refreshing of my razors.

There are so many other ways and other opinions regarding edge finishing, different water stones (Norton, Naniwa, Sharpton, etc.), natural stones (Coticules, Arkansas stones, Thuringians, JNats, etc.), strop pastes (diamond, CrOx, FeOx, Dovo Red/black, TI paste, etc.), and strop material (balsa, felt, nylon webbing, cotton, linen, latigo leather, horse hide leather, etc.). It can be very confusing and there may be no single definitive best method. Some users extensively utilize pasted strops while others will use only hones before stropping on their daily unpasted strop. I suggest picking a well respected combo such as a Norton 4K/8K,a 0.5 u diamond or CrOx pasted strop, and an unpasted daily strop (cotton or linen/leather) to start learning. This may be all you will ever need, but trying out and comparing different finishers can be an interesting enjoyable aspect of this SR hobby.

When a refresh is no longer working, it is time to drop down to about a 4K hone. A Norton 4K/8K combo hone has worked well for a lot of SR users and there is a lot of info and videos about using this hone. Some professional honemeisters, who can choose to use any stone in their business, use the Norton 4K/8K in their progression of hones.

It is important to max out the capabilities of each lower grit stone before moving on to a higher grit stone. Using a high grit hone to sharpen a razor that has not been prepped correctly on the lower and 8K grit stones is like using ultra fine sandpaper on a rough sawed board, an exercise in futility.

If a shave ready razor edge has been dropped or hit, it may require repair for which a 1K or lower hone is often recommended. Repairing damaged or badly worn misshaped blades is the most difficult honing and might best be left to persons having a lot of honing experience. I use King 1K and King 6K hones to recover edges on e-Bay SR acquisitions, but you may never need a 1K stone if you start with shave ready razors. I already had my King hones for sharpening Japanese and EU kitchen knives before I started SR shaving. They work OK, but I would not necessarily choose these brands if I was looking for edge setting and restoration hones today. When I acquire vintage razors, I try to get them already shave ready or without major blade issues.

HTH

Originally Posted by Lemur

I get the feeling, to much information is no information!
As said start off with any pasted stop of choice and then keep an eye out for a nice hone.
If you go for a well known synthetic people here can always help you when you run into problems.
I've heard they pave their streets with Coticules in Belgium, I've also heard they make beer from chocolate, that last part can't be true...

But they do make beer out of Chocolate.

Chocolat Brewery: Bitter - Sapporo Breweries Ltd. - Tokyo-to Tokyo-shi, Japan - BeerAdvocate

Originally Posted by HNSB

Haven't you heard that distilled glacier water makes much better lather?

Can I use spring water instead.

I've got a brand new, shave ready SR. It passes the HHT. Can I expect a HHT pass after the first shave followed by stropping ?

Originally Posted by dirkr

Hey everybody,

I'm new to SR shaving and even still need to perform my first shave (when my new brush arrives )

However, I've been reading up on all the aspects of SR shaving and even tho it might not be needed for the next couple of months ( I got a shave-ready SR from SRD ), I would like to get to get all the info about it already figured out.

From all the information I've gathered it is beginning to confuse the hell out of me.

Could somebody explain what exactly I would need if I just want to maintain my razor and do touchup's after x amount of time when stropping no longer does the trick?
From what I can gather I would need a stone that is at least 8k or even preferably higher.

Do I need any of the lower stones or are those just if u really want to restore or set the edge the first time?
This is the main thing that confuses me... what stone do u need?

Hope somebody can clear this up for me. I've read the wiki and a bunch of articles but I just get more confused

Greetings,
Dirk

Read you loud and clear. That's a major stresser, a beginner worrying about maintaining his blade and all the confusing information out there. This will sound stupid, but I actually bought a couple of "shave ready" razors to put off learning how to hone.

Watch that refresh video in Post #3 of this thread.

Refresh videos weren't around when I learned in 2010. I bought this video World Of Straight Razor DVD - Straight Razor Place Classifieds and it relieved my stress. It "humanized" the process and presented razor maintenance as something "even I" could do. So if the refresh video doesn't set your mind at rest, you might consider getting the video I referenced. It is a panorama of everything connected with straight razor shaving.

Originally Posted by Winblows

I've got a brand new, shave ready SR. It passes the HHT. Can I expect a HHT pass after the first shave followed by stropping ?

If you strop it right you should!