Thread: Question for the pro honers Lynn, Glenn all others

I had asked a very similar question not long ago and this is all great advice, I myself have a very very long ways to go.

Enjoy the ride & keep your sense of humor nearby

Esp. with honing - it can drive you nuts.

or to borrow from W. C. Fields: That coticule drove me to drink. I never did go back to thank it.

Not putting myself into a pro honer by any means. But the best learning times are when you hone it and think its gonna be great. You do the hht or test shave and oh oh... WHat happened. Those aha moments keep you on your toes. Or you don't loupe it and strop and then look and see a micro chip. The more I learn about anything the more I realize how little I do know. Lots of blades and practice. And don't be stingy about your hones. Not saying you should buy em all, but a 600 chosera can be a life saver. I don't use it often, but when I need it, I need it. Not saying you should buy one or anything but things like this make life a little easier.

Originally Posted by Catrentshaving

Practice, practice, and more practice.

In my experience many people do not understand the difference between practice and repeating the same action many times. Simply going through an action in a technically correct fashion hundreds of times will only get you so far. I think that if you look at people who reach the expert level in any pursuit you will see that they are never quite satisfied, always changing things up to see what the effect is and whether any improvement can be had. Always experimenting, but with an open mind, prepared to accept and incorporate new and better ideas. At the same time, not chasing what is new, simply because it is new.

fuzzychops

I think that is called doing it again, this time with feeling. Yea you can't be a robot.

Bob

Originally Posted by fuzzychops

In my experience many people do not understand the difference between practice and repeating the same action many times. Simply going through an action in a technically correct fashion hundreds of times will only get you so far. I think that if you look at people who reach the expert level in any pursuit you will see that they are never quite satisfied, always changing things up to see what the effect is and whether any improvement can be had. Always experimenting, but with an open mind, prepared to accept and incorporate new and better ideas. At the same time, not chasing what is new, simply because it is new.

Exactly true..the basics will only get you so far. And that's why I say that I try and guide people when they're doing wrong and praise them when they're getting it right. Kind of like raising kids..lol.
But if the basic foundation isn't there then there is nothing to build on. You have to learn the simple things before you can learn to go further and adapt those basics to your current needs.
No professional athlete started as a professional..they had to start somewhere, with the basics as a building block.

I watched Lynn's SRP Convention video 1000 times, breaking things down step by step, this helped immensely. What put everything together for me was meeting Dylan at a meet in New Jersey, once I saw him do his thing the lights turned on and it all made sense. I then experimented, branched out and did my own thing. After trying out all the systems, Naniwa, Norton, Shapton, Chosera etc. and surviving my Coticule stage, I found myself gravitating to Japanese Naturals and decided to concentrate my efforts in that direction. I read everything I could find, sometimes translating Japanese manuals and barbering literature with Google translate until I formulated a plan of attack. Other than Lynn's video I didn't watch many other Western honing videos. I built my Kamisori honing chops with the help of an old Italian barber who honed them exceptionally well and took the time to teach me different approaches that helped me crystalize a personal approach.

Practice is key, when I'm not honing for others or myself I try different nagura and Tomo progressions and applications for experimentation. I was also very lucky to meet Gamma who's visualizes and formulates nagura/awase combinations and approaches like no one I've ever met or seen. I also have a friend who's a Japanese chef and fellow nagura geek who helps me as well. I correspond with either or both of these gentlemen almost daily, we bounce ideas off each other all the time.

Originally Posted by Bayamontate

I was also very lucky to meet Gamma who's visualizes and formulates nagura/awase combinations and approaches like no one I've ever met or seen. .

__________________________________________________ _____

Is this the same GAMMA who is on Badger and Blade forum?

Yes it is.

For me it was sheer bloody-minded stubbornness. And reading what others were doing of course. And just lots of razors, lots of practice, lots of shaving. The thing about honing (and other stuff too) is that you never stop learning. I was at a stage once where I thought the 8K Norton edge was the bee's knees, my shaves were awesome and all was good in the world. Then I got an Escher. Then I discovered Jnats. What's next, nobody knows - that's the fun bit!

If you want to "short cut" the process, the short answer is that you can't really. However, if you subject yourself to as broad a range of razors as possible, with as broad a range of "issues" as possible you'll probably end up a more rounded honer in a quicker time period than if you just practice on factory Dovos all the time.

James.