Thread: Beginner's honing advice

Hey, I'm this is my first day as a member of this site and I wanted to start by asking some advice on honing as the title implies. I'd like to start by saying I bought a Shumate and a Clauss, i'd post a picture of them if I knew how, I bought a Naniwa 8k to try and hone them with, I think the Clauss is pretty good looking so I thought I'd use the shumate as my test dummy, it started out really dull, but to my surprise i actually got it sharp enough to shave my arm hairs first try, but it's not what i would imagine people would call "shave ready", so my question is do i need a finer grit stone to make it shave ready or is could it possibly be a mistake on my part? Any advice is gladly welcomed

Welcome to SRP.

I'm not sure if you've visited the SRP Wiki section, but the Beginner's Guide to Honing page is a great read.

The popular method of SRP users for honing is:
1K for setting bevel.
4K (e.g., Norton) for sharpening.
8K (e.g., Norton) for polishing.
(optional) 12K+ for finishing.

You're using a polishing stone (8K Naniwa) for sharpening. You may want to try resetting the bevel on the razor first with a 1K.

I hope that crash course helps.

Kinda sounds like you are jumping into the deep end while holding onto a lead weight. It is highly recommended that you earn to shave with a straight razor before you try honing. It is a big help to know what a shave ready razor feels like if you are trying bring a dull razor to that level.

If you are knew to looking at the site, I highly recommend looking in the Wiki/Library as a great place to start.

As to the questions you asked. A properly honed razor at the 8K level is usually considered to be shave ready. Most people prefer a higher grit for a smoother feel. Wether or not YOURS is shave ready can honestly only be determined by one thing.......... Shaving With It. I'm not trying to be rude, but simply to make a point. Shaving with the razor is the only truly definitive test. Some of the Master honers on this site are at the point that a shave is not required, but they have literally hones thousands upon thousands of razors.

Good luck in your quest. Please ask anymore questions you have. It can be a bit overwhelming at first.

Welcome to SRP! You have come to the right place to learn all aspects of str8 razor shaving.

First off, do you have a strop? If not you need to get one. If you don't have a strop you can use denim on a flat surface until you get one. I would do at least 50 laps (one pass each direction spine leading) and test shave, if it needs more do another 50. You would be surprised how much denim alone will improve an edge.

If you can shave with the Clauss off the 8k but it feels lacking a good stropping should make a big difference in the shave. When you do get a strop lay it on a counter top to strop until you establish proper stropping technique with a hanging strop. Practice stropping on the hanging strop with a butterknife to prevent cutting the strop and help establish muscle memory.

If you are going to maintain your own razors I would say the 8k is fine. I would send one of the razors to a pro for honing so you have a shave ready razor as a benchmark to go by. It is a good idea to have two razors anyway, one for backup, and rotate them. Now, if you are thinking of more razors or get a dose of RAD (Razor Acquisition Disorder) and really want to learn honing I could sit here and type for an hour trying to explain it to you and you still wouldn't get it. Watch some honing videos here on SRP, that's how I learned. Lynn Abrams (SRP founder) and Glen (gssixgun) are two of the best in the business, here are their links; https://www.google.com/#q=lynn+abrams+honing
Here is the link to the videos I watched to help me really improve my honing skills;
gssixgun videos | Watch gssixgun videos | gssixgun online videos | Download gssixgun videos | gssixgun live videos


If at any time you have a question or run into a problem honing, shaving or anything shaving related just ask, a member will be more than happy to help you out. The members here are like a family. Good luck and enjoy your str8 razor shaving journey!

Welcome to the most friendly, helpful and informative site on the web!!

You will find members here of all different backgrounds, ages and occupations from all corners of the world and all with a quest for more knowledge about using and maintaining a straight razor!

If you take the time to search, 99.9% of your questions can be found in the Library (WIKI) however feel free to ask us about whatever it is that you are wondering about or having a problem with. It does help if you’ve done some research before hand so it narrows the problem down a bit.

With all of this said, Please Add Your Location! Country/State/Town etc as there may be help close by!!

Also you have the cart before the horse!

First and Foremost, you need a truly shave ready straight razor!!

Second you need a strop; I prefer one with both cloth and leather. You will need to learn how to use it 'Properly'!

Third you need a brush, real shaving soap (not the canned gunk) and a way to mix soap, air and water and get it on your face.

Fourth you need to learn the angles and (lack of pressure) that it takes to use this age old Art!

Last, you need to master or at least semi master all of the above before you even think about learning to hone!

When the time comes, I for one will bend over backwards to help you!

However until you master the basics, you will be wasting your time, and wasting valuable steel from any razor and that steel cannot be replaced!

Master the Basics and THEN Learn to Hone!

Welcome to SRP and +1 to doughboy's statement. It's very enticing to want to jump right in and do everything all at once. Think back to when you were an infant. Did you suddenly learn to walk, run and ride a bike all at the same time? That's what trying to hone and shave successfully at the same time will feel like. Your in it for the long run, take it slow and easy and you will be there before you know it. In this hobby/sport of straight razor shaving if you run too fat you burn out too fast. Read all the Wiki's you can and ask, ask, ask. We are all here to answer your questions.