Thread: SRD honing

Buying the stones and having a blade honed by a professional is two different things though! As many as Lynn has done would take a layman many many lifetimes to hone as many as he has.

Originally Posted by Bamasamson

Well howuch is it costing you to have three razors done up? Because my norton 4000/8000 only cost me about $70. I mean I am not trying to take money away fr Lynn or Don but I think that every shaver should possess the honing skills needed.

Is that all that's needed besides the strop to get and keep a good edge? Aside from a lot of skill as I'm a total newb.

Buying stones is easy, getting the hands to guide the blade the right way does take some time. But we all start out the same way. As far as choices of hones, the line goes out the door and around the block. You will get many opinions. IMO synthetic are easier to learn, but your choice. Good luck.

Originally Posted by Bamasamson

Well howuch is it costing you to have three razors done up? Because my norton 4000/8000 only cost me about $70. I mean I am not trying to take money away fr Lynn or Don but I think that every shaver should possess the honing skills needed.

Honing and honing proficiently and correctly are two vastly different things in my opinion....my advice would be to learn to become proficient in using your straight, learning to strop, learning to properly lather etc, before you introduce another factor in the learning to shave with a straight.

To "refresh" your razors, you could get a CroX pasted strop or balsa board and that would again extend the life of your razor between honing. Do some research on refreshing your razors.

With proper care and stropping, and rotating your razors, you could go a year before requiring another honing....

Cheers!

That's another thing that I'm afraid of...screwing it up while learning to hone. I'm still unsure of myself using the barbers hone!

That's what gold dollars are for. $5 isn't a bank breaker and if you can get it to shave you should be able to get any basic razor shave ready. Only way to learn is to hone.

Originally Posted by eddy79

That's what gold dollars are for. $5 isn't a bank breaker and if you can get it to shave you should be able to get any basic razor shave ready. Only way to learn is to hone.

Good point!

Given that you want to learn how to hone....

For me, so far, that's not in the cards....I had the opportunity to get a lesson from a honemeister on a coticule for refreshing razors (was fascinating BTW) , and aside from his heavily calloused hands from honing a dozen razors a day, the learning curve to expertise would be a long journey indeed.

Not ruling it out though, been just over a year, and at some time I may very get some old razors and begin the journey!!

Cheers!

Originally Posted by Wxman2000

That's another thing that I'm afraid of...screwing it up while learning to hone. I'm still unsure of myself using the barbers hone!

Hi Aaron! I think you are taking the conservative approach! I think you should master in keeping an edge for as long as you can first, before trying to take an edge from bevel to finishing. In the long run, it will make it easier when you decide to start honing. It is harder to mess up a razor with a finisher than a bevel setter, ask me how I know.

However, I would encourage you to eventually get into full honing. It will save you money (well maybe not, if you get HAD), it also save you time and give you great satisfaction. Your edges would not be close to your pro hone edges at first, but you'll get there eventually, with patience, practice and perseverance.

I started with a Shapton glass 16K and some CrOx. Then I added a paddle strop with CBN (.25 & .10) and that was better. After awhile I added the polishers, a 4k & 8k Shapton glass and with a 1k king I had, that's when the challenge started. With lots of reading and practice on eBay razors (not the best to learn on) I went at it till I got shave ready razors.

Honing is like weather prediction, you learn in school how is done, but until you start hands on predicting, your accuracy only improve with experience. And some times nature will throw a curve ball and you miss it. Same with razors.

To answere you're original question, first time I send my razor to SRD it got turn around in a week ( three years ago) last time it took the good part of two weeks (a year ago).

Good luck and enjoy your shave with the newly sharpen razors! Double O

Hi Aaron,

Your order was placed on 11/1/13. I picked the razors up at the post office the next week. Normally I allow a week for them to get to me and be picked up at the post office. I usually turn around razors in the regular seasons in about a week from receipt and it can take up to a week for the post man to get them back to people.

You sent me a 5/8 Dovo BQ, a Bismarck spike with an extreme amount of uneven flattening that did not match on either side and 5/8 Bohler Stahl with a fancy spine that needed some additional work to get a bevel on it. The Dovo was a free hone from SRD. I did not charge you any additional for the extra work on the two razors.

Your razors made it to the post office today for their return trip home.

Guys.......Please! If you want your razors back before you send them, please send them to one of the hobbyists or to someone else. I will not be giving up the quality of the honing in order to meet your biological clocks.

Thanks!!

Ps, I totally understand the new guy itch!!!

Thanks for the update Lynn. No problems at all with the time it takes, I was just starting to get worried they were lost in the mail or something! I understand that the one razor may have posed a problem as it did have some issues...wasn't even sure if it could be honed with the shape it was in.

Thanks in advance for the excellent work, and please don't think that I was upset...mostly just nervous about sending things like that through the mail since I've had things lost in the past.