Thread: Practice makes perfect...

... but what to practice on?

I want to practice honing.. a lot. Since setting the bevel is so important, I want to practice that as well. I have a few razors that were my fathers that are honed down to near tooth picks; plenty of really nice quality razors, that I don't want to practice on; A Pakistani razor that came with a travel strop I wasted money on; a few lower end razors that are decent shavers and far from beaters.

Which should become my practice razors? How do you prep your practice razor? If I want to practice setting the bevel, how far back do I have take the edge? Is killing it on a stone or on a glass sufficient?

I began by praciticing on the most worthless razor I could find in a flea market. Rather than dulling the razor, I just use the bevel-setting process to create a new edge on it. You can do that over and over as you continue your practice.

So you didn't kill the old edge first? How do you know how far you've come if you're starting at the end of the journey?

The bevel-setting process should eliminate the old edge and give you a new one which you can then evaluate. Start with a 1K stone, Norton or Chosera, and the old edge will be a thing of the past quite quickly. I've done it by dulling, even breadknifing, blades, and it just creates more work. This phase of honing, bevel-setting, can be the least enjoyable of the whole process, so there is no reason to extend this part of the process. You can always breadknife a blade and learn the hard way, like I did. I don't breadknife anymore.

I agree - no need to dull the edge to practice setting bevels. I would pick up a 40x LED loupe on Amazon for $4. You can see the bevel quite well with these and it helps spot problem areas you need to work on or keep going. Also, as stated previously, the razor should "willingly" shave arm hair after the bevel is set - if you find yourself scraping your arm to get the blade to cut, you're not there yet.

John

okay.. I am missing something.. or, maybe I wasn't specific enough.

I want to do a full bevel set, from ebay special to shave ready.

I have a loupe and all the needed stones.. 1k, N4k/8k, Hard Black Arkie, Coti, Zulu Grey and a J-Nat. The bevel set is the most critical step. That's where I want to spend the most time as I learn the right way to do this.

The answers above WILL do a full bevel reset.
Once you start back on the 1K the bevel you had is GONE!
You, in essence are starting over for a FULL bevel reset.

Or if you want, go get some Gold Dollar razors, they are cheap enough and have at it!

Here is what you are missing in the thought process or perhaps you are not

An ebay special etc: has other challenges besides just getting the two sides of the bevel to meet, many times one must get the entire edge evened up then you get to create the bevel... Each razor presents it's own issues, this is what makes it challenging..

If you are practicing a bevel reset then killing the edge is a good start this way you can experience the edge coming back each time as the two sides once again meet evenly.. BUT you will be resetting a nice even bevel each time and this will get pretty easy for you after a short time ie: BORING
Buying a few GD's actually is not a bad idea for practice, they have many different issues that can come up, so it can be a good challenge to overcome them all. Again once you do enough of them you know what problems to expect and how to fix them, so they also become boring after a time..

Another problem with intentional dulling of a blade and even breadknifing is that the early work on a bevel can force you to hone with some pressure. Later work on finishing an edge, for example moving up from 4K through 12k, will not require pressure. So, bevel setting, as valuable and important a skill as it may be, can create a pattern of using pressure in honing that may plague your later attempts at finishing and even touching-up blades. As long as your early attempts at bevel-setting don't create a pattern that complicates your later attempts at lighter duty honing, it isn't a problem.

The problem for us newbies as I see it is "What does a good shave feel like"? If I were to start over again I would buy one professionally honed razor and then learn to keep the blade feeling that way. That might not include a bevel set for a year. This strategy would limit the honing to a finish stone only. As GSSIXGUN demonstrated that can be done with a c12k $35 as long as you build some slurry. Later add a coticule $130. Then once you get your finishing and stropping down, you are ready to get an vintage razor and set a hone and build an edge from the ground up. My problem has been jumping between razors and never perfecting one edge and not really knowing what the end game feels like. Rather than starting with dull and trying to find sharp, reverse the process and start sharp.