Thread: When should/did you start honing?

Almost straight (excuse the pun) away

I now keep a 'honing journal'. I was curious the other day to see when I last honed a particular razor of mine. Looking at the journal I noted that for the WHOLE of 2013 I had only 8 honing sessions for the 7 razors I have. This is what occured:

1st Jan
De Pews 10 laps Shapton 16k

3rd Feb
Wade and Butcher 20 laps Norton 8k, 10 Shapton 16k
Jernbologet Frameback 10 Shapton 16k

4th Feb
J A Hellberg 40 laps Shapton 16k

31st Mar
Jernbologet 10 Shapton 16k (light slurry), 10 Shapton 16k (no slurry)

9th June
De Pews extensive honing on Norton 4/8 to create even bevel, added two more layers of tape (to give three layers) followed by extensive honing on Norton 8 and Shapton 16k

21st July
Klas Törnblom 40 Shapton 16k
De Pews 20 Shapton 16k
Burrell Top Flight 20 Shapton 16k

10th Oct
Klas Törnblom 20 Shapton 16k
Burrell Top Flight 15 Shapton 16k
Wade and Butcher 15 Shapton 16k
Joseph Elliot 15 Shapton 16k

8th Dec
Son's Emil Kronenberg Sen 'Edgerite' Pyrimid Norton 4/8 (4k x 20, 8k x 20, 4k x 19, 8k x 20, 4k x 18, 8k x 20 etc to 4k x 1, 8k x 20 then 20 Shapton 16k

15th Dec
Klas Törnblom Norton 4/8 4k x 10, 8k x 20, 4k x 9, 8 x 20, 4k x 8, 8k x 20 etc to 4k x 1, 8k x 20 then Shapton 16k x 20

Interesting, isn't it? there's not a LOT of honing going on there. One razor (the Joseph Elliot) was new to the stable and the son's razor was of course his and not mine. Looking at this, many received only a touch up on the Shapton for the entire year. I rotate the 7 razors evenly (i.e. generally, they get used once a week).

Hope this helps, sorry for the long post.

Carl

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

Almost straight (excuse the pun) away

I now keep a 'honing journal'. I was curious the other day to see when I last honed a particular razor of mine. Looking at the journal I noted that for the WHOLE of 2013 I had only 8 honing sessions for the 7 razors I have. This is what occured:

1st Jan
De Pews 10 laps Shapton 16k

3rd Feb
Wade and Butcher 20 laps Norton 8k, 10 Shapton 16k
Jernbologet Frameback 10 Shapton 16k

4th Feb
J A Hellberg 40 laps Shapton 16k

31st Mar
Jernbologet 10 Shapton 16k (light slurry), 10 Shapton 16k (no slurry)

9th June
De Pews extensive honing on Norton 4/8 to create even bevel, added two more layers of tape (to give three layers) followed by extensive honing on Norton 8 and Shapton 16k

21st July
Klas Törnblom 40 Shapton 16k
De Pews 20 Shapton 16k
Burrell Top Flight 20 Shapton 16k

10th Oct
Klas Törnblom 20 Shapton 16k
Burrell Top Flight 15 Shapton 16k
Wade and Butcher 15 Shapton 16k
Joseph Elliot 15 Shapton 16k

8th Dec
Son's Emil Kronenberg Sen 'Edgerite' Pyrimid Norton 4/8 (4k x 20, 8k x 20, 4k x 19, 8k x 20, 4k x 18, 8k x 20 etc to 4k x 1, 8k x 20 then 20 Shapton 16k

15th Dec
Klas Törnblom Norton 4/8 4k x 10, 8k x 20, 4k x 9, 8 x 20, 4k x 8, 8k x 20 etc to 4k x 1, 8k x 20 then Shapton 16k x 20

Interesting, isn't it? there's not a LOT of honing going on there. One razor (the Joseph Elliot) was new to the stable and the son's razor was of course his and not mine. Looking at this, many received only a touch up on the Shapton for the entire year. I rotate the 7 razors evenly (i.e. generally, they get used once a week).

Hope this helps, sorry for the long post.

Carl

Wow so the Hellberg was honed about 6 months before I got it then.

Originally Posted by edhewitt

Wow so the Hellberg was honed about 6 months before I got it then.

Yeah, seems so! I believe I did give it a touch up on the Shapton 16k before I sent it though; so that's clearly not detailed in the journal. If I did touch it up, it would have been 20 laps, which is my 'standard' for a touch up on the Shapton 16k for Swedish razors; I do 10 laps for the others. The Shapton is pretty aggressive...

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

Yeah, seems so! I believe I did give it a touch up on the Shapton 16k before I sent it though; so that's clearly not detailed in the journal. If I did touch it up, it would have been 20 laps, which is my 'standard' for a touch up on the Shapton 16k for Swedish razors; I do 10 laps for the others. The Shapton is pretty aggressive...

No, you didn't, you forgot or were time poor or something, anyway it was nice and smooth when I got it so no complaints, but it does go to show how long a blade can go between honings.

Originally Posted by edhewitt

No, you didn't, you forgot or were time poor or something, anyway it was nice and smooth when I got it so no complaints, but it does go to show how long a blade can go between honings.

Oh OK OK, I FORGOT! happy? Yes, it's a nice smooth razor. Of course, the length of time between honing is extremely personal. A whole lot of things play in to that:

. One's stropping
. One's prep
. One's skill, care and attention in shaving
. One's thickness of hair on one's face
. The density of that hair
. One's after shaving care of the razor
. The razor itself


I've put these in order as I see in importance and 'weighting'. I'd be interested in others' thoughts on my order, esp from those more experienced. This could actually be another thread...

Carl

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

Oh OK OK, I FORGOT! happy? Yes, it's a nice smooth razor. Of course, the length of time between honing is extremely personal. A whole lot of things play in to that:

. One's stropping
. One's prep
. One's skill, care and attention in shaving
. One's thickness of hair on one's face
. The density of that hair
. One's after shaving care of the razor
. The razor itself


I've put these in order as I see in importance and 'weighting'. I'd be interested in others' thoughts on my order, esp from those more experienced. This could actually be another thread...

Carl

It's ok Carl, stop being agressively defensive. The razor was and is fine.

Oh I thought I was being passive-aggressive. Need to work on that...

Just jokes. The heat getting to you Ed?

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

Almost straight (excuse the pun) away

I now keep a 'honing journal'. I was curious the other day to see when I last honed a particular razor of mine. Looking at the journal I noted that for the WHOLE of 2013 I had only 8 honing sessions for the 7 razors I have. This is what occured:

1st Jan
De Pews 10 laps Shapton 16k

3rd Feb
Wade and Butcher 20 laps Norton 8k, 10 Shapton 16k
Jernbologet Frameback 10 Shapton 16k

4th Feb
J A Hellberg 40 laps Shapton 16k

31st Mar
Jernbologet 10 Shapton 16k (light slurry), 10 Shapton 16k (no slurry)

9th June
De Pews extensive honing on Norton 4/8 to create even bevel, added two more layers of tape (to give three layers) followed by extensive honing on Norton 8 and Shapton 16k

21st July
Klas Törnblom 40 Shapton 16k
De Pews 20 Shapton 16k
Burrell Top Flight 20 Shapton 16k

10th Oct
Klas Törnblom 20 Shapton 16k
Burrell Top Flight 15 Shapton 16k
Wade and Butcher 15 Shapton 16k
Joseph Elliot 15 Shapton 16k

8th Dec
Son's Emil Kronenberg Sen 'Edgerite' Pyrimid Norton 4/8 (4k x 20, 8k x 20, 4k x 19, 8k x 20, 4k x 18, 8k x 20 etc to 4k x 1, 8k x 20 then 20 Shapton 16k

15th Dec
Klas Törnblom Norton 4/8 4k x 10, 8k x 20, 4k x 9, 8 x 20, 4k x 8, 8k x 20 etc to 4k x 1, 8k x 20 then Shapton 16k x 20

Interesting, isn't it? there's not a LOT of honing going on there. One razor (the Joseph Elliot) was new to the stable and the son's razor was of course his and not mine. Looking at this, many received only a touch up on the Shapton for the entire year. I rotate the 7 razors evenly (i.e. generally, they get used once a week).

Hope this helps, sorry for the long post.

Carl

Thanks! This was actually very informative for me! Gave me an exact idea of what it is I'll probably be doing in terms of honing. All my blades have been honed by a pro. SO based on your post, to keep my razors top notch, I'll be spending most of my time on the Naniwa 12k, even potentially upping to a Sharpton 16k for touch ups, and if I need to go a bit deeper, I've got my Norton 4000/8000 for that. And from your journal, looks like I'll have to go no further than 8k then 12k/16k - this is good to know, as if I get where I need to start messing with a bevel, that's when the blade get's sent out for me.

It also really helps you listed the laps you did! This post is a cut and paste for me into a file for reference!

Thanks!