Thread: When should/did you start honing?

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

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

Just jokes. The heat getting to you Ed?

Well maybe a bit, I was joking too. Just proves we both still have crap senses of humour

Originally Posted by edhewitt

Well maybe a bit, I was joking too. Just proves we both still have crap senses of humour

Yeah. Lucky we aren't close by. We'd have bashed each other before we both realise we're both joking...

for me it very soon. I really like to do things for my self. when I started a friend honed all my razors. then I ordered the set of naniwa ss stones up to 12K. now I ordered them one at a time but got them in a less than 2 months. it's really up to the person. It's not cheap to start with but it's all up to you. Watch Lynn Abrams u tube video on honing and decide for your self. either way you'll enjoy I believe. good luck

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

Yeah. Lucky we aren't close by. We'd have bashed each other before we both realise we're both joking...

Well maybe a battle of wits or a shoe shine off or something, I wouldnt be able to bash you, you are shorter than me, and probably wear glasses, not to mention the fact that you would probably say something mean and make me cry

Before buying any razors or hones or any straight shaving related items I spent about six months reading JUST about honing. Then I bought my first set at once and started to hone right away.

This is large thread, moving to Honing....

Originally Posted by offshoot

Before buying any razors or hones or any straight shaving related items I spent about six months reading JUST about honing. Then I bought my first set at once and started to hone right away.

I'm curious to hear what you bought, and if you're still using the same items?

I started right away with Norton 1K, 4K, 8K and a Naniwa 12K. It took me about a month of honing every day to get a decent edge off that setup.

Now I use Shapton 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 and 30K with excellent results on almost every blade I've encountered. The 30K takes some practice to milk the smoothest edge out without ruining things.

My collection has grown from a couple Dovos and TI's to about 40 razors of all makes from the first half of the last century.

Start now and you'll really enjoy the hobby if you like technical stuff. If you're all thumbs you may want to leave honing to the pros! There's nothing more satisfying than restoring an old gem and shaving with it the next day.

-john