Thread: When should/did you start honing?

Hey everyone, new guy here. About to get my first strop and send my newly found Adoration razor out for honing.

I want to master shaving and stropping before I invest in honing and equipment, but I was curious how long after your first razor you started honing.

Do most people just send theirs out if they own one or two? is honing just for owners of multiple razors? How often do blades need to be honed after getting them shave ready? What are the bare minimum items needed to get started?

I understand everyone is different and methods may vary, but I want to hear your experiences and find out if there is a good rule of thumb.

Two weeks into this hobby I am looking forward to meeting you all and becoming comfortable with this skill!

-John

Probably 4-6 months in was when I really did anything honewise for myself, and that was/ is just refreshing on a finishing stone. I would recommend at least having a fine stone to refresh your edge as if this is done regularly, and barring any incidents you shouldn't need to do much more.
Occasionally more will be required, and you can make a decision then regarding more equipment if you are comfortable with what you are doing with the equipment you already own.
For at least the first few times get it done by a pro, that way you will have a good idea of what you are aiming for, and by then you should be reasonable at stropping too.
Please bear in mind that I am only 7 months in and this is only advice based on my experience. Some fellers just do it all themselves from the start.

I started pretty much right away.
Didn't really want to, but I didn't know anyone up here in Norway that did it at the time
Nowadays it is my favorite part of this hobby.
Honing relaxes me when sitting down with my hones and a batch of razors to hone.
According to my wife Ispend way too much time fiddling with stones and objects to sharpen

Originally Posted by Jmchugh

Hey everyone, new guy here. About to get my first strop and send my newly found Adoration razor out for honing.

I want to master shaving and stropping before I invest in honing and equipment, but I was curious how long after your first razor you started honing.

Do most people just send theirs out if they own one or two?
I don't know what most people do here. Too many different tastes!

is honing just for owners of multiple razors?
To me, honing is for those who want to, because it's fun and it gives great satisfaction to shave with a self-honed blade.

How often do blades need to be honed after getting them shave ready?
With proper stropping, several months. It depends largely on your beard, prep and shaving technique. Expect shorter times between honing in the first months when you're developing your technique.

What are the bare minimum items needed to get started?
Razor, strop, brush, soap and a fine hone or pasted strop. You could search eBay for barber's hones, there are quite a few and they're not too expensive. Post a link here when you've found one you fancy to get advice whether or not it's a good buy. Otherwise, for keeping razors shave ready, you can't go wrong with a Naniwa Super Stone 12K. It will only do the final step in honing, but it does it well.

I understand everyone is different and methods may vary, but I want to hear your experiences and find out if there is a good rule of thumb.

Two weeks into this hobby I am looking forward to meeting you all and becoming comfortable with this skill!


-John

Good luck and enjoy!

I started out right off the bat. Maybe 2 weeks into trying a straight. I like buying and fixing, Maybe someday I will add selling to the list :<0)
If I planned on just having 2 to 7 razors I would probably just have sent them out. Grab a barbers hone. Who knows as I have already gone waaaay beyond experimenting :<0)

When my 90 year old german cutler Died (scroll down,do not know what happend)






































































































About 5 yrs ago when my old friend died,he ran a Barber shop in Palo Alto Calif for 65 yrs,Man could he hone razor,$5 a blade.
So I spent a small fortune on the best of the best hones.Took a year but I learned to hone .
I found it very boring and time consuming.
I applaud those that love to hone.I send them out to the pros,are perfect when they come back and I can get perfect shaves for at least a year out of each with a 14 blade rotation.
To me Honing was like doing a self prostate exam,let the experts do the deed JMO

It sounds like a few months might be the distance to expect between hones when using 1 blade. Would an abrasive balsa/canvas strop prolong this?

I guess I did it backwards. I shaved with a Shavette to start, with Feather blades, so I knew well what sharpness was. While doing so, I got hones, studied the process on this site, got some mentoring and was honing my own blades to shave ready within a month. What helped me was doing the requisite studying and learning first and the fact that the Feather blades in the Shavette taught me all I needed to know about sharpness.

I generally send mine out when they need a full honing.

I will do refreshing on my coticule, then crox, and unfortunately, I wasn't knowledgeable enough to know if I was really making that much of a difference with the edge. I will come back to the coticule at some point.

Just got a deal off a local add, a Norton 4000/8000, a Naninwa 3000 Superstone (don't know why he had that one), and ordered a Naniwa 12k stone for finishing.

First stop for me will be to try a refresh on a couple of my practice blades, and if that works out, knowing what to expect from a Naniwa 12k, I'll have a go on refreshing one of my regular blades.

Am going to take a lesson or two from a local honemesiter, get to where I can set a bevel and take a blade up through the ranks on some practice blades, and decide what blades I will maintain myself.

The really nice vintage rare blades I have will for the foreseable future always get sent to a pro....

I started collecting barbers hones about the same time I got my first straight. I didn't know how to use them but that didn't stop me-har har.