Thread: How long did it take you to hit success?

Originally Posted by badgersayswhat

Hey guys,

First real post here...I was just wondering how long it has taken most of you until you could successfully hone your own razors - specifically, from the bevel-setting stage (not refreshing)? And without having a mentor.

I have been trying to have my first successful attempt with a razor for over a month now, basically walking away from it for 2-3 days at a time when I get frustrated, culminating in about 10 attempts or so. I've watched Lynn's videos religiously countless times, in addition to reading this and other forums. I have been going with just the Norton 4k/8k since there seems to be a consensus about learning how to use that effectively first, before adding the variability of 1k stones and finishing stones, and I have been using the circle method as described by Lynn.

Before I had been taping, but after reading more and thinking about it I decided against it and today tried the full process without tape after 3 sets in bevel setting mode, the whole edge felt as people describe it should be on the TPT, and was cutting hair. Then I followed up with the no-pressure set on the 4k before doing the final x strokes on the 8k...after which it felt almost dull again, but I decided to just strop and shave test it to see, and it passed over the hairs, just like every previous step. I am thinking at this point that I am doing fine on the bevel setting, but I must be doing something wrong in the sharpening/polishing stages.

So has anyone else had this problem, and if so how long did it take you to get through it? I feel that, although honing is certainly not an easy craft, after a month of trying and researching I should have been successful by now. Were I back in the US I would just find a mentor or just send it off to get honed, but since I'm currently in Japan that is not an economical option at this time. In any case, if anyone here has had as much difficulty as I have that would at least be enough encouragement to keep trying, though I get this feeling like I'm the only person be this bad at the craft.

So any comments about how long/tough your learning process was or any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.


PS: the blade I am trying to hone is just a standard Dovo carbon steel full hollow ground.

I started straight razor shaving July 2013 took 90 days to get good shaving. Bought a set of Naniwa 1,5,8,12k stones and a DMT 325 for lapping and heavy duty blade work. Bought some cheap Gold Dollar model 66 razors and practiced after watching and watching Lynn's and Glenn's videos a million times. Did the mentoring thing with Larry at whipped dog where he sends you a razor has you hone it you send it back and he tells you what you did wrong. It's now January 2014 and I can do a good job honing. The GD razors really gave me some good experience as at $4 a piece I was not afraid of messing up. I also asked questions in honing forum.

Talking to Glenn and Lynn really helped more than reading and videos. I also practiced honing before I hit on something that gave good results. Even now, sometimes it's like trying to kill a fly with a sledge hammer.

6 months. A whole lot of hit and misses along the way.

Originally Posted by badgersayswhat

Hey guys,

First real post here...I was just wondering how long it has taken most of you until you could successfully hone your own razors - specifically, from the bevel-setting stage (not refreshing)? And without having a mentor.

.....

In any case, if anyone here has had as much difficulty as I have that would at least be enough encouragement to keep trying, though I get this feeling like I'm the only person be this bad at the craft.

Yes, yes, that would be me.

Without a mentor it took me about 20 years to be consistent but I could occasionally fluke an edge from the get go.

Can you shave well with a known sharp edge & can you maintain it a good period of time with a strop ?
If not, even a good job on the hones may see you dead in the water.

11 years and still learning!

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Yes, yes, that would be me.

Without a mentor it took me about 20 years to be consistent but I could occasionally fluke an edge from the get go.

Can you shave well with a known sharp edge & can you maintain it a good period of time with a strop ?
If not, even a good job on the hones may see you dead in the water.

Thanks for the questions - I forgot to mention that in my post. I practiced quite a lot with x-strokes on my 2" strop so I think that part is fine (though I have a 3" strop coming along with my next razor to make things easier), and I picked up the shave quite naturally, even on the left hand, by easing into it step by step for a few days. The razor in question went for about 2 months. Which probably means I did have some slight initial problems but I'm certainly glad I didn't dull the edge after a week of poor maintenance heh.

So it seems like my experience isn't abnormal, which makes me feel a lot better.

I am pretty confident that my problem is in the bevel setting, as it was for a lot of people. I'll try again this weekend and update if it works..otherwise, I have a new razor coming that should be shave-ready, and before using it I will probably get a magnifying eye loop and look at the edge, and also use TPT to see what it feels like as a comparison.

Also forgot to mention: I have a DMT 320 that I'm using to lap, but might try that pencil trick in case I haven't been lapping enough.

I'll definitely keep trying!

Originally Posted by badgersayswhat

Thanks for the questions - I forgot to mention that in my post. I practiced quite a lot with x-strokes on my 2" strop so I think that part is fine (though I have a 3" strop coming along with my next razor to make things easier), and I picked up the shave quite naturally, even on the left hand, by easing into it step by step for a few days. The razor in question went for about 2 months. Which probably means I did have some slight initial problems but I'm certainly glad I didn't dull the edge after a week of poor maintenance heh.

Some will say it depends on your beard too but I know a guy who gets 6-8 months between honings & he has a tough beard. I would say the 2 months is average for new shavers & implies less than perfect stropping or maybe corrosion issues. In any case, time will tell & things should improve.

Besides lapping, I would also chamfer the edges of your stones.
I have been back at this (honing) for 3 months, most of the time I can go from dull to shavable in 2 hours (including removing chips, frowns).
But I have had a blade or 2 that gave me fits. Just finished cmon that took 2 days of about 4 hours total. Just when i think I have a system something comes along and smacks me down.
I would ask do you use a loupe? To me it is imvaluable at telling me I failed to get a bevel set. Unfortunately it wont tell me what to do to fix it.
Some things I think contribute to failure is too much pressure, raising a slurry and pushing the edge into that slurry, rather than using a spine leading stroke, and not using enough spine leading strokes.
These are my experiences, ymmv.

It took me over a hundred razors to learn that I didn't know what I didn't know..........

I didn't start honing for others until I had done over a thousand razors. I was kinda on a quest.........

As was said by others, I am still learning every time I sit down to hone razors which is pretty much every day. Remember that what doesn't work today, may be the foundation for something successful tomorrow.

Have fun.