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

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.

Well I'm about 7 months into honing and I still have trouble on some blades.
However I will say that when I did meet up with an experienced honer he noticed I had an edge problem on my 12k stone.
So even if I was setting bevels right, I was almost assuredly going backwards when I hit that stone.
There are a lot of variables in honing, so from personal experience just double check the basics are there like lapped stones with nice edges. Run your fingernail down the edge and make sure you can't feel anything.

Been at it about a year and a half and am finally getting it sorted out. After about a year the edges just kept getting better. I am sur it would take less time if you could get some in person mentoring.

Bob

I should add,after seeing other posts, that when I say honing I mean from bevel rest up and includes blades that need corrections for frowns, smiles, warps and twist, chips and heel reshaping.

If you are just touching up a decent edge on a 12K Nani that is lapped and the blade has no faults then it is relatively easy to learn to do in a short time.

I have darn few blades without faults and they drove me crazy trying to figure them all out. Still learning too.

There are razors and then there are razors. The less problematic of the species took me practically no time at all - a few days of fiddling to manage blades that were essentially straight, square and not needing edges set. A few months more to set a new edge on a relatively straight blade. Six months along there're a few I still haven't figured out.

Advice at SRP, especially shaving off a 1,000, is excellent.

Pretty much with straight forward honing and easy edges it didn't take long at all. Probably my 2nd or 3rd attempt.

Don't confuse how long it takes to hone a specific razor with actually learning how to hone. I think most of the guys who have been at it for a time including our heavy hitters will tell you, you never stop learning how to hone. Every razor can present a new problem requiring a new solution.

As mentioned, each razor has its own challenges to honing.

I started honing over a year ago on an old Crown & Sword razor. I used a 1K stone and Norton 4K/8K stone. I wanted to learn to set the bevel first because that helped me get a good base down for proper sharpness. It took a lot of strokes, repeated watching of videos, and sharpness tests, but I got the process down within a month. Now, I get honing down (e.g., on 1K then 4K, 8K, & 12K stones) after about 2 attempts for a new razor (e.g., one that I have not honed before). However, I find that I still learn something new to honing or sharpness testing when I hone a new razor.

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.

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!