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.

.....

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!

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 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.

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.