Quote Originally Posted by andrew53 View Post
Hi all,
Thanks for all your replies. I have taken on board all the advice and dived in. I realize that honing is a skill that takes a while to master but as the old saying goes 'practice makes perfect'. I decided to buy a bunch of vintage razors from e-bay to practice with and have a Boker to use as my benchmark, I am starting to get comfortable with the hone which I feel is the core to helping with your own style. Again thanks to everyone for the advice.
I respectfully disagree. I was taught how to hone very quickly. I did my own research ahead of time but with supervision sharpened my first blade pretty quickly. Now having many more blades under my belt I'm much moe efficient. IMO it's just not that hard. Study here and get some guidance and you'll do fine.

And perfect practice makes perfect. As for the question how many passes like others have said too many variables. I don't count them anymore but rather can tell by feel. It's rewarding to know how to take care of my own blades.

PS my first blade to sharpen was a Boker off eBay for cheap and it's still one of my best shavers.