Thread: Honing

that is a never answerable question. It is kind of like how long is a piece of string. There are a lot of videos and other threads here that can help you further understand. It is best off if you start with a professional honing.

Originally Posted by andrew53

Hi all,

I'm fairly new to cut throat shaving as we call it in England, and have inherited a shaver. I have recently purchased a Norton 4000/8000 stone and a Belgian Blue, what I need to know is how many passes do I need to do on each stone to achieve shave sharpness.

The answer depends on the condition of the blade, the steel type, the skill of the honer, the type of hone and who knows what else.

Thanks everyone for your replies. As for the inherited razor I think I will take the advice of getting it professionally honed, but I am determined to learn so maybe a cheap razor is needed for the purpose of practice. Again thanks.

If the razor is in good shaving condition, snug pivot, clean blade, no wonkyness, the you could take right off on the 8k (marker test) and see what you can get. A photo of the blade would help us.

And yeah, pick up a few "junky" old blades that aren't oddly worn and have a blast. You'll need a "bevel setter" stone for nearly all of that category.

Read the JaNorton thread on here from a few years ago, where members used ONLY 4/8 Norton to finish and shave for a month.

As the others said it's the question of 'how long to get to X' - it depends on where you start and how many wrong turns you take. Looks like you're hitching a ride, but will be looking to learn the road yourself - as long as you're motivated there's no reason not to succeed.

One pitfall IMO on early honing is an inconsistent stroke, meaning metal being removed from different places resulting in more metal removed than necessary. Someone can certainly show you but you need to put the time in to learn this.

From memory the Belgium blue and 4k are going to be pretty similar in grit. Try watching the vids by Gssixgun and you will see he does most razors from bevel set up and that it takes what it takes. Good luck with your honing.

Originally Posted by bill3152

One pitfall IMO on early honing is an inconsistent stroke, meaning metal being removed from different places resulting in more metal removed than necessary. Someone can certainly show you but you need to put the time in to learn this.

What?! Wait, that only happens early on??