Thread: Honing mysticism

Originally Posted by gssixgun

at about 20 razors honed people tend to start thinking they have it all figured out
at about 50 they have learned that they don't
at about 100 they consider themselves experts
at around 500 they wish they could go back and delete all the stuff they posted in the past
at around 1000 or so they have learned that there is always more to learn and try and help others learn that too

Just some of the things I have learned about honing and I am still learning

As one of my mentors said in the past:
When I was 25, I was sure I knew it all.
Then I turned thirty and realized what a fool I was at 25, but now I really knew it all.
Then I turned thirty-five and gosh... what a dolt I was at 30, but now I've got it all figured out.
Lather, shave, rinse, repeat

I guess that honing is like many other skills, teaching others or helping them learn also teaches you something. And no matter how long you do it, you end up learning something new every once in a while. I'm still all the way at the start for razors honing, but I have a good head start figuring out there's more than one way to skin the proverbial cat

I think it's good to have an arsenal of techniques and methods, even a selection of finishers. If I have a stubborn razor, I up the anti incrementally and stop at what works. Job done.
It may not be mysticism but a methodical approach works well for me. I have some razors that will always finish easily first time in which case its not a problem.

Joe

there is a woodworking parallel here, and i usually use the line that I made earlier when someone moans about a problem in a project that they have no experience with "you are not lacking tools, you're not lacking pondering, you're not lacking a secret trick....you're lacking experience".

When you start honing razors, if you can get a comfortable shave, that's good. If you want to be able to hone a razor like someone who has honed 200 razors (as fast and as consistently), hone 200 razors.

I think there is also a 'good money after bad' kind of thinking sometimes.
So much money gets spent on natural hones, it's gotta be good, right? I mean, you don't want to spend 1500$ on natural Japanese stones and then come to the conclusion that in terms of shaving, a 100$ shapton 16K will do the same job, right
It just HAS to be better, at some subjective undefinable level.

A.C. Clarke: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." and since we are discussing lost knowledge from the past, a corollary: "Any sufficiently ancient recovered wisdom or artifact is also indistinguishable from magic."

The discussion on the advances in understanding brought by experience are not to be taken lightly. I think there is also a transition in descriptive language. As honing skills advance there are references to scientific observations. The amount of pressure applied, the number of strokes or the variations on time, slurry, grit size etc are all scientifically reproducible and observable.

What is fascinating at the level of mastery, is when the language changes and becomes more descriptive of feeling and emotion, even a quasi-spiritual experience. This is equally descriptive however for those who are at that level of experience, but is nearly mystical when heard by those with less, as in "let the stone tell you what the razor wants.", or vice versa, or the like.

For cheap, send them to a true pro every couple years after you learn to maintain them.Let the pros deal with the grief.
If you have 10 users,your looking at $100 a year.

Confucius say: Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.

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Originally Posted by WW243

I keep my hones in line with the planet Mars and at the equinoxes I switch ends. I prefer to wear a Snuggly when I hone and a tinfoil pointed cap. I do chant when I hone but the mantra is a secret. Some people are naturals (so to speak) at honing, I still need help from the fairies and trolls.

Hah - I have seen you out shopping wearing tbat tinfoil cap, Bill. I wont say what you bought, but its my wifes favourite colour too and it sure wasn't no hone...

I find though that when talking about naturals; people naturally jump to these intricacies and nuances particular to each stone that may only move an edge from 99.8 percent to 99.99, or a way to speed the honing process and all the other things you figure out to max your stones. I am currently delving into these areas with my jnat, but the initial edge I got was still incredible and these advances I make are minimal,practical difference in relative terms, aka a ceiling effect to honing. That is why I bring up the Nth degree post. It is a wonderful reality check as to how far are you willing to go for the "Uberedge" (TM by aa1192 all rights reserved) Most general questions on hones I don't believe are asking about getting to that level, but more a practical level. We aren't all to be Heisenberg honers aka Lynn, Glenn, Sham, Etc.... I guess deep down I think naturals are simple yet extremely complicated depending on where you wanna end up, but with the right, basic skill set you can easily find success on nearly any natural up to snuff. I don't think we always have to take a stone out on 10 different honing dates before we can get a little HHT action. (Is that second base or third? I think we can all agree the shave test is going all the way)