Thread: I have heeded the warnings and i still think its a good idea

hey guys
i just wanted to post my current thoughts from someone new to razor honing.
As you may know from my topic a few days ago i was having a little trouble with a frowny bevel, what i didnt state in the topic was that it is not the edge but the upper line of the bevel that has frowned, but on further inspection i can see more hone wear than i could at first glance and still i think the problem was enhanced by my own hand and added pressure. (i gotta add at this point, hats off to the guy who sold me the razor, it came with a great edge and must have taken skill to hone)

but this is not the reason im posting, i will update that thread with a few pics and tears.

the reason for this thread is starting out honing.

i have found out the hard way that honing a razor is quite different to putting a good edge on a knife. my first hone was fantastic and its the smoothest of the 3 razors i own, that was on an auction razor that required a bevel set/upward. i felt a little proud that my first honing worked out superbly.
my second didnt go so well, the razor already shaved, i just wanted to polish it some, and it ended up BAD. so i went back and reset the bevel and i ran into the problems from my other topic ect.


this brings me here.....

the razor i damaged was a nice le grelot wedge, im not sure yet to the extent of the damage...

i know there is no love lost here for the crappy gold dollar, but i just ordered one.. im thinking even if the le grelot had cost the same as a gold dollar, i would rather make mistakes on the dollar. i was even thinking about buying a box of 10 wholesale just to destroy and learn about pressure/stroke/stones/ect

as much as the bad rep, don't you think the challenges needed to to make a dollar shave worthy also may make them a good learning tool?
as in $$££/knowledge gained

thanks for any comments.
i understand the dollars have there own sub forum, but to me this is more about learning hones and to hone

also grrrrrrrrrrrrrr whiskey (lil drunk by the end of this post) yay whiskey \o/

Didn't see your other post, but sorry to hear of the honing Luck and then misfortune.
Not sure what to say about the GD's for practice I'm torn. Part of me says go for it at least you'll get an idea of what your hones are doing to the steel (as I under stand the steel is decent that's used for GD's).
The GD's shoulders will most likely be a problem, so you will need grind them down to hone properly. I've honed a few GD's with success. Even with found in the wild blades you'll find issues, so the GD's will most likely help you sort through those issues on the keepers when you run across them.

Best advice I can give is, keep your hones flat, keep the spine on the hone, go slow, moderate pressure for setting bevels and light for the rest. I do 20 circles heavy, 20 X heavy strokes, 20 light circles 20 light X strokes and the bevels set. If you don't have a loupe get one so you can look at the edge (I always look for a shadow at the very edge, if I get rid of that I move on), also I use the thumb pad test and thumb nail test across the whole edge - on the TNT the edge sticks in your nail instead of sliding. After that test though do 10 X strokes and then move on to the next higher grit hone you have.

I'm right there with what Trimmy said. I am not sure why you would want to learn from a razor with a reputation for bad geometry though. My thought is start with a good blade and if you kill it honing oh well. Now I'm not saying start with an expensive razor. There are nice blades that go for $50 in the classifieds all the time. Grab one, you can even ask the person selling if it is a good starter. In fact I would be willing to bet if you put an ad in the classifieds saying you were looking for a razor to learn to hone on you would find some good ones for less than that. That's my two cents.

If you are truly looking to master honing the good, the bad, and the ugly then getting some GDs to work through isn't a bad idea. I have head Glen say on more than one occasion that honing a razor with no problems is easy, its the ones with wear and tear that test your skill. My experience to date only confirms this.

RezDog makes some good points. There are a lot of paths to take. A lot of people like this option less, but in the end will work as well as others.

If you are only interested in learning the upkeep of a razor then I would not go down this path. Start being much more vigilant on what you purchase and just have a high grit touch up hone on hand.

Originally Posted by RezDog

I'm right there with what Trimmy said. I am not sure why you would want to learn from a razor with a reputation for bad geometry though.

Shhh.....(says quietly to self) to save the good ones for the rest of us.....LOL

totally kidding...

I was given two GD's by a member here from Toronto, LilRascal...he gave me one that he honed and it was fantastic, shaved very well. He gave me another one that was brand new, just a factory edge. That's what I practised on for quite awhile...dulling the edges on both and trying to bring them back to shave ready.

I did that, and if I had to, could hone a razor...it would probably be passable. So if you plan on learning to hone extensively, using a GD and moving into using some old vintage blades is a great way.

For me, my effort is spent on refreshing a blade when it needs it. Mine have all been professionally honed, so the bevel and it's first edge is nicely set. After that, I can bring it back on my Nani 12k and finish up on the small Escher I have, and I've had success doing that.

But it sounds like what you're doing is a perfect way to learn honing, trial and error on a razor that's easily replaceable.

Honing is a skill which takes time and perseverance to master. Watch what you are doing and keep focused. That way you learn from mistakes. If I am spacing out, I stop. Then start again when I can pay attention.

GD or any razor that has the shoulder properly finished so it does not interfere with honing is a good choice. If the shoulder is the former crummy GD shoulder you can learn how to reshape it and go onward from there. If the shoulder goes to the bevel, I can pretty well guarantee that you will have honing problems. I have a few oldies which make me glad that I did a few GD GD's and became able to see the shoulder problems and frowns they often had.

~Richard

I also used a gold dollar for practice. Just know you may have to grind it down some in the shoulder area first. They do take a good edge once you get them to lay flat on a stone.

It just kills me to ruin something nice, i dont mind ruining tat. Anyway, off to buy a vernier

Originally Posted by stev

It just kills me to ruin something nice, i dont mind ruining tat. Anyway, off to buy a vernier

Good first step. Think of your GDs as oversized blanks of tempered steel that have properly shaped razors within them.