Thread: Learning to Hone razors, don't shave

Normally I just sharpen knives, but last year I bought an inexpensive straight razor to try to sharpen. So I recently bought a new set on sharpening stones, and a practice straight razor. I haven't received the razor yet, but I got the stones more than a week ago.
The set consisted of two quartered Norton watetstones, 220/1k and 4k/8k with a quartered Norton flattening stone, and what I suspect is a Dragon's Tounge (Looks, slurry, smell) Welsh Slate finisher (although these stones seem to have been a topic of debate on the forums).
So I have my own practice razor I bought a few months ago, a carbon steel Gold Dollar razor. (I also already had an old Russian Leather and linen strop)
On my first attempt at honing with these new stones, I achieved a HHT 3/4, and on my second try, I got my first HHT 5! Before, I only could get a HHT 2/3 and sometimes a HHT 3. I don't shave, (Religious thing) so I can't tell how it performs as far as shaving goes. I can't really tell in the Welsh slate Dragon's Tounge is doing anything for the razor. I tried it on a few of my knives and it seemed to improve push cutting on phone book paper, but these were some of my higher finished knives in the first place, final grit was either Surgical Black/Translucent Black Arkansas, or 6k/8k waterstones.
Any idea how to tell if it is okay for someone to shave with? Besides getting other stones/strops/compounds, how can I tell if my technique is improving? Is the Welsh Slate Dragons Tounge worth using? If it is not for finishing razors, I could always just use it on my knives.
Thank you!

There are quite a few oregonians on the forum, perhaps contact Razorfeld as a starting point, you might be able to meet up with a few members and learn some stuff.

The only true test is the shave test IMHO, but you could try cutting the hair on your arm about a half inch above skin level, you should feel them popping rather than grabbing.

Truly shave ready means sharp and smooth. Only way to test this is to shave

True, however the op doesn't have to be the one to shave and evaluate the edge. A designated shaver could check the edge.

True indeed. Now he needs to find a straight razor shaver to assess his edges

It's hard to tell how good of a shave something offers without using it to shave. Even arm hair tests, etc, aren't as definitive, you don't feel the same thing.

I don't hold a razor above my arm if I am using the arm hair test, rather I make sure I'm somewhere quiet and I shave with the grain on my arm. doing so should remove all hairs with a single pass, and I should feel almost nothing, no pulling or anything. Everyone has their own tests, but suspending a razor above your arm presents a lot of variables.