Thread: First time honing

I have the norton 4000/8000 stone. I just ordered the dmt 325 lapping stone and the and the naniwa 12000 finishing stone. I also just ordered 2 cheap razors from eBay. Both are new. 1 stainless steel and one carbon steel so I can practice my honing skills with out worrying about messing up my good razors. I've been doing a lot of homework on honing. Almost time to test out what I learned. Any pointers, or suggestion videos that can help me out?


Do I lap the stones every time if use them?

GSSIXGUN and Lynn both have great honing vids on you tubr

You're gonna have a lot of fun! Keep us posted on your progress.

Short answer to the lapping question - no. Lap when necessary, but I don't think before every honing session is needed. Depending on how many razors I've done, most of my hones are lucky to get lapped once a month. It also depends on the hone of course - softer hones need more regular flattening.

One thing worries me a little bit - when you say cheap eBay razors that are new....what are we talking about here? Generally good quality new razors that can take and hold an edge (and are suitable for practicing honing on) off eBay aren't "cheap". You could potentially have just bought yourself two headaches that will never sharpen properly. Did you make sure they weren't on the "razors to avoid" list?

James.

I'm sure that they probably are on the avoid list. One is a gold dollar stainless steel blade. The other is a civil war reproduction. Both cost me 15.00 total. I figured it would be a good idea to get cheap ones to practice technique until I feel comfortable using my real razors. Am I being to careful? I probably should have asked first but worse case is I loose 15 bucks.

Those are going to be problematic. You would be better off buying a quality ugly old razor but now you might as well play with what you got. Mistakes are part of the learning process.

Originally Posted by Donboblo

I have the norton 4000/8000 stone. I just ordered the dmt 325 lapping stone and the and the naniwa 12000 finishing stone. I also just ordered 2 cheap razors from eBay. Both are new. 1 stainless steel and one carbon steel so I can practice my honing skills with out worrying about messing up my good razors. I've been doing a lot of homework on honing. Almost time to test out what I learned. Any pointers, or suggestion videos that can help me out?


Do I lap the stones every time if use them?

I lap mine just enough to clean the surface from the previous honing.

i would like to see a pic of the repro. i can tell youthat the ss gd steel is so uber hard that it takes tons of time to set a bevel on it from a hone master, I have never tried it because It takes me tons of time to set a bevel on a carbon steel razor. but then again ive never even seen a gd 800 for under 15 bucks so you may have scored

I think a lot of the Gold Dollar razors have some geometry problems, at least that is what their reputation is. A lower percentage of them have hardness problems and won't hold an edge. It amazes me how many people will buy one to try to learn with. By doing so it is the most difficult starting point and may teach you bad habits that will take even longer to unlearn once you get a nice razor. To each their own. For the money that has already been paid for two questionable razors you could have bought one sound, quality vintage razor, that starts shave ready. I just don't follow the logic.

The logic is simple but wrong due to lack of experience. That is, it is presumed that a new razor will be the best thing to start with because it has been unadulterated. That is wrong but any easy to understand mistake.