Thread: Is Progressive Honing Always Necessary

Originally Posted by bluesman7

I wonder how many, who already have bevel setters and mid range hones, actually do just touchups. When I have a razors that seems past what I can get back with stropping, a look at 100x always shows some distractions in the edge that warrant going at least into my midrange hones. These distractions are usually not large enough to feel while shaving if I had just touched up with a high grit stone, so I'm not suggesting that everyone needs more stones than just a finisher, but since I have the more coarse stones, I tend to use them whenever a razor needs attention to get the best edge possible rather than just touching up.

I usually would just bring a razor to one of my finishers for a touch up without looking at it through a loupe and if that didn't work that was when I went lower and brought out the loupe to see what the edge looks like, but not to long ago I decided to look at the edge of one of my razors in my rotation that shaved beautifully and wish I hadn't because the edge looked like a hacksaw blade. Even though it shaved wonderfully I felt obligated to take it lower just because of how it looked. I'm sure the razor would have shaved quite well for awhile still, but that edge just didn't look right. Sometimes I am tempted to just toss my loupes and scope because quite often they just turn out to be a PITA.

Originally Posted by JSmith1983

.......................Sometimes I am tempted to just toss my loupes and scope because quite often they just turn out to be a PITA.

Quite a salient point IMO...I've always maintained that a loupe can be your best friend or your worst enemy. Especially for a new enthusiastic honer. Better to rely on feel and sound IYAM. I always wondered how shavers and Barbers got along before the use of magnification... .............Paranoia strikes deep.


Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
Step out of line, the men come and take you away

We better stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look - what's going down?

We better stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look - what's going down?

We better stop
Now, what's that sound?
Everybody look - what's going down?

We better stop
Children, what's that sound?
Everybody look - what's going down?

Originally Posted by JSmith1983

I decided to look at the edge of one of my razors in my rotation that shaved beautifully and wish I hadn't because the edge looked like a hacksaw blade. Even though it shaved wonderfully I felt obligated to take it lower just because of how it looked. I'm sure the razor would have shaved quite well for awhile still, but that edge just didn't look right.

I don't usually look until the shave starts to degrade for the same reason. I've had great shaves off of bad looking edges too, but my honing really improved when I got picky about what I saw in the scope and when I started sending edges to other people who I knew were going to be looking at my edges with a scope.