Thread: New to straight razors and need help with honing..

The link to the hone you bought seems broken.
Tell me more about the hone.

I see reflections of a rather coarse hone on the shaving edge.
I would expect to see a mirror and no scratches.
I also do not see reflections from the spine. Since the spine and
edge should be flat on the hone at the same time I would expect
to see a glint of bright steel from the spine.

The spine is the guide for setting and keeping the edge angle correct.
The spine should always touch the hone (and strop) first.

There are two types of honing. Most of us simply need maintenance
an 8K hone (of finer) and some instruction to keep a correctly
honed razor sharp. A more difficult project is to take an old smiley
razor like yours and get it back in shape for shaving. Sending a razor
out via post and paying to get it honed at least once is a lot less
expensive than a stack of hones grading from 500 grit to 10,000 grit.

Invest in a good strop -- you need to strop each shave... then after
a month to six months send it out again or invest in a fine 8000 grit
or finer hone for a touch up.

So first -- have someone that has done many razors get it back on track.
Invest in a good but not crazy expensive strop. And shop for a fine
maint hone...

The magic marker trick should be mentioned. It lets you see with ease
where your hone touches the steel and lets you see where it does not.
Run the marker over the edge and spine... let dry. One one stroke
on each side and inspect...