Thread: My Journey in Learning to Hone

Another great idea, that we have seen recently, and you do not live near a mentor, is buying a USB, microscope camera.

I have coached a few guys on line on the forum and off line by PM and email. You can buy a decent USB for as little as 20-30 dollars.

With a USB micrographs, you can get, one on one coaching/instruction.

Nothing, beats hands on, One on One instruction, but the USB camera is pretty darn good.

Here is one of the post, where a new guy went from Ebay beater to shave ready. Second Try at Honing.

Originally Posted by Euclid440

A lot depends on the person, and it is a lot easier now days to learn with the internet and the quality of stones and paste available. But one thing is certain, just because it shaves, your edges and shaves will be a lot better a year from now.

I agree wholeheartedly. Goes a long ways towards my "slaughter the sacred cow theory." I've got a new boss at my job. Older guy. Drove a truck in the 1970s. We're not getting along well. It ain't the 1970s anymore. I wonder how many of the guys clinging to their sacred cows watch the videos on YouTube? (I love me some drmatt357). And if you don't know who that is, I rest my case.

Seems that there are quite a few of us that picked up both shaving and honing around the same time.

I started honing because Iessed up the edge on my first razor and didn't want to send it out.

I, on the other hand, didn't do a lot of research, but like the way I try mist new things went with my gut on an impulse and got a coticule, a cretan for bevel work and a real cheap dual coarse synthetic for ebay specials.

It took blood, sweat and tears to get consistently good edges, and quite some more of that to get consistently better edges, but in the end it was fun.

I got some decent edges quite fast though, but that was a lot of luck and a bit of unicot.

And about DrMatt: I'm not so sure on his killing of sacred cows. I've watched a few of his videos and most of the stuff he discusses reminded me of threads on coticule.be, which didn't really do holy cows.

And I find his style rather annoying, but that is just very much my opinion and thus neither nor there.

Thanks for your post! I'm doing my research now and will be ordering my hones soon. I look forward to reading this thread and keeping track of it. Best Regards!

Originally Posted by Longhaultanker

When I first decided to jump into this hobby I did about 2-3 months of research. All the gear from razors, hones, strops, brushes, etc. I spent a lot of time watching YouTube videos; shaving, honing, building lather, etc. I had a good idea what I wanted to get into and what I didn't. I didn't, and still don't have time or inclination for vintage restoration work. All my razors are either new production or new old stock (NOS). I never suggested jumping from beginner to honemeister overnight, but a beginner must begin, not hesitate. My very first purchase was the Norton 4K/8k and 2 Gold Dollars, and I started. I progressed; bad hone jobs, bad shaves. I persisted, got better. As I bought good quality new production razors some came shave ready, some didn't. I learned and got better. Today, I wouldn't dream of sending out a razor for a professional honing. I understand there are more advanced issues, geometry issues, etc., that require more expertise. But let the beginner begin.

Same here, minus the 2-3 month's research. My facial hair is pretty sparse and I can't grow a decent beard. I also realized I -never- got a comfortable shave with a cartridge razor. Always with the razor burn and the ingrown hairs. So I started looking into how to curb those problems.

I found an Art of Man article on straight shaving, and how it was the most comfortable method and closest shave. That piqued my curiousity. At this point I was an hour in. Then I spent maybe 2 hours carousing this site and decided I was gonna pull the trigger. I ordered a Dovo with my following paycheck. A short while after came a Gold Dollar for practice, and a Cnat.

Well, that combination (and my lack of knowledge/skill) could only get me so far...so I made an account here and posted for help. That was when I learned about flattening hones, and was coaxed by several members into picking up a Norton 4/8. 6 months of trial and error later I was starting to have success, now I like to think I do pretty well for myself and hit the mark far more than I miss it.

Often when I see someone that isn't mechanically inclined, or is too scared to pick up a project and get their hands dirty, I wonder if it's really their inability or in part how they were raised. I grew up swinging hammers, turning wrenches, watching my grandfather fix well...damn near everything. So I'm generally not afraid to dig into something new that's merely an extension of the skillset I learned growing up.

Sure I screwed up a lot during the learning process. I think most of us 'handy types' have broken a thing or two while acquiring our skills. But that's part of learning, and the first (and most valuable lesson) is of course not to fiddle with anything you can't afford to goof up. Not until you can afford to goof it up anyway. The second most important lesson is not to fear breaking something. Typically the reason we're fiddling with something is because it doesn't work - in our case, the razor doesn't shave. So what exactly are you going to hurt by trying your hand at honing? You can't really make it (much) worse, so take a stab at it and see what happens. Third lesson, if at first you don't succeed, try again.

I always laugh when I see someone say, "I don't want to mess it up." Unless you take a good blade, edge, and hit it against something, you're not going to ruin it. You might degrade the edge, but not ruin it. You know how hard it was for me to "joint" an edge for this very reason? Very! Glad I got over that fear.

I'll share this tidbit with my SRP friends. I'm not mechanical. I don't tinker. I have a headlight out, I take it to the shop. Let them fix it. I tell them, I'm not a mechanic, don't want to be one. You try to make me one I'll resent the hell out of it. But it was the Boy Scouts when I was a kid that got me interested in things outdoors, including honing pocket knives. Our Scout Master was a real man and taught us boys much about the outdoors and lessons for life. Unlike the sissy scouts today.

I've commented elsewhere, the first hone I ever knew was my Dad's. He had a couple. I didnt know anything about them. Between Scouts and my Dad I learned to hone a pocket knife. I never saw him more angry than when I broke one of his hones.

Originally Posted by Longhaultanker

I always laugh when I see someone say, "I don't want to mess it up." Unless you take a good blade, edge, and hit it against something, you're not going to ruin it. You might degrade the edge, but not ruin it. You know how hard it was for me to "joint" an edge for this very reason? Very! Glad I got over that fear.

I have seen a few razors on here that started out as new and a newbie literally honed them to death using to much pressure and time on a 1k (or lower) where the spine looked like a completely worn out Barber used/abused antique store razor. Those are rarities, most would have stopped when they saw all the hone wear.

Originally Posted by rodb

I have seen a few razors on here that started out as new and a newbie literally honed them to death using to much pressure and time on a 1k (or lower) where the spine looked like a completely worn out Barber used/abused antique store razor. Those are rarities, most would have stopped when they saw all the hone wear.

One of the posters in this thread said that he taped the spine on all blades when he started.

Originally Posted by Pete123

One of the posters in this thread said that he taped the spine on all blades when he started.

Same here, I probably saved a few blades that way when I starting out.

I wish I could find the thread on the brand new Boker that someone killed by honing

Originally Posted by rodb

I wish I could find the thread on the brand new Boker that someone killed by honing

Did he learn his lesson? Albeit an expensive one at that. What was it Forest Gump said?