Thread: Is honing really that difficult?

Originally Posted by cudarunner

Insane? Nope.

My standard advice is to wait a year before attempting to learn to hone (I did an I'm glad I waited). As a former meat cutter I'll tell you the difference between honing a razor and sharpening a kife is black and with--day and night.

There are many advantages to having your razor honed by someone who know what they are doing. The biggest is that when the time comes to honing your own you'll have a gauge to judge your work by.

When I was learning I sent razors off to a Pro and asked that he use the same hones that I did and NO Pasted Strops. That was one of the best investments I've made.

Poor stropping can damage an edge and a hone can destroy an edge if you don't know what you're doing. The best case senerio is to find someone local with experience honing. The second best is to not learn to actually 'hone' but to maintain your edge. That's were a 12K comes in or even a decent Barber Hone.

The most important thing to have to learn this age old art is patience. If you absolutely have to start buying hones, start high with a 12K or such and see if you actually improve your edge, if not, well you'll have learned a bit.

There's a member here who I have helped and his question about learning to hone was "It's just sharpening, Right"? He found out there is quite a bit to learn. I still like to kid him about that overly simplified statement.

Enjoy the ride, it's a long strange trip but well worth the journey.

Thanks. So, is that member now a honemeister?