Thread: Is honing really that difficult?

Most razors have bad geometry, or at least some challenging aspect to it.

Grinding down the spine in any area so that you can hone the razor is destructive and lazy in my opinion, and not cost effective or in the interests of preserving expensive and/or rare vintage razors.

The reason there is so much discussion of honing, is that it can be challenging, and the "honing gymnastics" are one of the major aspects which separate the beginners from the expert.

Take any geometrically perfect razor, and anyone with the fundamentals of honing down pat will be fine.

A twisted, warped, razor, with bad steel, is something that would be extremely challenging for me, would probably take me several hours to get to end of job.

For a honemaster like Glen, Lynn, Tom, Wolfpack, Karl, Jamie or many others, that would be "Monday" for them, and while it would be challenging for them, they've seen it, been there, got the coffee mug, t-shirt and know exactly what to do to get the razor to "shave ready" in probably about an hour - that's the "learning curve" that's spoken of.

Frankly, I'd advise taking the time to learn, as each razor is essentially unique, no two are completely alike, so each time you hone a razor, it's a different experience, and won't go the same as the last one. I've honed a razor in 30 minutes and had it perfect, while also having to have multiple hours long sessions over several days to get a razor ready, while not smashing my stones and destroying the razor - that's why you'll hear, "walk away" frequently when it get's frustrating.

Personally, Dr. Matt's video's are not the way to learn how to manage the large variance of razors you'll come across, but whatever floats your boat...just my opinion.