Thread: 2nd Attempt at Honing

Ok, I can definitely say that the razor shaves great now. Thanks for the advice everyone!

The first razor that I honed went fairly quick and simple, but I didn't learn much from it. This one was more difficult but that process taught me a few things, which is what I need at this point.

With that in mind, I'm wondering what's the best route to finding blades to practice on. I know some folks advocate learning on Gold Dollars, but I tend to like vintage razors (I'm also interested in learning to restore them).

I visited a number of antique stores last week and mostly struck out, so I was wondering if anyone has tried just buying a "lot" off eBay. I've seen a few listings where the majority of the razors seem to be in fixable shape.

There are not any antiques stores in my area. I got most of my razors from trades, private sales like the classifieds, and eBay. It takes a while to get used to shopping by crappy pictures. Not that many sellers on eBay know how to photograph a razor well to properly represent it. There is also a handful that are very good at hiding stuff in pictures. You have to accept that you will buy a few dogs. There is an old thread called eBay 101 or something like that. It’s very educational. Look and if you aren’t sure ask someone here in a PM that you think will be able to analyze the sale for you. Gold dollars are a terrible place to learn. They are known to have issues and if you are trying to learn to hone those ones are counter productive. You are looking for nice solid razors without any issues. I learned on NOS vintage razors, however there are not many around and they are all fairly pricey, but if you use tape and common sense they will be fine.