Thread: First attempts at honing-success!

Been straight razor shaving about six months now with a new Ralf Aust full hollow and a vintage C.S. Bresnick near wedge. Pasted strops have kept me going, but I wanted to learn to hone. Went antiquing and picked two razors in good shape, an H.H. Hill Blue Steel half hollow and a Simmons Barbers Pet full hollow to learn on for $22 each. Bought a King 1k/6k with slurry stone, dmt lapping plate.and a pair of Welsh slates, dragons tongue and llyn melyllyn. Watched lots of videos and read lots of forum posts. First try with the H.H. Hill. Set bevel. Took several trys but got it set. Kept screwing up till I got used to it. Slurried the 6k side and diluted every ten strokes to water only. Took to the llyn melyllyn with slurry then finished with water. Stropped on chromium oxide, then leather. Shave was very smooth, but tugged some. Did same with Simmons razor. Better, but still tugged some. My Bresnick near wedge needed honing due to overdoing it on a barbers hone, so I thought I would give it a try. After setting the bevel I thought I would try the dragons tongue as the mid level stone. Slurried and diluted every ten laps till clear at fifty strokes. Llyn melyllyn with water only for fifty laps, then another fifty with some glycerin added. The razor seemed to suck itself to the stone as I neared the end. Stropped and shaved. Smoother and just as sharp as my Ralf Aust when I first got it. While I have impressed myself, I would be remiss if I did not express my gratitude to the SRP and its members for the vast wealth of knowledge. Honing is so relaxing, now I want to go antiquing again.

Oops, I think I put this in wrong forum. Just realized there is a separate forum for honING

A mod will move this thread later.
It’s nice to have early success. If you want to shorten the learning curve to repeatable and magnificent edge, meets are the place to learn. One of the keys is being able to tell when the bevel is correctly set, as it is the foundation to your edge. Perhaps you would like to try the 1K shave test on your next attempt. It is a great learning tool about bevel setting. You should be able to get a good, no tugging shave off the 1K. It will be coarse but will shave easily when done well.

Or just keep doing what you're doing since it's working!

Congrats on your early success with honing. I can understand how satisfying it must feel. Just don't get lulled into complacency by it. You do enough razors you are bound to run into one that will have you pulling your hair out trying to get a handle on it. Those are the ones that will teach you the most about honing and your tolerance for frustration. Get past that and the challenging ones become very satisfying also. Good luck and happy honing.

Bob

Congrats! There's just a pure bliss that comes with a great, comfortable shave from an edge you produced.
Now start saving cause the HAD will come!
Jer