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.