Thread: Learning Curve

How long have you been using a straight? How many razors do you have?
You may only need a 12k finishing hone for touch up.
If you intend to go the full hone you are going to need a few stones and razors to practice on. I would not start on a good razor unless you have a mentor.
Either way it will be costly. If you only have a few razors it is more economical to send them out.

You don't need a mentor (if you have one...great). There is a learning curve but it's not a big deal. If you have a nice razor I agree with the advice not to use that for learning purposes.

I've never sent anything out for honing. I did initially get a cheap razor from Whipped Dog so that I knew what the goal was. I learned on inexpensive vintage razors from Ebay.

You can just get a finishing hone if your existing razor is all you are concerned with. It's more fun to have a full range of hones so that you can buy inexpensive razors on Ebay and make good shavers out of them.

It doesn't have to be expensive. There is film of course but even with hones you can buy small hones. I have a 1k King ($25) which is full size. Everything else is smaller, hand-held in size. I have a 4k slip stone ($25), a 8k slip stone ($25), a small natural finishing hone ($35), a pasted paddle strop ($16 including the paste), and a regular strop ($25).

Film is the only way to get cheaper than that (or staying more limited with only a finishing hone).

You can learn from YouTube, trying things yourself and asking questions here once you have some experience and need some specific advice.

Once you get one razor from scratch shave-ready you will have much less trouble getting there again. It's just removing metal after all.

Keep in mind that continuing to send razors out for honing can get expensive and time consuming as well.

If you've ever taught yourself how to do anything else, you can do this as well.

Have you watched any YouTube videos on honing yet?

I learned more from an hour with a mentor as I did from 10 hours of watching videos. All the practice in the world won't help if you're not doing perfect practice.

If you are good with your hands and can get in person instruction, like an experienced member near by or a meet, the curve can be quite short. It is not uncommon that people struggle with it for a little while. The most economical system is if you have someone else do the initially honing and you maintain it with either a finish hone, like the 12k, or if you use a pasted strop. The 12K routine is pretty effective and fairly common on the forum. The outlay for the full progression can be expensive, but if you are into going that route and have the coin it can certainly be time well spent. If you go to a meet there is often a lot of experienced people and you will have the opportunity to try a lot of different equipment.