Thread: Learning Curve

I'm thinking of doing my own honing. Is there a significant learning curve?

Originally Posted by alschepis

Is there a significant learning curve?

Not so much with a good teacher.

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.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Not so much with a good teacher.

+1

I learned to hone by watching dozens of YouTube videos and analyzing the good and bad aspects of each video. I adopted the techniques that seem to work for me. However, if you can find someone to tutor you one on one, the learning process will be far easier.

You learn by practice, but be sure you are not practicing poor techniques. A tutor can spot mistakes that you might not even realize you are making.

One critical factor is that you need to be very observant of what is happening as the steel meets stone. What do you see? What do you hear? What do you feel? If you are not paying attention, you should not be honing. You can injure yourself, or damage the razor.

As you hone more razors, you will learn how to evaluate an edge and determine how to get it from its existing condition to where it needs to be. In some cases, that might require a full bevel set and progression. In others, a few strokes on a finishing hone might do the job. That is where experience and practice come into play.

I have honed my 25 razors several times each. I can generally get good edges on my own razors, but I am still looking for the right hone and the right technique to get even better edges. In contrast, the true experts, those we revere as honemeisters, have honed thousands of razors. Every now and then, they still come across a troublesome razor that challenges their skill.

When you learn to hone, do not start with your best razor. I purchased several Gold Dollar/ZY razors and learned to hone them. That way I did not mess up my favorite razor. Once I could get a good shave off these inexpensive, learner razors, I moved on to honing my daily shavers. If I get a new hone (and I have had several), I always test the hone using one of these GD/ZY razors until I figure out which techniques work and don't work with the new hone. The inexpensive GD/ZY razors do not get a lot of style points, but they still shave well enough to remain in my daily rotation.

It's not quite this simple of course but essentially you do most of your work on the 1k bevel set. Once that is done, the rest is gravy. You are just removing deeper scratches with shallower scratches at each step after that. Your potential shave is just getting smoother.

If you test (arm hair or whatever test you choose) at the 1k stage and that test is acceptable, your shave (the ultimate test) is likely to be good. After that you just maintain with a finishing hone or a pasted strop.

For me the learning curve was/is longish and frustrating at times. I learned on my own with no mentor handy and no meets close by. I am sure the learning curve would have been greatly reduced had I access to a mentor and attended meets. There is only so much you can learn from YouTube and being the net not all honing vids contain valid info. Add to that how many times you make the same mistakes till the coin finally drops is another thing but drop it will sooner or later. Should add that by honing I mean taking an old razor, possibly with a chippy edge and some warp or twist, from bevel set to finished edge. It took a while and close to honing 40 razors to get to the point where I can usually get a comfortable 4 pass shave out of my edges. I am sure the edges are not up to pro standards but work well enough for me. So I'd say there is a learning curve and how long/significant it is depends on the individual and the circumstances. In the end it is very satisfying to bring an old razor back to life.

Bob