Thread: Learning on a $100(ish) razor?

Some of you may recall that I've decided to try my hand at honing. After a lot of reading, I think I've decided to start with a DMT 8EE and a Spyderco UF. Hopefully that will be enough to get me going in the beginning.

Now for my next question, and please forgive me if it's a dumb one. Is there any real downside to learning to hone on a somewhat more expensive razor? Does the learning process "trash" a razor, or simply just not make it shave-ready (without actually destroying the razor). I really hate to buy an eBay razor just to learn to hone on it and then never actually use it after that.

It seems to me that I could buy a bottom-end TI or Dovo and try to learn on that. Then, once I mastered it, I'd have a good usable razor. Or would I just ruin the razor in the process?

Thanks for any advice.

Originally Posted by LegalEagle

Some of you may recall that I've decided to try my hand at honing. After a lot of reading, I think I've decided to start with a DMT 8EE and a Spyderco UF. Hopefully that will be enough to get me going in the beginning.

Now for my next question, and please forgive me if it's a dumb one. Is there any real downside to learning to hone on a somewhat more expensive razor? Does the learning process "trash" a razor, or simply just not make it shave-ready (without actually destroying the razor). I really hate to buy an eBay razor just to learn to hone on it and then never actually use it after that.

It seems to me that I could buy a bottom-end TI or Dovo and try to learn on that. Then, once I mastered it, I'd have a good usable razor. Or would I just ruin the razor in the process?

Thanks for any advice.

As long as you use common sense you will absolutely not trash the razor; you will most likely cause significantly more hone wear than what is necessary, but that's probably it. The razor should be usable when you are done with it even if you can't get it there yourself.

personally I would just get a junker to practice on, why take chances on a nice razor?

You will also possibly scratch the blade faces if you accidentally push the edge over the edge of the stone or make some other but similar mistake.

I have learned to hone on my 75$ razor, and it is still a good razor to shave with. But it has some faint scratches that would bother me if I was a purist, which I am not.

Buying a junker is not always a good idea because if it is junk, it will be very difficult for a newbie to get the edge to anything resembling a good edge.

If you want to try some other blades, but a couple of wapienicas on ebay.
These are cheap, yet of a very high quality steel. The occasinal wapi is in a bad shape, but if you buy a couple, you should have several straight ones.

Yes, getting a Wapi is good advice.

James.

Originally Posted by Jimbo

Yes, getting a Wapi is good advice.

James.

+1 I would get a few of those. They are high quality razors at a low price. The only thing is that you might get one that is not completely straight which would make the honing difficult, but that is fairly rare.

Thanks for the replies. I didn't even think about Wapis. That's a great idea. I just checked eBay and didn't see any available from the normal seller. Do y'all know if he's run out?

Thanks.

Don't know. Try Mike_Ratliff - he was (is?) selling shave-ready wapis. He's probably right up on what stock is available.

If you can't find any, send me a PM. I've got a few of the older SFK stamped ones and I don't use all of them. I can take the edge off one for you with my new strop! lol!

James.