Thread: Honemeister accredidation?

I like the idea in principle, and would love to see how my honing rates compared to others.

That said, I fear that newbies will require an accreditation before sending their razor out to be honed by someone, or that non-accredited honemeisters will won't be able to effectively sell their service and have to somehow discount their service to remain competitive.

It could also be seen as a barrier to entry of the market.

I like the idea though of knowing how you rank among your peers though.

Just food for thought, FWIW.

Mark

I love the idea and would not hesitate to send out a few razors for evaluation by the known masters. I dont know how "official" this would have to be, but at least to be able to gain the respect of your peers and to be accepted as a hone meister and to use that recognition to advance ones services would be great.

A noble thought but the problem is any accreditation is only worth the value of those doing the accreditation.

Everything is relative so how do we create some absolute standards whereby every blade can be equally evaluated. Is it just by shaving or do we have to physically examine every edge for any defects and if so do we do it with magnification or not and if so how much? I would guess most of the well known honemeisters stand by their work which is well known and would not want to participate. Kind of like saying we should develop standards for razor makers. Would Zowada or Livi want to have their work critically evaluated by some "expert" committee? I think not.

An interesting idea.

There is a feedback section in the new classifieds where users can comment on razors they purchase... but I'm not really sure how much that gets used. I can only think of two razors that I've sent out and the buyers have been less than satisfied; in one case the buyer honed it himself, and in the other the buyer sent it back and I re-honed and re-shavetested the blade.

I think an official accreditation would risk mucking up the informal accreditation already in place. Aspiring honers can send their blades out for shave testing by known experts and get feedback that way.

An accreditation system wouldn't bother me though, it might be kind of fun.

Considering the different beards and all YMMV stuff out there in terms of a honed edge, I think it is a little unreasonable. Different edges on different razors react differently for different people. For bladesmiths it is pretty cut and dry to say "cut through this section of rope in one swipe" or "bend the blade so much without cracking the edge". I just think edges on razors are pretty personal. I probably wouldn't bother trying to get the mark either considering I'd rather not have everyone sending me their razors! lol

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Would Zowada or Livi want to have their work critically evaluated by some "expert" committee? I think not.

I seem to recall Bill Ellis being perfectly happy with having a formal and detailed critique of his work over on B&B. Razors from other custom makers were also critiqued. Was it fairly recently?

You have a point that if someone is already at the top of their game with nothing new to learn they probably would have no need or desire to gain any formally recognized stature above what they already may have by reputation.

It was just a thought.

Chris L

that wasnt too long ago chris i remember reading that, i learned one thing that is true, if you stop learning because you think you know everything there is to know about a subject, then you are the loser and knowledge will pass you by, even a master learns something new once in a while if not every day

The idea has been kicked around a few times in the past, but it never really took off.
And honestly, I think it is unnecessary that is just my own opinion.

On the practical side, I don't think there can be an 'SRP' accreditiation, since SRP is a forum / website.
Of course we 'could' organize it, but that would be a conflict of interest.
All other issues aside, Lynn and Don are the proprietors of SRD, and as such would have a commerical conflict of interest with SRP accreditation.
I haven't talked it over yet with the other supers / admins, but I don't think we want to go there.

I also think that the accreditation is only as good as the people doing it, and on the flip side: those who don't have it are not necessarily worse than those who have.
I know Lynn has said in the past that he doesn't want it for himself.
So if Lynn doesn't have it, is he less qualified to hone than someone else? Otoh since there are probably few people actually better than him, what value does the accreditiation have is the top honer isn't accredited?
Same with Livi, Robert Williams, ... who may or may not want it.

Sorry have to go now and pick my oldest up from school.
Will post back later.

There is already an informal accreditation of sorts anyway isn't there? Those who are recognised as efficient honers, are accredited from their customers. IMO.

I am more than happy knowing that 3 efficient honers have acknowledged my skill level, and it makes no difference to me, who knows this and who doesn't.

Just my 0.02 worth.