Thread: I seem to have forgotten how to hone - ever happened to you?

I'm still new, I've been at this not much over six months. It took me weeks of near-daily trying to get my first decent shaving edge. I haven't had too much trouble getting one on any razor, junk or nice, since it "clicked" with me. Until now.

For about the past 6 weeks, I'd basically stopped honing, focusing very successfully on learning proper stropping and maintaining the favorite already-honed razors I use. Then I recently bought a new prized very-high-grit polishing stone, and managed to dull several of these same favorite razors with it, due to inexperience. OK, no big deal - just go back to the old hones, get an edge, and work back up.

But now I seem unable to get a shaving edge on *any* of these razors, using *any* of my old hones. It's not an equipment or razor issue - I've gotten killer edges on these same razors, with these same old hones before. It's me.

Has this happened to anybody else? Please tell me this is just a passing newbie thing, I'm starting to panic a bit. I still have some well-honed "second-string" razors to fall back on, so I can still get a decent shave. It isn't the end of the world or anything, but it's pretty humiliating.

I too get frustrated at times, Tim.

Some days, honing can be pretty elusive. I've reached a level where that doesn't mean I can't manage shavereadiness, but it sure can be frustrating when the better edge you're after completely escapes you.
The problem is that a frustrated mindset only makes matters worse. You end up doing too much laps on a hone, loose concentration, loose consistency in the stroke...
When that happens it's time to take some distance. Give it a few days time. Decide to only perfect the bevel on one razor. Give it a downstroke or two on a fine finishing hone first. This removes just a very faint part of the very edge. For some reason, whenever I keep fumbling on a razor, failing to get what I'm after, that always seems to affect the steel of the very edge at a given point. If you get a clean start with a refreshed bevel, things often start moving in the good direction again. Once you have that perfect bevel, which shouldn't take all that long, call it a day. Refine it tomorrow and use your most trusted finisher. Decide up front that you are going to try to stay just below your goal. Strop and test shave. High chance that you didn't stay below your goal, but are right on top.
Even if not so, you'll still be on track. Wait another day and sneak up further to your goal, with doing a few additional "refining strokes" and finish the blade again, for another test shave.
I am sure you'll get there.

Good luck,
Bart.

When I got into this I knew, speaking only for myself, that if I was going to become any good at it I would have to hone many razors and hone often. Some weeks I hone at least one a day and sometimes more.

Sometimes I would do as Bart said get away from it for a day or two. To me the old saying."practice makes perfect" applies. The only way to get good at something like honing IMO is to get plenty of practice. That is one reason I bought so many darn razors. Just talking about what works for me. Others may be a quicker study and pick it up easily. This old dog takes awhile to learn new tricks

Quick answer: yes. However, I knew what I was getting into. Sometimes the steel is just so hard that it takes forever. The key of course is to set the bevel correctly on the lower grit and then the rest will be easy, repetitive, but easy.

Right now I am definitely feeling as though I cannot master the smiling blade hone. I can hone up regular edges to damn fine shavers, but no dice on the smiling blades. I gave up on one and sent it to Lynn. I'm close to giving up on them altogether and outsourcing whenever I get a smiler. I've got one fully restored, but not shave ready, one more needing final polish and hone, and got three more smiles with my newest lot of razors. Long and short of it. I feel your pain. More than you know.

Leighton have you tried the rolling x ? Here is a post by Russel Baldridge describing it. Lynn has posted that using a heel leading stroke with the blade at a 45 degree angle is effective on smiling blades with an 8X3" hone. I have used both techniques and they work with practice.

This is really where I developed the term "Less strokes are Better". I used to find that I would work on a razor all day long if needed and it became very frustrating. At this point, I simply try to hone one up and if it doesn't hit, I let it sit until the next time I am honing and go through my usual routine again and most times it will hit. Some razors are just stubborn and I can never explain why this happens, but it does. Honing can become something that is very relaxing to do, but if frustration enters into the picture, I agree that a couple days away is a good ting.

Have fun,

Lynn

For my work in the past, I used to have to regularly make microinjection needles. That would involve using various pieces of equipment to convert a piece of glass capillary tubing into a sharpended beveled needle with a spike on the end of it and the diameter of that needle was smaller than a hair. There were many steps to doing it and it took a long time for me to get good at it. Before I became adept at it, there were some days when I succeeded at it and others when I just made crap. I quickly learned to walk away on days when it wasn't working and to take full advantage of days when I had success. Honing works the same way. Gradually muscle memory will improve as your brain is literally re-wired and over time the good days will outnumber the days when you should just walk away from your hones.

a very light honing stroke, i figured that out one night wondering the same thing you are, then it hit me as i used a very light touch and it worked with a lot less strokes too, my edges are vastly improving, need work on my stropping now, and more hones a lot more

Are you stropping before testing?
If you are comparing honed and stropped razors against honed but unstropped ones, then I think you are setting yourself up for disappointment.

One other (crazy) theory - maybe your honing skills have actually improved and you now create smooth, sharp edges. Your earlier attempts may have had a coarse, "microtoothed" edge, that cuts differently. Not necessarily better or worse - just differently.

Thanks for the advice and encouragement, it's appreciated. I'm going to knock off for a few days and come back to it this weekend. I'll be sticking with one razor in more brief sessions, rather than trying to "force" multiple razors for days on end.

When I started honing, I had enormous loads of patience because 1) I was new and had very low expectations to start with, and 2) I was practicing on junk razors. Now my expectations are very high, and I'm working on my true *babies*, not my junk.

I should get back to regularly honing junk razors for pleasure, just to keep in practice. I enjoy honing, but especially enjoy it when it works! I do admire you honemeisters. Taking on any strange razor for $15 - $30, not knowing if it will take 30 minutes or 30 hours to actually get it in top shape. That's confidence, and a labor of love at some level.

Hey, at least I've learned to strop effectively, buying me a lot of time to get back on track. Starting out I was pretty screwed, because I couldn't hone or strop correctly - or even shave very well, for that matter.

Thanks,

Tim