Thread: Some thoughts on "Learning to Hone"

Thanks for the feedback, Alex. I knid of burnt myself out at the time, and I wasn't really sure how to address the setting the bevel process either. The more "basic" stuff appears, the harder it really is to explain (at least for me). Everything is always a work in progress with me, anyway.

The upshot, though, is if someone was to actually go through the other stages first, they should be pretty comfortable with honing, know a bit about razors' edges, and have seen set bevels already (assuming they get razors with the bevels set, test them out, and then do the mid-level stuff). So I don't think it's quite as incomplete as it appears, though I agree it is incomplete.

To the OP i can say that as someone who for surely lives even on a different time zone from the closest straight shaver i've had to find out the path all by myself from dull to sharp. Of course it helped a lot as i had sharpened other tools for many years but i did not really have the goal to go. It was more like try, test, try, test sort of thing. Once i learned that no matter how polished my edges are if the bevel isn't set i saw the light. Nowadays sharpening is not rocket science but easy as soon as i can make the bevel set. That is the key to success. Strangely humming around with straights has helped me to get somehow better edges to my kitchen knives as well.

thanks all for this awesome thread

I re-read this whole thread again today. Wow. If we had to pay something to read this thread, it would be worth it. A real seminar in honing.

I'm an academic, a research scholar, a professor, and also a clergyman. I prize the integration of abstract principles, factual information, values, tradition, and the wisdom of experience.

You guys have done this. Honestly, I wish students in my Bible classes in seminary could blend precept and practice, information and experience, in the realm of religion, the way you guys do.

Thanks to all who have added to our knowledge.