Thread: What makes someone a Honemeister?

Let's face it; there are a lot of "good" honers out there. Some are anywhere from good to really great. I am pretty good, and I know it, and I have been told that. I have honed perhaps 500 or more Ebay junkers, and I would say that I am at the least "pretty good", BUT...

In my opinion there will only ever be one honemeister, and that is Lynn Abrams. It's true! ...because, "It's true"

THE END

Steve

One indicator of how rare a true honemeister can be: On any day there are at least 1,000 straight razors for sale on eBay. There are almost never more than 50 of them advertised "shave ready," and usually around 35. There are just six people who regularly sell them advertised as shave-ready. Only three of them have meet the highest standards of customer satisfaction.

So there are thousands of people who sell razors from time to time. But only a comparative handful with the confidence to constantly buy, restore and resell razors in shave-ready condition.

Considerably more of those people are here in SRP than on eBay.

The really well made steel blades tend to give the best edges and I keep telling people who buy a $10 Chinese or Pakistani blade that there are limits to how sharp it can get. I prefer dubl ducks and Henckels, you know, Solingen steel for my razors and I am consistent in my honing. You can't make a silk purse from a sows ear.

Jesus Lynn wrote a whole lot


I am the lazy typer

What makes someone a Honemeister? = Confidence...

The guy behind the hones, and the guy that sends the razor, both have the confidence that the razor is going to end up shave ready...

A lot of good people already gave a lot of good info. It is an informal title granted by someone else / a lot of someone elses, based on many factors. The title is informal. There is not, nor will there ever be any official SRP endorsed accreditation.

Also, the amount of razors is not the be all / end all. Someone can hone a thousand razors, but unless he is into restoring lost causes, I am pretty sure that I will have honed more truly junked edges than that person. I pride myself on being able to restore and hone anything as long as there is enough metal left underneath the damage. And I've even honed (and shaved with) a splitting maul, just to prove to myself that I could.

Yet I am definitely not calling myself a honemeister (nor would I like to be called one) because I also know that there are holes in my experience. I flat out refuse to hone (or restore) anything smaller or equal than 5/8. I hate those puny tooth picks and the couple of times I tried to hone a 4/8 did not end well. I've only ever honed 1 stainless razor so as far as experience goes, that is nothing to brag about, and I've never honed a Japanse kamisori. And the total count of honed edges is certainly less than 200 so that is also not big achievement.

Of course, if someone is that desparate to prove that he is a honemeister, I could always send him or her a damascus wedge with slightly uneven grind and spine, without an initial bevel, hardened to 62 HRC.

Originally Posted by Lynn

The term " The Honemeister" was bestowed upon me years ago by the late Ray Dupont of Classic Shaving after i had honed several thousand razors and was starting to get the hang of honing.

Looks like I've got a ways to go .....

I would agree with several here who have basically stated that it was an informal reference of someone who is accomplished...I would imagine that whoever they may be, the enjoyment was all about getting there...I enjoy where I'm at in my profession, but, I enjoyed the journey a lot more.

The one thing that actually brought me to this site was after watching Lynn's honing videos on Youtube, (I'd started collecting razors just out of interest in razors themselves w/o consideration to using them), I remembered he said something about the enjoyment of the methodology associated to straight razor use and maintainence...referencing slowing down from the hustle-bustle...he was right!

If it isn't beautiful, enjoyable or usable...get rid of it!

Hey, don't believe those guys. You want to be a honemeister I'll tell you how to do it. Just send me $500 cash in small bills and I'll arrange for an official Honemeister Certificate to be issued to you along with a free set of references and you'll be all set. Har Har.

Originally Posted by Lynn

We have also seen people come into our environment seeing what they perceive as dollar signs.These people normally increase post count in a short period of time to be seen as an expert and typically will hone around 100 razors and proclaim their expertise. We have seen people come into our environment and ask every honing question possible, learn how to hone here along with what stones and media work and then magically remember years of experience with straight razors. These are typically the people that self proclaim their expertise and look for a title. They also tend to beg feedback and give little back to our environment. The term "Honester" was developed by those seeking this kind of recognition in my opinion.

What an astute observation Lynn, and it's one of those subjects that doesn't come up often at all.

I for one have observed many a member join, gain a ridiculous post count in a short time during which they ask all the usual honing questions. Then a month or so later they're giving advice like old pros to hapless newbs who can't tell that it's all BS (or that it's at best info that they could have gleamed on their own from the wiki or old threads).

So what makes a honemeister? I can't say for certain, but experience and word-of-mouth definitely have a lot to do with it. I also think that true honemeisters do not seek titles and do it for the love of it. Anyone seeking a title should probably not be trusted. It's a virtue that separates the true artisans from the high-posting "honesters" that Lynn speaks of.

It's not that I don't trust our member honers/honemeisters (especially when buying from the classifieds - buyer beware and all), but I do recommend that newbs learn the sharpness tests, the most important being the shave test. That way you can determine for yourself if the members skills match their reputation. It takes a certain amount of experience, but that's another thread.....