Thread: What makes someone a Honemeister?

Sorry for my ignorance....but what makes someone a honemeister? Although fairly new to SRP and using a SR I am really just wondering what makes a person a honemeister? I am and have currenty been a firefighter paramedic FFPM for about 10 years now and am really used to standards...rules...and guidelines for titles so maybe that is part of my own ignorance, but really have not come across anything that states when you become a honemeister. Is this just some made up name for those that have been honing razors for a while? Seems to be something easily put behind ones name...Let me know...I am sorry for any offense or ignorance. Lynn maybe you could chime in on this one.

Thanks

B

There's no official guidelines or any official definition of honemeister that I am aware of. It really is just an honorary term used to describe someone who is a master of the art of honing straights. Lynn, for example, is a honemeister.

What makes a honemeister? That is a question that has vexed the forums for a while now, and seems to crop up with a certain periodicity. My definition includes things like experience (years and/or number and variety or razors honed), consistency, knowledge (related to experience I feel), and the ability to be able to hone any razor in any condition (within reason) to a fine edge that would shave anybody, regardless of skin or beard type. A honemeister has the capability of extracting the best edge possible from a given razor. In my book a honemeister does not need to be professional (as in takes money for honing) but of course it often turns out that they are, as it is still, despite the amount of discussion we have about honing here, a rare and hard-won skill.

James.

Originally Posted by Bubba4422

Sorry for my ignorance....but what makes someone a honemeister?

Knowledge, tools, practice and consistent smooth sharp shaving results.
.... and reputation.

There is an FAQ entry for this. And indeed a honemeister will be able to hone basically any razor back to life on any hone.

What matters to me is trust in the person's potential success rate. I know a good number of people who can get a razor in ok condition shave ready, but I know only a few who can bring a mirror polished wedge with a warped blade and uneven honewear back to life.

That said, it is all relative. As stated previously, I have had razors whose shaves I did not like but a friend of mine loved, and vice versa.

Regards,
Robin

I think its a title bestowed upon those who have an excellent reputation for getting excellent shaving edges on any razor with any stone. Time served, the number of razors honed and skill level are all key elements as well.

Its a reputation thing!

Luckily there are still a few things in life that aren't over regulated.
Obviously for professionals working in fields such as structural engineering, medicine and law there has to be a way of measuring competence.
There are some areas where a good reputation will suffice.
In the UK we are going over the top, a large 'proof of competence' industry seems to have sprung up with all the attendant red tape and costs.

There is no test or rules carved in stone for honemiesters . It's a word we use to describe someone who has a good reputation for being able to hone straight razors to shave ready condition , for others .

Originally Posted by Bubba4422

I am and have currenty been a firefighter paramedic FFPM for about 10 years now and am really used to standards...rules...and guidelines for titles

When there are a standard of rules and guidelines that amount to a checklist, one could self proclaim his honemeister status based on having checked off that list.

But "honemeister" is a title bestowed on someone by others based on their observations. So even though a wannabe can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people all of the time, he or she will never be able to bestow upon himself an undisputed honemeister title!

I'll go ahead and give you an official list of existing honemeisters:

no wait, I better not - you never know who might be offended they are not yet on the list I've included a picture of some who attempt to bestow titles upon themselves below in my signature line

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. At that time, I had probably honed more razors than anyone out there as our world was much smaller than today. Believe it or not, Classic Shaving had just graduated from an Ebay store at this time. I thought that was pretty nice, but was also a little embarrassed by having that kind of recognition. Well, after years and many thousands of additional razors honed, I am still a little embarrassed by this and have probably still honed more razors than anyone else out there.

As our population has grown, we have seen people come in and learn how to hone successfully, quietly helping people out and honing as many razors as they could. Over time and probably because of the realization of how much time goes into honing razors, especially ebay type beaters, some of these folks have decided to provide honing services for a fee.

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.

I have watched our environment go from a place where there was little to no information available on the internet to a place where now SRP is recognized world wide as the source of the best and most credible straight razor information available. We started this forum which was the first straight razor forum on the internet with no agendas other than to bring people back to the art of straight razor shaving and wet shaving in general. It has always been a pay it forward environment where people would hone razors for others and donate razors to others only asking that these people help other new people out as possible in the future. This is also why we don't allow free honing advertising as the majority of what we have seen with this is just to "get into the business". This definitely is not in line with the spirit on which this forum was created or continues to exist. We have so many people that help people out when ever they can not seeking this kind of recognition. Keep in mind that there are definitely those out there that simply want to learn to hone for the pleasure of their own knowledge.

Honing to me remains more an art than a science although I learn alot from our forum members every day. The more razors you hone, the better you get at honing. It is amazing just how different all the styles and sizes of razors are when it comes to honing, not even considering manufacturers or conditions that you can run ito. Then add all the different types of hones and media and the pursuit of the perfect edge is never ending

Would we also have titles for people that restore razors or make custom razors? We have long felt that any kind of accreditation type of undertaking would truly also not be in the spirit of the forum and have avoided it for many reasons.

No matter who you are or how many razors you have honed, you will not please all the people all the time as we see when new people try to shave and encounter problems with shave ready razors. All we can do is our best and work with people to be successful in obtaining all the pleasures associated with straight razor shaving. We have some people within this forum who are very talented at honing razors and who are also available to help you out any time.

I'm not sure that any titles can improve the wonderful environment that has been established here and I remain grateful to have a community like this to participate in.

Have fun,

Lynn

Originally Posted by Lynn

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.

Well, I wont be using that term again..!

I guess I totally misunderstood that term when I saw it. I thought it was just people who enjoyed honing and were keen to learn more.