Honing/sharpening service recommendations in NYC?

First, thanks for setting up such a cool and helpful community. I've been lurking for a while and I've found loads of useful information here. I have a new situation that I'm hoping someone has an answer to.

A few weeks ago, I bought my first straight razor - a T-I from AOS. I had been shaving with it for a couple of weeks, and on the day I finally felt like I had the hang of it - I had a smooth 2-pass shave with no nicks - I dinged the blade on my faucet while going in for a rinse. Nothing huge, but enough that I could see it up close, hear the difference on the strop, and was just not going to drag it across my face.

I called the AOS on Madison Ave., and they recommended that I take it to Henry Westpfal & Co. (mentioned elsewhere on this site) to have the defect ground out. I did so, got the blade back and it looked good - the ding was gone, edge looked straight & mirror-shiny.

When I got it home, it was a different story. The blade was far, far duller than when I put it in their hands. It's just not taking the hair off my face. Stropping does not seem to help.

Can anyone recommend a blade shop or honemeister in NYC, preferably one that does the work on the premises? Westpfal claims that they guarantee their work, but I'm wary of taking the blade back just to have more metal ground off and get the same poor result.

Also, is there any chance I'm doing something wrong? I'm following the same steps that worked before I brought it in (preparing my face, 20 passes each way on the strop). I'm not sure what I could be missing here, if the blade is really sharp and shave-ready.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Hi Brad,

First in answer to your main question (on-site honing service in NYC), can't help you there, but, am reasonably certain someone here will chim in on that.

Aside from that, I would suggest giving consideration to beginning to invest in honing equipment. Like you, I'm relatively new to straight razors, but, by following the tutorials and a couple of well answered questons set me right to where I'm very pleased with my results in honing, from fully setting bevels on older razors, to touch-ups. Sense of satisfaction, and over the mid-term haul, will save you bucks.

If someone doesn't provide a walk-in honer in NYC, you might consider mailing to one of the many people here who are very, very accomplished...click on Classifieds above, and then on Member Services for a list of who provides the service.

Regards,

Scott

I'm no honemeister, but I get down to NYC often. If you want, I could bring my stones with me, and we could meet up and I could try my hand at it. Feeling lucky? :medvl:

Magpie -

I'll let you know. I'm actually thinking about sucking it up, getting a stone, and teaching myself how to do it.

Cheers,
- Brad

This is exactly why I wanted to learn how to hone my own razors. For years I would take them somewhere or send them to someone through a knife or cutlery shop only to get them back in non-shaving condition and having been put on belts or grinding stones which obviously didn't work.

Like everything else, there is a little learning curve and some equipment is better than others, but in my opinion, it is worth the quest.

Have fun,

Lynn

FWIW, my situation was very similar to yours. I bought an AOS / TI and Dovo strop from AOS. Got started. Made some serious newbie mistakes similar to yours, and decided to give honing a try.

I've been working on honing for about a month now, and I'm able to get a previously shave ready back to having that loving feeling. I knew that I had quite a learning curve, so I did some research on here and purchased another shave ready (for use in the meantime, start of a collection, and just curious about other brands) from a different vendor.

From my experiences of the past 6 or 7 weeks, I would get another shave ready razor and do some research on an appropriate hone setup. The info in the wiki and threads are killer. Be patient. That was the hardest thing for me to do.

Good luck dude. BTW, I also want 6 more razors now...

Thanks, all. I'm digging into the wiki and watching videos - will probably order a set of stones later today, once I feel clear on what I need.

Brad, if you haven't seen it already, you should go to the NYC Meet in early May also. You can pick up some great tips on honing while you are there.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/get-t...may-1-2-a.html

I live in NYC and am a budding honeist (spelling?)
Anyway, I don't know everything but I'd be glad to share what I do know.
But the May meet, if we find a place, will be the spot to be.

At the last meet, I remember someone else saying the went through the same thing as you - they went to AOS, got recommended to a knife shop, and got back a trashed edge. You should never ever let anyone try to sharpen your blades unless they specifically say they can do razors. I'd never let a knife person touch my razors.

+1 on attending the meet. Maybe I'll see you there.

Brad,

Good advice above. The only comment I would make is that you should have some time shaving with a straight before you try your hand at honing. The NYC meet in May and Magpie are good options. Next would be to send the razor to Lynn for honing or one of the other people that offer that service in the classified section of this site. That way the shop is as close as you mail box. If you do go that route the small boxes available at the post office with lots of padding (bubble wrap) is a better way to send it.

Thanks for the Vote of confidence Joe! I just wish I could say I was as good as you or Dylan when it came to honing. I can make em shave ready, but you do it faster, and easier, and probably better. But practice makes perfect!

Someone should beat those AOS guys...knife sharpener for a razor? Pssh!

They should be forced to shave with edges "sharpened" by those people until the end of time.

;)

For what it's worth, I recently took my razor to Westpfal & Co and was disappointed in the result.

Granted, I'm pretty new to this and my razor isn't great (I bought it in pretty good condition at a flea market a few months ago), but after the sharpening it seemed in far worse condition than before. I even brought it back to Westpfal and they sent it for a second sharpening free of charge (they have a guarantee of some sort), but it wasn't any better than after the first sharpening. I did strop it before each shave after (something I'm also new at), but I don't think that's the problem.

It's a pity, because it's a nice little shop and I would have liked to support their business.

Don't know of any honemeisters in NYC but a lot of folks on this site live in NYC and have the proper equipment. You might put out a request for help and see what comes back.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bradheintz

First, thanks for setting up such a cool and helpful community. I've been lurking for a while and I've found loads of useful information here. I have a new situation that I'm hoping someone has an answer to.

A few weeks ago, I bought my first straight razor - a T-I from AOS. I had been shaving with it for a couple of weeks, and on the day I finally felt like I had the hang of it - I had a smooth 2-pass shave with no nicks - I dinged the blade on my faucet while going in for a rinse. Nothing huge, but enough that I could see it up close, hear the difference on the strop, and was just not going to drag it across my face.

I called the AOS on Madison Ave., and they recommended that I take it to Henry Westpfal & Co. (mentioned elsewhere on this site) to have the defect ground out. I did so, got the blade back and it looked good - the ding was gone, edge looked straight & mirror-shiny.

When I got it home, it was a different story. The blade was far, far duller than when I put it in their hands. It's just not taking the hair off my face. Stropping does not seem to help.

Can anyone recommend a blade shop or honemeister in NYC, preferably one that does the work on the premises? Westpfal claims that they guarantee their work, but I'm wary of taking the blade back just to have more metal ground off and get the same poor result.

Also, is there any chance I'm doing something wrong? I'm following the same steps that worked before I brought it in (preparing my face, 20 passes each way on the strop). I'm not sure what I could be missing here, if the blade is really sharp and shave-ready.

Thanks in advance for your help.

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