Thread: Correlation of Knife Honing to Razor Honing

How many of you that have honed knives are honing your own razors and why?

How many of you that have not honed knives are honing your own razors and why?

How many of you that have honed knives are sending your razor to someone else to be honed and why?

How many of you that have not honed knives are sending your razor to someone else to be honed and why?

The reason I asked is that there seems to be a lot of razors being sent off to be honed by someone and I was just curious to the correlation of having honed something or not in the past and maybe the reason.

I sharpen all the knives around the house and use arkansas stones to do so. I think I do a good job too.

I have sent a razor to be sharpened by Lynn. Why? It's cheaper than buying a 4/8K Norton. And I know it will be done right. No learning curve either.

LG Roy

I hone my knives and my razors. I sent a razor to Lynn early to learn what sharp felt like.

Since then I have been honing my own. I recently purchased a paddle strop from Tony to learn how that works. I want to become a real honemeister

i started with knives and also hone my own razors with one exception (a stubborn blade Lynn honed for me.) Sharpening knives is one of those things that you can get good at but can never perfect. It's really fun and very rewarding. Slicing sashimi with a near perfect Yanagi is an amazing feeling. A one pass clean cheek with a freaky sharp straight razor that you honed yourself is equally great. It also has a certain Zen quality to it. I find knife sharpening very meditative, and while razors don't give quite the same feedback, it's still very therapeutic.

Yes, I'm from California.

I've been honing knives, broadheads, scissors, etc., for over 30 years now. When I was 13 years old, I was honing my first pocket knife - an Imperial camp knife and by 14 I had bought a nice Case pocket knife with paper route money and was shaving hair off my arm with it. I used a very small Arkansas white stone for that. I used a leathr belt to strop my finished edges and through it all I learned quite a bit about edges and sharpening. It all seems so simple, now, but I'm sure there was a learning curve. I remember spending many hours honing a knife each time in order to get a good edge. But that was probably because I only had one small stone- that little Arkansas fine.

I've honed all my own razors. I've honed many hundreds of razors, actually. I decided that I'd just keep working on my razor honing techniques until I got razors to shave the way I want them to shave and they shave pretty well if the responses from some of the guys who have had razors honed by me is any indication. I enjoy hand-honing the blades to sharpness that rivals or surpasses machined blades. I see no reason at all why they shouldn't exceed any machine sharpening process and think the only real limitation is the quality of the steel and the thickness of the blade.

I've never had the opportunity to hone a really good custom made knife blade. I do hone most all of our good quality household knives but I'm not so sure its the same. Until quite recently, most of my sharpening experience was confined to workshop tools. I have always keep my shop and garden tools keen enough to cut efficiently but never invested much time trying to perfect my rudimentary tool sharpening skills. Over the last few months I've been learning how to hone and strop straight razors. Quite a different experience!

Most of my regular "shaving" razors were bought new or were at least, well maintained before I got them so I've never had to strike a new bevel or restore an old or badly neglected blade. When I started out, I did send one of my first razors to Lynn for honing so I would know what a properly honed blade should look and feel like. I bought a cheap 20X microscope so I could see what my honing and stropping were doing to the blade and I read. I read a lot and I practiced, in very slow steps. I have 6 good razors in my regular shaving rotation and all are very sharp and easily pass the shaving comfort test. Of course like everyone else, I have found that some razors simply provide a more comfortable shave than others but all-in-all, I haven't encountered a situation where I could not at least put and keep a good edge on a blade (including the Friodur SS). The biggest secret I've found about honing and stropping is the slow and steady approach. Marathon sessions at the honing stone just don't work for me. I try to obtain the best edge I can with the fewest strokes and least amount to pressure. I rarely hone one blade for more than 10-15 minutes at a sitting. If the blade requires more work after 15 minutes, I put it down and come back to it later. Honing a keen edge, particularly if you are not experienced, can not be rushed. Like a few of you have already mentioned I too, find the sharpening process very therapeutic and relaxing. I am quite sure that my prior experience with regular tool sharpening (even at the rudimentary level) helped with my learning experience. Certainly, there is a feel for the steel on stone that you develop over time that must translate to all sharpening applications but I can not put a measure on it.

The next stage of razor sharpening for me is some light to moderate restoration work. I have a few older razors that require some maintenance work. One of the blades in particular is quite badly chipped and scored but I'm sure I will learn a lot even if the blade is not salvageable as a regular shaver. I bought Bill's "excellent" restoration CD and armed with my trusty dremel and Vlad's handy-dandy PSA pack, I am ready to begin....again! Its reassuring to know there are so people on this forum with good advice and information readily available. I'm sure I will be coming to the table with more questions and at least a few sad tales of broken or burnt blades. Its the continuous learning that makes this hobby of ours so much fun. Frustrating at times .....but always fun. Best regards,

I hone my own razors and I've honed a knife on occasion. Why? Just convienence. Its a fun little hobby.

I have always sharpened my own knives and cutlery. Well over 5,000 straight razors sharpened by hand and still going........lol. Tis alot of fun and a never ending challenge. Lynn

Always honed my own kitchen knives. Cheap material on the knife and on the hone, but I'm getting tired of that after more than a decade and I'll be buying better quality henceforward. That experience lead me to believe that honing razors would be similar. HA. I'm a bit of an obsessive guy so I kept at it for hours and hours until it started to make sense.

X

I suppose that I should answer my own question. I have honed my knives every since I was in Boy Scouts and also any tools that had a cutting edge on them. I thought that putting an edge on something that would cut hair on you arm was pretty cool. I started honing razors and discovered a whole new world of honing. The art of honing a razor has fascinated me to the point that I will learn to do this right if it takes forever. I have read different posts about this subject and talked to Lynn about this and pretty much have it down but still need to refine a few things. As in everything one must practice a lot and come across different challenges in order to become better at something. It is really rewarding to shave with something that you yourself have sharpened.