Thread: How Many Hones Does A Beginner Need ?

I am not sure if this topic belongs to "advanced honing topics"

But to answer some quetsions:

A beginner does need hones that will match their requirements.
For example a Straight-Beginner will want to avoid any hones at all
and let this work be done by someone who knows.

A Honing-Noob that wants to keep the pre sharpened razors sharp
might get along with just a nice finishing stone for quite a while.
He will not get along forever, as sometime the bevel must be resetted, I guess.
This is because I know for sure that barbers in old germany used to resharpen their blades with what they had (i.e a coticule or an esher) but send them back to the manufacturer when it´s time has come for regrinding.
In fact there the blade qould not only be resharpened, but the hollow grind would be renewed.
This is so to keep the exact angle of the edge. Totally unnesecarry, but seems like the old barbers in Germany did so.

I have no Idea how long a touch up hone will keep a razor sharp, so you might want to figure it out. But I think you might get along a long time,
if (and this is crucial) you do it right!

A honing apprentice might want to check out some of the known honing systems like:
Norton 4k/8k

If you´re not living in the us or want to rtry something else,
I recommend the naniwa superstone system (ie. 1k, 3k or 5k, 8k)
or a Shapton Glasstone set (1k, 4k, 8k).

If you want to learn the hard way, you can egt yourself a coticule!
It might very well be the most versatile single stone thereis.
You can find a lot of information why this is on coticule.be

I am one of those guys who for years used nothing but a barbers hone and did quite well with that alone, then I found SRP! A barbers hone is all you will ever need to maintain a razor, everything else is for edge repair and restoration.

Originally Posted by anjp

Could a razor go its whole life . . . using only a barber's hone for the occasional touch-up?

The short answer is that a barber's hone will keep a razor going for as long as you find the shave it gives you acceptable. When the barber's hone no longer recovers the edge to acceptable keenness (your face will let you know), it will be time to have the razor honed again.

There are so many variables, no one can tell you how long that will be.
Namaste,
Morty -_-

Originally Posted by Morty

The short answer is that a barber's hone will keep a razor going for as long as you find the shave it gives you acceptable. When the barber's hone no longer recovers the edge to acceptable keenness (your face will let you know), it will be time to have the razor honed again.

There are so many variables, no one can tell you how long that will be.
Namaste,
Morty -_-

I guess I want a longer answer.

I am curious what the basis of your claim might be. That is, what is your experience with barber hones? Also, why do you distinguish the use of a barber hone and razor honing?

Originally Posted by Utopian

I guess I want a longer answer.

I am curious what the basis of your claim might be. That is, what is your experience with barber hones? Also, why do you distinguish the use of a barber hone and razor honing?

My personal experience with barber hones is with the Swarty I acquired to touch up the razors I purchased from the SRP Classifieds. So far, it seems to do the trick, using it as recommending by others posting about them. But as you will see from my join date, it hasn't been all that long.

Why do I distinguish the use of a barber hone from razor honing? That's possibly a mistake of semantics on my part. anjp was asking if you could keep a razor sharp "for the life of the razor" with just use of a barber's hone. I had forgotten from where I had based my opinion (I just found it). In this article in the Wiki, Lynn Abrams states "Yeah, I think barber hones still suck. They are small, flat, unpredictable, and harder to use for me. There are those of you who love them. Oh well..."

That's why I distinguish between the two. For now, touching up with 4-8 strokes on my barber's hone is all my shave ready razors need when the strop isn't enough. But when the time comes that the barber's hone won't do the trick, it's time to do something different, no?

Now, if my opinion is wrong, please tell me, it's the only way I'm going to learn.

anjp, I believe I owe you an apology. When I replied to your post, I thought I was still speaking with fish4life and I was remembering how raw I was just one month in, trying to absorb everything I was reading. I didn't mean to appear like I was talking down to you. My apologies if that is the impression I gave you.
Namaste,
Morty -_-

Everyone here in SRP is Great! Thanks all for the great info. I found from Wiki, start with a Belgian Hones then work to other Hones if your not happy.

I'm going to send my Dovo after a few months to SRD to be Honed first after that I'll try to get a Belgian Hone and recreate same level of sharpness.

Wonderful !!

Thanks for Wiki and thank you all for Responding to my concerns.

Have a great day

Originally Posted by Morty

My personal experience with barber hones is with the Swarty I acquired to touch up the razors I purchased from the SRP Classifieds. So far, it seems to do the trick, using it as recommending by others posting about them. But as you will see from my join date, it hasn't been all that long.

Why do I distinguish the use of a barber hone from razor honing? That's possibly a mistake of semantics on my part. anjp was asking if you could keep a razor sharp "for the life of the razor" with just use of a barber's hone. I had forgotten from where I had based my opinion (I just found it). In this article in the Wiki, Lynn Abrams states "Yeah, I think barber hones still suck. They are small, flat, unpredictable, and harder to use for me. There are those of you who love them. Oh well..."

That's why I distinguish between the two. For now, touching up with 4-8 strokes on my barber's hone is all my shave ready razors need when the strop isn't enough. But when the time comes that the barber's hone won't do the trick, it's time to do something different, no?

Now, if my opinion is wrong, please tell me, it's the only way I'm going to learn.

OK, thanks for the clarification. First, your opinion is not wrong, it simply differs from mine. I asked my questions partially because I wondered if your opinion was the result of your own experience or if it was a restatement of someone else's. It turned out to be both. Lynn thinks barber hones suck. That's his opinion. I simply disagree and will leave it at that.

Originally Posted by anjp

I'm piggybacking, but it's related...

Could a razor go its whole life (let's say 10 years) using only a barber's hone for the occasional touch-up? Suppose the blade has been properly honed on day 1 (4k/8k etc.)... is it possible to use the barber's hone frequently to keep the blade nice and sharp, and forego any other serious honing? Or must it still be honed with a lower grit every now and then?

Just curious :-)

A razor can go its whole life, of well over 10 years, using nothing but a barber hone. If you start with a sharp razor, a barber hone can keep that razor serviceably sharp for as long as you wish to use that razor. You don't need anything other than a barber hone and a strop to maintain your razor.

Any time you notice any diminishment in the quality of the shave, that is the time to do a few strokes with a barber hone. That's all there is to it. Touch it up whenever it isn't as sharp as it should be.

Another vote for the barber hone. Once I get a razor sharp, a barber hone is all it sees. Except for the ones I drop or the few (< 5%?) that prefer a Thuringian.

thank you all for the info. Timber Frame Tools: Power tools and hand tools for timber framing, log building and boat building is one of the places I've been looking at Hones. I talked with timebertools one of their reps their said the Coticule stone does not need a slury due to their stones being one best to sharpen tools with, or get a shave ready edge.