Thread: How Many Hones Does A Beginner Need ?

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 :-)

I've heard of guys who've been doing this for 20 years with only a barbers hone and strop... I can't speak from experience, though.

To the OP, that's a question that we can't answer fully without knowing what you're wanting to do... I guess the answer of what you "need", by default without any more information, is 1 (barbers hone or other finisher).

There are simply too many permutations of setups and intentions to just take a stab in the dark (if you want a meaningful answer, that is)...

I'm going to buck the trend here, & say none.
A barbers hone will do the job, but a paddle, or loom strop pasted with CrO will be easier for you to maintain an edge with.

Originally Posted by ben.mid

I'm going to buck the trend here, & say none.
A barbers hone will do the job, but a paddle, or loom strop pasted with CrO will be easier for you to maintain an edge with.

Until he rounds the edge, then you would need a more agressive hone than simply a finisher to bring the edge back. You can not get by with just a pasted strop indefinately, but you may be able to with just a barber's hone or other finisher.

Pasted strops are good, but they will not be an introduction to honing, which I can see the OP wishes to gain. IMO they delayed my into to honing as once they stopped working I had to send my razor out to be honed, whereas had I invested in a finisher I would have been able to polish my edge.

I would say a beginner doesn't need any hones for at least the first three months. After that a pasted strop or pasted paddle strop w/ CrOx will keep things going for a bunch more time. If the razor needs honing in the first year sent it out to an experienced honemister listed in the classifieds and w/ a lot of time on SRP.

In my time here on SRP I have seen that beginners have three major areas that cause problems. Bad technique, rolling the edge on a strop and bad honing. Lots of times bad technique causes the person to go to the hones and it really only makes things worse. Pick up two razors that are shave ready. Only use one razor until it is damaged or starts tugging ( after several months) and them hit the pastes or send it out for a honing. Learn to shave before trying to hone. The cost of honing one razor is minimal to the cost of a hone(s) and a lot less fristrating for a newbie.

I can only tell you my experience. I am not a honemiester, but I have been shaving with str8's for quite awhile. 1 barbers hone frome Ebay under the bathroom sink (for touch ups). 1 4000 8000 grit from Nortons in the garage once you get to the point of the razor starts pulling and you find that that razor has moved to the back of the rotation.

Originally Posted by Scipio

Until he rounds the edge, then you would need a more agressive hone than simply a finisher to bring the edge back. You can not get by with just a pasted strop indefinitely

I know where you're coming from, but that's just a matter of opinion. Personally, I use hones. That's the way I learned because when I started I got all my advice from this forum.
If you do some reading on the German forums, there are guys there that set bevels with paste & then do the whole progression. It does give a different shaped edge from that set by a hone, but there's nothing wrong with it.

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.