Thread: How Many Hones Does A Beginner Need ?

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 -_-