A Newbie's Suggestion for Newbies

[LawsonStone]

I'm definitely just an apprentice honester.

BTW "honester" is a good word for those of us who are starting out--we might never make it to "honemeister" though! I think I'll call a pretty proficient amateur (journeyman, as it were) a "honist."

Anyhow...as a beginner, I've now honed from bevel to strop about 10 razors, and all are shaving well, all a solid B/B+ shave, a couple clearly in the A- range (can you tell I'm a professor?)

I should say I still think the best way to learn is backwards: start with a well honed razor, learn to maintain it, then touch it up, then work down the progression as needed. Still...this is about learning the other direction...

What I realized today about my best honing jobs is that I started on an edge that had not been honed at all. One was a lovely NOS Torrey, still in the paper wrap. Seemed to have a decent bevel, but definitely not shave-ready. The other was a new but unhoned Dovo, still another an old Bismarck that seemed to have very little wear or use.

Anyhow, it occurred to me that with these razors, I could feel more confident in what I was doing because I trusted the quality of the edge and didn't have to do any prior restoration type work. On the others, to a greater or lesser extent, I had to work around the effects of previous honings, use, and decay.

So for newbie honesters, I'd suggest finding a decent razor that hasn't been honed at all. I know sometimes one hears about buying a cheap razor like a Gold Dollar, but even there we don't know we've got a good blade. Strange as it seems, I realize now I'd have learned better and faster starting on an unhoned, new, good quality blade--reduces the number of variables affecting the outcome.

And if the aspiring honester messes up the blade? Well it's easy enough to send it off for honing by a honemeister.