Thread: Why do we hone?

Many thanks to Randy, Nenad and Ben for answering my question on which stone to buy.
Reading the various threads and comments I get this uneasy feeling that honing wiill always be a chore whatever you use, whether you are a honemeister or not. A few minutes ago I came across this passage on ClassicShaving.com:

To maintain a fleet of regularly used razors, typically a two-step process beginning with 1.0 micron, followed by .50 micron will achieve a perfectly smooth shaving edge. Be sure to completely wipe off the blade when moving from the coarser grit to the finer, and again before moving on to your un-pasted finishing strop to prevent cross-contamination.

The motion used on the diamond pasted surface is identical to that employed on your hanging strop – working from the blade’s heel to the point as you travel up or down the surface, leading with the razor’s back, and applying no pressure – using only the weight of the razor to maintain constant contact between the razor edge and the pasted surface. After having sharpened your razor you should finish on the un-pasted leather strop, omitting use of the canvas or linen side. Your razor is now ready to use. Routine use of the canvas/leather pre-shave stropping may be resumed for successive daily shaves.

This procedure, used every 2-3 weeks, should be all that is necessary to keep your razors in perfect shaving condition.

Although some of you guys will consider themselves aficionado's of straight razor shaving and all its paraphernalia, I am not. I just want a better shave than Gillette and their likes can offer. I do not want to spend ages on sharpening, honing &c. I don't know anyone in the Netherlands who can do it for me.

So, is there any truth in the qouted passage above? Any thoughts? Please let me know.

Kees
c.rietsema@planet.nl

Originally Posted by ClassicShaving

The motion used on the diamond pasted surface is identical to that employed on your hanging strop – working from the blade’s heel to the point as you travel up or down the surface, leading with the razor’s back, and applying no pressure – using only the weight of the razor to maintain constant contact between the razor edge and the pasted surface.

There seems to be a lot of disagreement on how much strop pressure to use. Every video I've seen of someone stropping shows them pressing the razor into the strop enough to deform it. Some people say to use 1-2 pounds of pressure; others say to use zero pressure. I took a couple of cans of tomatoes (1# each) and set them on my strop to see what 1-2 pounds of pressure would feel like to my hand, and it was pretty heavy.

Do we have an explanation for this, or is it a literal example of "different strokes for different folks"?

Kees, I believe it's generally accepted that the pasted strop route can work very well to maintain a razor that has already been honed and is shave ready, but there are times when the edge needs some work that goes beyond what the paste/strop can do. This is when the razor would need to be honed on a stone.

Hi Kees,

The pasted strop is a great thing. As you are new to straight shavign and have not yet learned to hone which is a whole new skill, learning to strop with pastes, since you have to for your dry finishing strop anyway, is a sound consideration. Tony has outstanding stuff and he can pre-paste them for you for $5. He uses a 4 sider to keep his razors trim. I'll be looking into one for my F.I.L in the near future. Given your priorities as you list them, I recommend you go this route. You don't want to be frustrated while shaving, you want to be elated.

Originally Posted by piper

There seems to be a lot of disagreement on how much strop pressure to use. Every video I've seen of someone stropping shows them pressing the razor into the strop enough to deform it. Some people say to use 1-2 pounds of pressure; others say to use zero pressure. I took a couple of cans of tomatoes (1# each) and set them on my strop to see what 1-2 pounds of pressure would feel like to my hand, and it was pretty heavy.

Do we have an explanation for this, or is it a literal example of "different strokes for different folks"?

I think you're off the mark on this a bit, piper. We sometimes talk of 1-2lbs. of honing pressure on the stone, but stropping is without pressure almost invariably. I try only to contact the entire edge with the strop as gently as I can throughout the stropping motion prefering to do extra laps rather than use any pressure and I still experience some light bowing on the strop. It doesn't take a lot of pressure to do that.

X

Originally Posted by xman

The pasted strop is a great thing. As you are new to straight shavign and have not yet learned to hone which is a whole new skill, learning to strop with pastes, since you have to for your dry finishing strop anyway, is a sound consideration.

X, Kees mentioned in another post that he is a 20 years shaving veteran... You are not doing your homework

And Kees, my friend who is using straight razor about same time as you do, use pasted hanging strop every day, with fair pressure... He hones on Belgian, too, about once a year, and he uses ~4 razors...

Nenad

Well buckle my bonnet.

Originally Posted by Kees

Many thanks to Randy, Nenad and Ben for answering my question on which stone to buy.
Reading the various threads and comments I get this uneasy feeling that honing wiill always be a chore whatever you use, whether you are a honemeister or not. A few minutes ago I came across this passage on ClassicShaving.com:

To maintain a fleet of regularly used razors, typically a two-step process beginning with 1.0 micron, followed by .50 micron will achieve a perfectly smooth shaving edge. Be sure to completely wipe off the blade when moving from the coarser grit to the finer, and again before moving on to your un-pasted finishing strop to prevent cross-contamination.

The motion used on the diamond pasted surface is identical to that employed on your hanging strop – working from the blade’s heel to the point as you travel up or down the surface, leading with the razor’s back, and applying no pressure – using only the weight of the razor to maintain constant contact between the razor edge and the pasted surface. After having sharpened your razor you should finish on the un-pasted leather strop, omitting use of the canvas or linen side. Your razor is now ready to use. Routine use of the canvas/leather pre-shave stropping may be resumed for successive daily shaves.

This procedure, used every 2-3 weeks, should be all that is necessary to keep your razors in perfect shaving condition.

Although some of you guys will consider themselves aficionado's of straight razor shaving and all its paraphernalia, I am not. I just want a better shave than Gillette and their likes can offer. I do not want to spend ages on sharpening, honing &c. I don't know anyone in the Netherlands who can do it for me.

So, is there any truth in the qouted passage above? Any thoughts? Please let me know.

Kees
c.rietsema@planet.nl

Beste Kees, ik woon in België.....en ik bezit een gele coticule.....zeer goede steen.

Dear Jan,

Thanks for your reply. I'll answer in English so the other members can understand us. You're close to the source. I have been looking on the site of de Koordenwinkel in Antwerp. They sell a large range of coticules and even organize straight shaving and honing courses. Are they any good? They seem to be offering beautiful stones and being organizers of honing courses I expect they won't be selling crap. Any thoughts yourself? Please let me know. If you prefer to converse in Dutch you are most welcome to mail me directly at c.rietsema@planet.nl.

Regards,

Kees

The information on Classic Shaving is right on. Please note that the first requirement is to start with a honed razor. Classic Shaving provides this service and so do some of the members here. Thats first.

A viable method for you is to obtain a 4 sided paddle strop from Tony Miller, pre-pasted with the abrasive pastes so that you can maintain the edge and also touch up a dulling edge.
Hopefully this would almost eliminate the need for a hone.

My take on it is that honing is much simpler once you learn the basics. All you have is one stone and it takes very little work to refresh a sharp blade. For that, I use a small coticule. 10 passes with moderate-light pressure, 10 more with very little pressure and 10 passes with no pressure at all. This takes about 2-5 minutes per razor. After that, I just give them a quick wipe with a cotton pad dipped in alcohol and a stropping on a regular hanging strop. Since I have 2 shavers in my rotation, it has to be done every 3 weeks. As soon as I get the Walker shave-ready (for which no amount of stropping will help), I will up this to 5 weeks. As you can see, this doesn't require much time or effort. Since hones just need to dipped or soaked (depending on the hone) in water, you don't have to worry about the amounts of paste you're using. Some hones can even be used dry, but I've been getting conflicting opinions of them.