Thread: Honing Success!

Hey fellas, I'm sure that this thread has occured in various forms thousands of times, but my wife doesn't seem too impressed and I've got to tell somebody: I successfully honed my first razor! It was an old 6/8 W&B Special that I picked up at a local junk shop; I set the bevel on a DMT E, moved to a BBW, and finished it off on the coticule side of my beautiful natural combo hone.

I gave her the ol' test shave tonight, and while it wasn't the most comfortable shave I've ever had, it was definately better than expected. My goal was to achieve a serviceable edge, and I surpassed it with a moderately comfortable one. So, overall, I'm pretty happy. I shaved with it right of the coti, so I'll try stropping it with some CrOx tomorrow and see if that helps.

Anyways, thanks for indulging me. And a special thanks to those of you who have contributed to the wealth of honing knowledge out there, that have made it possible for a novice like myself to reach this important milestone.

congratulations!!!!!
Great feeling isn't it? eve if it's not perfect that first shave of that first honing is awesome!
Don't worry about the missus, she'll come around lol

Congratulations you're on your way to the honing addiction! Tell us more about your BBW into coticule on water routine, I used to use this method a lot and I have a lot of experience with it. Maybe we can find the perfect edge for your method together?

Originally Posted by Disburden

Congratulations you're on your way to the honing addiction! Tell us more about your BBW into coticule on water routine, I used to use this method a lot and I have a lot of experience with it. Maybe we can find the perfect edge for your method together?

I started with a light slurry on the BBW: about 30 laps, then dilute. 10 more, dilute. 10 more dilute; so on and so forth, until clear water. Then 10 ultra-light passes.

Then, clear water on the coticule: 50 laps, then more sets of 10, checking the edge after each set with the TPT. Finish it off with 10 ultra-light passes.

25 on linen, then 50 on my shell strop. I still haven't tried the CrOx.

Hey, congrats on that! It's a whole new layer of satisfaction, isn't it?

Do you have another razor you can hone when this one's shaving nicely?

Originally Posted by roughkype

Hey, congrats on that! It's a whole new layer of satisfaction, isn't it?

Do you have another razor you can hone when this one's shaving nicely?

Yep. My next challenge is a F. Herder spike, with pink scales and a chip in the bevel. I think my RAD is about to get out of hand now that I can put an edge on a blade myself! But, after all, I need the honing practice

Congrats! As others have said, and you have realized for yourself, there is a distinct satisfaction to succeeding in making your own razor sharp enough to shave yourself.

Since you are a man now, go out and kill yourself some meat!

congratulations! It is a good feeling when you did it yourself. You are right about is being addicting. I wake up in the middle of the night and think about honing. You can tell Im not 18 anymore!

Originally Posted by Utopian

Since you are a man now, go out and kill yourself some meat!

Even better, right now I'm working on some bone scales from an elk I killed.

Originally Posted by chay2K

I started with a light slurry on the BBW: about 30 laps, then dilute. 10 more, dilute. 10 more dilute; so on and so forth, until clear water. Then 10 ultra-light passes.

Then, clear water on the coticule: 50 laps, then more sets of 10, checking the edge after each set with the TPT. Finish it off with 10 ultra-light passes.

25 on linen, then 50 on my shell strop. I still haven't tried the CrOx.

That's what I used to do, should be a good edge on that with some practicing! The bevel is the most important part with that and any other method.