In the mood

I have to be in the mood to hone a razor, otherwise it will not work. Do you have the same problem? As we all know, honing is not a quick, slappy, careless function or practice. If you do it wrong you can ruin or brake the blade, I have done that to my regret. It is also time consuming, both the preparation for and the actual honing. I am glad I am not a professioanal honer, but when I get in the mood it is very enjoyable and the result is a nice smooth clean shaved face. The hardest honig razors I encountered are the spanish Filis and the Wackers, they most use harder steel. You really have to be in the mood to hone these razors. Juan

I can't hone well if I'm in a bad mood, but I don't have to specifically be in a honing mood.

I'm with Dylan on this one. I find honing to be relaxing most of the time, but just two days ago I had to hone three newer heavy grind razors and they all had microchipping along the edge. By the time I was done I could have thrown them all at the wall, but that was because I had trouble honing and have a couple of broken teeth that are killing me. I had to stand up and walk away knowing that I would never succeed if I kept at it. I sat down again last night and had no (well...sort of) trouble.

I have to agree Honing is actually very relaxing, Bevel setting on the other hand can be a huge PITA :)

To keep myself in a good mood about honing I have learned to set a razor aside if the bevel doesn't pop the second time through... I don't push it, I don't get frustrated with it, I just set it back in the drawer, and try again the next day...
It took me a long time to learn this, in fact one of the hardest lessons I learned about honing, is when to walk away from a razor :)

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

I have to agree Honing is actually very relaxing, Bevel setting on the other hand can be a huge PITA :)

To keep myself in a good mood about honing I have learned to set a razor aside if the bevel doesn't pop the second time through... I don't push it, I don't get frustrated with it, I just set it back in the drawer, and try again the next day...
It took me a long time to learn this, in fact one of the hardest lessons I learned about honing, is when to walk away from a razor :)

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I am learning this too atm. If something goes wrong a few times, just set it aside, and sharpen another razor. Sometimes I have a good day and 5 razors out of 5 are a success. You must notice when you have a good day, and sharpen so many razors as you can, and leave the sharpening alone when you have a very bad day :)

I like to light some candles, get a nice bottle of champagne, some incense.
Don't just pounce on the hone and start grinding away. You need to prepare it first. Give it a nice warm bath so it can soak up water into its porous surface and relax.

A hone that is not ready will just refuse to give up slurry and everyone will go to bed frustrated.

I'll jump in and agree with being in the right mood, but another thing I have found is to not "just do it" whenever the urge catches me. Last night for instance, I had an hour or so of free time, I had the urge to hone one of my razors that needed some touching up. With my Norton 4-8K taking 20+ minutes to fully saturate with water, I knew that I may be out of the mood by the time the stone was ready. Rather than not being in the mood once the stone was ready, I just grabbed 3 razors that needed a good stropping progression, and took them from pasted paddle, all the way up to finishing. After doing a few hundred laps getting them all done, my urge was more than satisfied.

Not only do I have to be in the right mood to hone, I also need to be off work on school holidays. That means that my wife goes to work during the day and I stay home, clean the house and hone. I'm at the stage in my honing education that I like to stop at each point and look at the edge under the microscope.

If I'm not in the right mood, or I'm not home alone with no distractions, I rush through the honing process and end up with an edge comparable to a broken beer bottle.

I agree completely. Got to be in a honing frame of mind... though recently I scored a hone which gets me in the mood through just looking at it!

Giggety giggety.

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Originally Posted by MykelDR

I agree completely. Got to be in a honing frame of mind... though recently I scored a hone which gets me in the mood through just looking at it!

Giggety giggety.

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Family Guy fan are we? :D

I agree though, I dont find I have to be in a particular frame of mind. I find honing relaxing and I like working with my hands and the puzzle of getting the best edge from a blade.

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Originally Posted by Stubear

Family Guy fan are we? :D

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Indeed I am. But not as much of a fan as I am of this new hone... its more used as an expression of how I feel when I look at, touch or even think about this new hone. We are a crazy bunch are we not? Freaks obsessed with pieces of steel, rock, leather or soap who gather in a small international on line community to talk about it. I love you guys!

I know it is kind of dangerous but I love to drink either a nice ale or a peaty single malt while honing. Really ices the cake for me and helps with my impatience (and delerium tremens heh heh).:)

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Originally Posted by MykelDR

I know it is kind of dangerous but I love to drink either a nice ale or a peaty single malt while honing. Really ices the cake for me and helps with my impatience (and delerium tremens heh heh).:)

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You hardly ever find me honing without a nice frosty beverage close by. It's not like I'm getting sloppy drunk and playing with sharp objects! Doing 2 things you enjoy at once = Good Times!!

I agree with the being in the mood statement.
I really need to focus on it, and I'm not always willing to do that properly.
There are many reasons for this, but if I have a lot of other stuff on my mind, or is pressed for time, honing is usually not a fix.
The few times I have done it just to get a razor or more done, I have had to return to the hones later on to really get the edges right.

On the other hand, when I do have the time and the inclination to do some real honing work I can sit for many hours.
The time just flies by, and I keep wishing I had even more steel to grind.
Ah well, I guess that is what ebay is for.

Here's a different point of view:

I've read many of the above posts, and they all make reference to "being in the mood" to hone. Makes sense.

I find that I get in the mood by thinking about it. It's not a spur of the moment thing where I think "oooohhhh, I'm in the mood for honing". If I'm at work, doing my thing, all of a sudden I'll think "oh man.....I'm honing tonight! I'm going home and I've got razor x and razor y waiting for me.....excellent".

I spend my day thinking about what stones, which razor first, etc. and by the time I get home I'm ready to go.

Wow...

You know just a week or so ago or so I was answering a question about how many hones somebody needed to maintain a razor...
I was trying to explain that he only "needed" one but he also needed to realize that some of us here at SRP were actually nuts and we take this hobby way to far chasing the perfect edge...
From some of the answers here, I probably should have just linked this thread as proof that some of us have lost whatever minds we might have ever had :rofl2: :rofl2: :rofl2:

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

Wow...

You know just a week or so ago or so I was answering a question about how many hones somebody needed to maintain a razor...
I was trying to explain that he only "needed" one but he also needed to realize that some of us here at SRP were actually nuts and we take this hobby way to far chasing the perfect edge...
From some of the answers here, I probably should have just linked this thread as proof that some of us have lost whatever minds we might have ever had :rofl2: :rofl2: :rofl2:

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I think that has happened to me, but in my case it's not much of a loss.