Thread: I'm not sure what to say about this.

30 posts and not one guy will stick up for Mr Carter? Sorry guys, but I don't see the big deal here.

First of all, this guy knows steel. Read his bio - I'm sure he's not misrepresenting himself solely to dupe the online world. Though I would agree that Mr Carter doesn't follow conventional high SRP standards the fact is that he states at the beginning that he is one of us: a straight razor shaver. I'm assuming that he is shaving with his own edges and not shipping his razors out to Lynn every month, so following that logic it would also be safe to assume that his edges are indeed shave ready and likely comfortable (for him). Who knows what that comfort level is, who cares?

I'm not saying that I would ever sharpen a razor this way, neither do I think a newb should take begginer honing lessons from this video. I'm also not convinced that was his intention, and perhaps he did this on purpose to laugh at the uproar it would stir up (?). But I'm not going to automatically jump on the bashing bandwagon because his methods are unorthodox and non-conformist. If it works for him for his daily shaving experience, then great!

Unfortunately, forums sometimes turn us into honing snobs, thumbing our collective noses at different approachs. Do a search on coticule or BBW and you'll see some "heated disagreements". Would anyone here be willing to contact Mr Carter to try one of his edges before finding him guilty?

Originally Posted by Ryan82

Unfortunately, forums sometimes turn us into honing snobs, thumbing our collective noses at different approachs.

Unfortunately Ryan, forums turn all of us into snobs; honing or otherwise. It's easy to sit in front of a keyboard and pontificate about the mysteries of life (and shaving). I have been banned from many Apple forums because I didn't share the Borg Collectives' belief that Steve Jobs s**t golden eggs every time a new Apple product was unveiled.

Personally, I thought Mr. Carter was pretty full of himself but hey, maybe it was just acid indigestion

It's completely contrary to what I've learned. But, who knows? Maybe it works because of the pressure he's using while backhoning. I do imagine though that method causes a lot of hone wear.
If I had a razor I didn't mind tearing up I'd give it a go for gits and shiggles. I've got the king stones he's using. I don't have a belt I'm willing to cut though. Nor a $350 neck knife to cut it with.
I also don't have that mystery jnat but I do have a PHIG... must be close enough. If I find something for under 5 bucks at the antique store next time i'll give it a whirl.

Originally Posted by jeness

This movie is very detrimental for the whole straight razor shaving community. If someone new to straights will try to sharpen a straight this way, than he will never achieve a shave ready razor. The majority of knife enthusiasts look at him as a sharpening professional, and they will think that he knows how to hone a razor, but looking at the video he obviously doesn't have a clue about it. Thats not a bad thing, but he shouldn't make a video of it, encouraging others to ruin razors this way. I never understood why people think that if they can sharpen a knife, than they can sharpen anything.

I'm glad I found SRP before I found this Carter fella.

Originally Posted by markdfhr

I'm glad I found SRP before I found this Carter fella.

This "Carter fella" makes razors. I do believe he knows a little bit about sharpening them.

someone "could" send him a razor to hone and see what its like when it returns............

just because someone doesn't do something the exact same way as everyone else does not make it wrong......... it just makes it "different"....

I'd just hate to keep buying belts whenever I hone.

Originally Posted by PensacolaTiger

Murray cut his belt with his neck knife, not the razor.

i watched a couple of his videos....... the shaving with the neck knife and shaving with a spoon........

cuz has some skills handling a razor/spoon/knife around his face....

I still stick to my opinion, this video is simply destructive for anyone who wants to sharpen or shave with a straight razor. If it would be backwards, and for example I would be an expert in honing planes, and I would make a video of myself honing japanese high end kitchen cutlery on a 5" bench grinder, while hogging off 1mm of the steel, than that would be the same as what he did right now. Can it be done? Yes. Does it work for him? Yes. Will it work for others? I doubt it. A lot of guys can't even get the hang of it for a while if he follows our guides, what would be if they try to sharpen a razor like in the video?
In place of Mr. Carter, I would be ashamed of this video. This is not far away from the concrete block video, just in this case he is totally serious about it.

Originally Posted by PensacolaTiger

This "Carter fella" makes razors. I do believe he knows a little bit about sharpening them.

Carter may know how to make razors. But he equates stropping (with a newspaper or belt) to stropping with a real strop when honing and stropping are two different things. Had I learned about shaving from him, this is misinformation I would probably take as gospel.

With the videos you see on his honing technique, you have to wonder if over time you will either put unintentional smiles... or frowns in your blades.

A mechanic may know how to fix a car but he won't necessarily know the physics of why it works. I'm not saying Carter can't make or even sharpen blades. What I am saying is SRP is full of much better information for the true straight razor devotee.