..Change of approach....

So tonight I decided to sit down for some honing.
Not because any of my razors were dull, but because tonight I really wanted to get to know my coticule.

I used my Dovo Bismarck for this experiment because I love the feel of that blade on a hone. I find it yields the best feedback of all my razors.

I used no slurry, just clear water and began VERY slowly pushing the blade across the stone. Paying special attention to the feel of the edge of my blade sliding over the beveled edges of the hone. I even noticed a little rough spot that I had never noticed before, so I took care of that and then continued the session.

I did not concentrate very much on 'touching up the blade', I concentrated on the feel of the stone, and the feedback from the blade. I ensured that I was continually monitoring the weight of the blade as it passed over the stone which was a real eye opener. I had never noticed before how, during a single stroke, I went from light pressure to medium in the middle of the stroke then back to light pressure again by the end. So I corrected that little oversight too with a minor tweak to my arm movement during the stroke.

After about 50 x-strokes I was done. I noticed a little trembling in my hand, and my consistency was declining rapidly. I had reached my limit of efficient honing. I did 10 Laps on a Crox/Linen, followed by 100 Leather.

As I said before my Bismarck was sharp, but I have NEVER honed a razor that could treetop my leg hair at a full 1/4 inch away!

HOLY CRAP!

My quest for knowledge resulted not only in an invaluable experience with my hone, but I'm pretty sure I got my razor WAY sharper that it has ever been before! Now I cant wait for tomorrow mornings shave to test this out.

So what is the point of all this rambling???? Not that I finally honed my razor really nice, or that I learned a whole bunch about my stone tonight either. The point, is that I'm just starting to realize that this honing business is about feeling, feedback instinct and experience, not just knowledge.

If you've never approached your stones in this manner before, give it a try. You might be surprised what you are really doing, or what you think you are really doing.

Good shaving.

Salutations,

I still consider myself a beginner in the world of straight razor shaving. I have been shaving over a year and honed a blade on three separate occasions. I really enjoyed reading about how you perfected your honing technique and am eager to do the same for mine. I have a few blades that need a finer edge, thank you for giving me the motivation to take back out the stones!

Cheers,
JackofDiamonds

PST! Pressure,Speed, Technique.. Sounds like you slowed down just enough to really think about what you were doing and feel the feedback the stone was giving you at the same time, good for you! I read your post last night and was hoping to hear today how the shave was.

It sounds like you are the type of person who is willing to learn and improve what you are doing by honing in better skills and I hope your shave today was rewarding as well.

Today was a pretty nice shave!

Hot shower/proraso prep.
Mitchels wool fat for lather.

Wtg and Xtg were perfect. Felt very nice, smooth and minimal tugging. I was surprised with the ATG pass though..
Cheeks were no problem, but the chin was terrible!....I'm not sure what I did wrong, I am convinced it was a technique
problem though because the cheeks were fine.

Regardless, it was a fairly enjoyable shave. I used Proraso aftershave too, but I add more witch-hazle to it....That 'accented'
the fact that I didn't do a very good job on my chin :)

All in all, this was a great experience (Honing included). Now I need to find a way to maintain this objectivity in the future,
and not just get stuck into a rut where I don't continually learn and increase my skills..

Thanks for reading!

More to follow.