It finally happened.........

I've been honing for about six months now. Thanks to an excellent example set by a Fredrick Reynolds that Stefan (Mainaman) had honed up for me, I had a very good idea about what I was trying to achieve. I have been reading every honing post and followed JaNorton religiously since those are the particular stones I have. After many hours of focusing on techniques and hand/hone/razor positioning, x-strokes, rolling x-strokes, etc, I was achieving satisfactory results, but could never quite get an edge "there".

Yesterday, while revisiting a couple of my rotation razors, a very strange thing happened....... I forgot to focus on the technical aspects and found myself envisioning the process from the razor's point of view. My hand suddenly felt natural around the razor, my strokes became effortless and my vision narrowed to just the razor and the hone. The pyramid technique, the angles, the strokes all faded from my mind and the razor practically honed itself.

After a few strokes on the strop, I had the best self-honed shave I have ever had! I don't really know how to explain it except to say "It just happened." Have any of you experienced this type of "sudden clarity" during your honing journey and if so, can you give a better explaination of what just happened?

--Suddenly Honing

All I have to say is, Right On!

Honing is awesome.....glad you're getting it.

No sorry. That's not how it worked for me. Mine came by way of relentless, dogged determination, along with way more reading than necessary, way more hones than necessary, a couple hours of personal instruction on evaluating razors pre-honing, and a couple more hours of being coached on skype on what I was doing wrong. The only moment of clarity I get is false, and involves purchasing more hones usually. :p

It's way easier than it appears. With a few years of practice you are confounded by why you ever found it difficult.

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Originally Posted by regularjoe

No sorry. That's not how it worked for me. Mine came by way of relentless, dogged determination, along with way more reading than necessary, way more hones than necessary, a couple hours of personal instruction on evaluating razors pre-honing, and a couple more hours of being coached on skype on what I was doing wrong. The only moment of clarity I get is false, and involves purchasing more hones usually. :p

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I don't know if it will be repeatable or if it was just a fluke but I do know it was awesome.......
But you could be right about needing more hones! :D

I am a very novice honer myself. I can produce workable edges with the occasional damn thats a good one. I too find that while honing I get kind of tunnel visioned and tune out the technical stuff. I hone until it looks and feels right.

Glad things are working out for you!!!

With me I found that very thing happened when I started Straight Shaving after a couple of months. However it wasn't involving hones but with using the razor itself.

Yeah, I too have gotten lost in the zen of honing and, somehow, ended up with a wicked sharp edge. I get my best results when I focus almost intuitively on what the blade is telling me it needs, tactile feel of the strokes, frequent checking with tpt and on leg hair, etc.

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Originally Posted by jfleming9232

I've been honing for about six months now. Thanks to an excellent example set by a Fredrick Reynolds that Stefan (Mainaman) had honed up for me, I had a very good idea about what I was trying to achieve. I have been reading every honing post and followed JaNorton religiously since those are the particular stones I have. After many hours of focusing on techniques and hand/hone/razor positioning, x-strokes, rolling x-strokes, etc, I was achieving satisfactory results, but could never quite get an edge "there".

Yesterday, while revisiting a couple of my rotation razors, a very strange thing happened....... I forgot to focus on the technical aspects and found myself envisioning the process from the razor's point of view. My hand suddenly felt natural around the razor, my strokes became effortless and my vision narrowed to just the razor and the hone. The pyramid technique, the angles, the strokes all faded from my mind and the razor practically honed itself.

After a few strokes on the strop, I had the best self-honed shave I have ever had! I don't really know how to explain it except to say "It just happened." Have any of you experienced this type of "sudden clarity" during your honing journey and if so, can you give a better explaination of what just happened?

--Suddenly Honing

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Please advise what type of cigarettes you were smoking at the time.

UKRob........Water-based mud fumes and diesel exhaust will do strange things to a person. :)