Thread: The Point of Despair

Wow! I am overwhelmed with the response. I live in Charlotte, NC. I sent my blade for a professional honing after realizing I really needed to purchase a 1000 grit stone to set thebevel I ruined, and after my wife vetoed the additional expenditure. Besides, she more or less called me out on my obsession, telling me it had absented me from the children and put me in a foul mood to boot.

If someone lives in the area, I'd still like to learn. I have another blade or two I could mar. In all seriousness, I am grateful for your eagerness to help me. My lack of progress has ruined my life.

OK. So. Deep breath. Wife and kids are important. Failing is OK. Everyone fails all the time. Constantly; and without ceasing. You can do this. I've used 1600 grit wet and dry sandpaper at two bucks twenty a sheet to set a bevel. Are you concentrating? No you're not! Multiply that by ten. That's the level of concentration you need. You really need to be in the zone, frustration breeds non-in the zoneness....

Without a proper bevel the 4k/8k stone will be difficult to learn. Walking a away for another day is good advice I think we all follow. I would venture to speculate even Lynn has days less than optimal for honing.


There is much wisdom in these words. There are times when something just isn't right. I don't know what it is, never could figure it out, but sometimes, the stone and the steel just don't wanna work with each other.

later, donv

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

OK. So. Deep breath. Wife and kids are important. Failing is OK. Everyone fails all the time. Constantly; and without ceasing. You can do this. I've used 1600 grit wet and dry sandpaper at two bucks twenty a sheet to set a bevel. Are you concentrating? No you're not! Multiply that by ten. That's the level of concentration you need. You really need to be in the zone, frustration breeds non-in the zoneness....

I have to disagree with your assessment concerning my lack of concentration. I'm concentrating so hard I become dizzy when looking away. Am I doing something wrong? Yes; but I doubt it is from a lack of concentration. I think it is from applying uneven pressure on the blade--especially when leading the blade away from me. Anytime I feel a keenness to the blade, when executing another stroke, I blunt it all over again. Rinse and repeat.

I think you're on to something with the difference you state going from away from you on your stroke as opposed to the return stroke. I have to really watch that I don't favor one to the other. Consistency is the key. One bad stroke negates one hundred ninety nine perfect ones. You mention that you can "feel" when you when you're going to mess it up, so, stop one lap sooner.


donv

When you are just starting out to try and hone your own you can get inundated with information on how to do it and it can be contradictory advice too. I have just started trying to hone my own blades too. There is nobody within several hundred miles or more that I know of that can do a one on one. I have a combo stone with similar grit as your Norton. I am just refreshing a bevel that is already there but I have done some blades with a pretty bad bevel, uneven width, small chips and a lot of wear on the spine. They have all, after some perseverance, given me clean comfortable shaves with nominal irritation. Some took several secessions and some turned out better than others. Not the ultimate shaves but very decent. I am not saying this to make you feel bad but to show you it can be done by a beginner with one combo stone. I should also say I use a chromium oxide pasted balsa strop as the last step.

As the others have said, just take it slowly and deliberately, do not feel rushed and walk away when frustrated. I have made a few lines of hand written notes to refer to as I hone and that were taken from the shave wiki here. The edge/bevel, surprisingly, does not have to be absolutely perfect to actually work. To strive for perfection right out of the gate is a good goal but can drive you crazy. I do the best I can and try a test shave. If I am not satisfied it is back to the hones for more of the same and it may take several attempts to get a workable shave. Closing in on perfection takes time. I don't know what else to say except never get obsessive about a hobby to the point where your family feels neglected.

Bob

Like my great uncle Bocephus Beetlejuice used to say: "find out what you dont do good, then dont do it".

Originally Posted by Rev

Wow! I am overwhelmed with the response. I live in Charlotte, NC. I sent my blade for a professional honing after realizing I really needed to purchase a 1000 grit stone to set thebevel I ruined, and after my wife vetoed the additional expenditure. Besides, she more or less called me out on my obsession, telling me it had absented me from the children and put me in a foul mood to boot.

If someone lives in the area, I'd still like to learn. I have another blade or two I could mar. In all seriousness, I am grateful for your eagerness to help me. My lack of progress has ruined my life.

Okay Rev this isn't good. Family and particularly children come first. Next have fun if it is ruining your life you are doing it wrong.

Third PM me your address and I will PIF you a bevel setting stone and do my best to answer whatever questions arise while you are learning.

It really does just keep getting better.

Jim

You can hone all day on 1k but if you hone uneven then it won't work.

Rev, you are 100 percent right about what you need to work on. Make the blade sit flat in both directions. Look up magic marker test and use that.

Many of us have wives and kids. That doesn't mean we can't take a little time for ourselves. Just be considerate and take a break once in a while!

Michael

Actually, getting away from honing and taking breaks from it can be helpful. Repetition is what improves one's skills. If you keep at something and generate frustration, that may be persistence, but it isn't 'repetition'. Repetition logically requires stopping, doing something else for a while and then coming back to what you were doing. You will be surprised how you learn more during the breaks than you were learning just grinding away. Often, during those breaks, you'll come up with a new idea or way of looking at things that can really be helpful and improve your honing. I always learned more about honing and improved my skills when I was thinking about it than when I was actually doing it.