Honing skill; newb, beginner, intermediate, expert, meister. Which are you?

[mjsorkin]

I had an idea to classify the skill levels of honing. I'ts pretty simple, and if you have any ideas I'd love to hear them. You can also comment on where you think you belong on this if you like.

Newb: Has hones or is thinking of buying his first one. Not sure yet how and when to lap/maintain hones. Knows how to do a very basic edge leading stroke but is unable to do so evenly over the whole blade. Potentially unable to keep the blade flat on the hone, instead "seesawing" the blade. Asks lots of questions about tape.

Beginner: Has one or two hones or maybe a full set. Able to lap and maintain his hones. Is able to keep razors flat on the hone during the honing stroke. Can do an edge leading x-stroke with some confidence. Trying more advanced techniques like circles, rolling x-strokes. Learning to test a blades edge with HHT, AHT, TPT, MMT and any other T they can think of. Has had one or two successes. Thinks he has mastered honing, and wants to know which finisher to buy.

Intermediate: Has a set of hones. Knows what each hone is capable of and uses it appropriately. Is able to adapt pressure and motion so that an edge leading stroke hones a blade from toe to heel on most any razor. Is able to use different tests to taylor the process of honing a razor. If after a shave test, the edge is not right, he is able to figure out why and fix the problem.

Expert: May have more than one hone for a given purpose, or more than one set of hones. Can adapt the honing process to a particular razor and most often hone to shave ready on the first try. Has honed many razors of different types and grinds with success. Offers honing advice and is usually right in such matters.

Meister: All of the above. Has an expansive collection of hones. Has honed hundreds or thousands of razors. Always succeeds when honing a razor, and does so mainly on the first try. Teaches honing to others, and has particular ideas about how to instruct others. May hone professionally.

I think I fall into the intermediate category.

Michael

[jpcwon]

I'm definitely a beginner and have a LOT to learn!!

[dustoff003]

I reckon I would be an aspiring newb. No honing gear as of yet but maybe I will get some when I get back home.

[dustoff003]

Oops double post...

[Double0757]

Beginner, just bought my first natural finisher and using all the "T" there are! Double O

[HNSB]

Is a guy with more bats necessarily an expert baseball player? A guy with more bows an expert archer? A painter with more brushes a better artist?

[Swerve]

Id say im intermediate to expert. My razors glide through my thick burley wiskers on all passes. I use king 220-1000, naniwa 1k, norton 4k-8k, naniwa 12k. Then chromium oxide strop and finush with hoarse bridal strop.

[mjsorkin]

Is a guy with more bats necessarily an expert baseball player? A guy with more bows an expert archer? A painter with more brushes a better artist?

Nah. But better craftsman tend to have more tools. And know what to do with them.

[Jimbo]

You forgot my category - Super Meister: can hone a razor just by giving it a stern talking to.

Personally I prefer to think of honing as a continuum rather than discrete stages, but I understand your idea and it seems reasonable. I'd suggest that honers in all stages can "turn pro" in reality, though we may prefer only those in the upper echelons to do so. I only mention this so that beginners do not get the impression that everyone who charges money for honing actually knows what they are doing.... though a lot do, of course. One must always do one's research and be wary.

I'd also add into those groups the idea of edge assessment ability, and (related) restorative honing ability. I realise these are probably implied in the "always succeeds when honing a razor" statement, but I think that is a skillset that should be explicitly named.

There is also the "Delusion Meister" category which I would define as follows:

• Thinks the HHT can be numerically graded for purposes of standardisation;
• Can "feel" during their shave how many strokes were made on the 8K stone by another honer, or which way the airconditioner was blowing as the razor was honed;
• Was seen 8 weeks earlier asking newb questions about honing (and indeed had no hones or razors at that time), but now has been honing for 50 years and thousands of razors and makes extensive use of the phrase "YMMV" when asked questions about honing;
• Thinks a microscope can show how sharp an edge is by looking at the sides of a bevel;
• Believes that recommendations and advice based upon hundreds of thousands of man-hours of experience, experiment, and trial and error is narrow-minded prescriptive dogma and that in fact their ideas, based as they are on 5 weeks of honing 2 razors, are "just as valid as anything else, YMMV";

YMMV!

James.

[cpcohen1945]

How many hones somebody owns has nothing to do with how skillful he (she) is.

I'd remove the "hone count" tests.

Aside from that, I think your categories make sense. Nice work.

. Charles