Thread: "secret" honing method

It's a secret. That recalls me a story I already experienced somewhere else.
When I started varnishing stringed instruments I started looking for varnish recipes and reading many books on that subject. Many people were talking about the legendary Stradivary varnish and its lost secret. Though ALL reputated makers make beautiful varnishes, they don't like to tell you how they get it and you can find some very simple recipes. After 20 years practice I can tell you that there is no secret, only experience and practice. I am currently using 5 different recipes and practiced 10 more. I choose according to the result I want and my feeling of the day. For each recipe I use a different procedure, practice and experience provide the desired result.
Without the experience and the procedure and the skill, the recipe is useless. Could I explain all that in a message? I don't think so. Should I give a recipe when knowing that the NB will not get any result and will think that I fooled him? Then I rejoined the army of secret keepers.
With honing it's like the same: it's not the hones sequence, because with experience and practice you can use almost any sequence.

Originally Posted by Sterm

It's a secret. That recalls me a story I already experienced somewhere else.
When I started varnishing stringed instruments I started looking for varnish recipes and reading many books on that subject. Many people were talking about the legendary Stradivary varnish and its lost secret. Though ALL reputated makers make beautiful varnishes, they don't like to tell you how they get it and you can find some very simple recipes. After 20 years practice I can tell you that there is no secret, only experience and practice. I am currently using 5 different recipes and practiced 10 more. I choose according to the result I want and my feeling of the day. For each recipe I use a different procedure, practice and experience provide the desired result.
Without the experience and the procedure and the skill, the recipe is useless. Could I explain all that in a message? I don't think so. Should I give a recipe when knowing that the NB will not get any result and will think that I fooled him? Then I rejoined the army of secret keepers.
With honing it's like the same: it's not the hones sequence, because with experience and practice you can use almost any sequence.

When you are making a fine instrument (or blade) and someone wants to know your varnish (or steel) recipe...I believe you can claim "it is proprietary" and get away with it if your results support the idea that you are at the top of the game and don't want to share...otherwise you come off as arrogant without the reputation to support it (which throws up red flags).

Just my 2 cents.

However honing the razor or tuning the instrument is a very different thing...if someone asks how it was done prior to purchase of the item, either share the procedure you used, or admit that you have someone else do it and you will guarantee their results

Asking him what stones he used..

Sounds fine

In the late 1940s Lyle Tuttle, legendary San Francisco tattooer, went into C.J. "Pop" Eddy's shop and got a tattoo. Customers paid in advance back in those days. If a customer asked Pop Eddy questions he would put a brown paper bag over their head so they couldn't watch or send them out half finished if they weren't okay with that. Lyle told me that to get a tattoo machine back then you had to damn near give your first born child, figuratively speaking.

In the 1950s, 60s, and '70s it was still pretty closed mouthed. Asking about getting into it was a sure way to get run out of the shop or worse. Huck Spaulding wrote a book on tattooing and actually had a contract put out on his life. Hired bodyguards. Now it is all over youtube, TV shows ...... a shop on every other corner. For some of us it is still secret. As my late friend Mike Malone told me some years ago, "The cow is so far out of the barn now that there is no point in trying to shut the door."

Maybe that is why some artisans still keep secrets ?

Originally Posted by Sterm

It's a secret. That recalls me a story I already experienced somewhere else.
When I started varnishing stringed instruments I started looking for varnish recipes and reading many books on that subject. Many people were talking about the legendary Stradivary varnish and its lost secret. Though ALL reputated makers make beautiful varnishes, they don't like to tell you how they get it and you can find some very simple recipes. After 20 years practice I can tell you that there is no secret, only experience and practice. I am currently using 5 different recipes and practiced 10 more. I choose according to the result I want and my feeling of the day. For each recipe I use a different procedure, practice and experience provide the desired result.
Without the experience and the procedure and the skill, the recipe is useless. Could I explain all that in a message? I don't think so. Should I give a recipe when knowing that the NB will not get any result and will think that I fooled him? Then I rejoined the army of secret keepers.
With honing it's like the same: it's not the hones sequence, because with experience and practice you can use almost any sequence.

As a musician, I know exactly what your talking about. I had a friend here make me a brush. I asked him to try and duplicate the finish on my 61 Gibson SG. Apparently, The technique used to finish, paint, and clear coat Gibson instruments is an industry guarded secret. This I did not know.

When it comes to sharpening a razor, You don't have to go into every single detail, but you can say, "I use Norton's, or I use Shapton's, etc...I don't think that's giving away too much info. As someone who hones razors for people, I have absolutey no problems sharing that info, or even showing someone how to do it.

To me, when you ask someone how they hone, and they say "It's a secret" It sounds like BS to me.
Anyone one of our Honemeister's here will gladly share their knowledge with you, whether it be Max, Lynn, Glen, etc...

From my experience the bigger the secret the easier it is. When a person realizes that their livelihood relies on something that anyone can do they keep their mouth shut!

Originally Posted by jaycey

Was the honing method described as "True Honing™" by any chance?

I'm gonna register this " Secret Honing™ "

As a crafter myself, I keep secrets,

But there is a certain level of responsibility one must accept as well. When a customer asks me "is your wine sulfite free"

Or, "does your wine have strawberry in it?" It is beholden to answer. What if they have an allergy? I use the same equipment for the Raspberry wine as I do for the Strawberry, so I tell them that the chance for cross contamination does exist, albeit very remote. But there is no strawberry added to the Raspberry.
I wont tell them how much of what ingredient I use. I wont tell them what yeasts I might use. That part remains secret. But they need to be able to make an informed decision.
If looked at a razor, and ask, "Did you tape the spine"? and they tell me "its a secret" Then I would tell them a secret myself
"You are not selling me any razors"

Not recommending the book, just the title makes the point ....

Hell's Angels: Three Can Keep a Secret If Two Are Dead': Y. Lavigne: 9780818405143: Amazon.com: Books