Thread: Cheap Ebay Razors for Honing Practice, Really??

Well spoken, Hirlau, and all the others! Very valid points.

Further, there's also the fact that many of the cheapest razors on the bay are razor-looking items rather than razors, pakistani made junksters that are completely unsuited for anything razor related, even for learning exercises.

The pitfalls sure are plentiful for the aspiring straight razor shaver. All we can do is try to shed the light :

I'd like to say that I learnt to hone on a £37 Bismarck and it's still one of may best-shaving razors, and one that I'll always fall back on if I want and easy and reliable shave.

I highly recommend buying a blade that you know will take a good edge, with the intention of making it shave ready, rather than buying the worst/cheapest blade you can find with the intention of destroying it on the hone.

I think if you go into it with the mindset that you don't mind damaging your cheap razor, then you probably are more likely to damage it in your carelessness. Buy something with a little more value and you'll take more care over it. Besides, I knew that if I couldn't hone it, the worst that could happen is that I'd send it out to be honed and I'd buy another to try myself...

I love this post from the op and I've been thinking the same things myself. The "cheap razor to learn honing on" gets thrown around a little too much these days.

From my experience learning to hone on vintage blades can be very frustrating. Doable but much harder than honing a razor with a great bevel.

Even learning on a factory edge isn't easy. I had a really tough time learning on my first two new dovos. I also put quite a bit of hone wear on them. Had they been honed first by a master then I would have had much less to do and made fewer mistakes.

Michael

I feel that a member learning to hone, on a razor in questionable condition (pitted,rusty, chipped, excessive frown/smile) puts himself at a disadvantage to begin with.

I liked the entire OP, but this statement really stood out for me. It's a piece of advice that I should have embraced when I started. I can look back now and say that because I chose problem razors to learn on, I had more problems learning to hone. I do remember those few nice razors I'd pick up from time to time, and marvel at the ease with which they'd take an edge. And at the time, my understanding was so little, that I'd attribute it to the brand, or luck, or more ignorantly, my fantastic newfound skill. When in reality, those few nice razors were just in better condition, with no issues. So, on one hand, doing it the wrong way did prepare me well for dealing with a lot of different problems. I'm confident I can make any razor, with any fixable problem, shave well. So I got something valuable from my poor decision. But, I would have been a lot happier, and learned faster, if I'd chosen the best razors I could have, from the beginning. And I wouldn't be sitting on a ton of razors I didn't really want in the first place, except for honing practice Probably could have bought a couple new Dovo's with that money.

For me the bigger problem is that new to the hobby people want to start honing immediately, and there is the big issue for me.
People need to learn how to shave with their straights and how to maintain them before jumping into honing. We all know it takes a few razors to figure out what size and grind one prefers. During that time one will see many threads about members and their antique acquisitions and one will learn what to look for in a vintage razor regarding condition etc. After all that is sorted out, one will have less headaches learning to hone.

There are cheap razors and there is junk. Buying razors with uneven hone wear, frowns, and just generally abused blades is a waste of time and money IME. If a razor is at a reasonable price and in very good to excellent vintage condition it is a good candidate for adding to the rotation. When I fist started I bought razors I wouldn't even consider six months , a year later. With experience comes discernment. If a new shaver is impulsive it can be a costly education. Patience and study can pay off in the long run. Check out the razor clubs forums, the show & tell for what an excellent condition razor looks like.

A good friend of mine used to talk about "subversive" people--people who didn't want you to do well because it was a threat to their perceptions of themselves and their own abilities. I think it's a mistake to start right off by underestimating people. In my experience, most of the people I deal with are smarter than I want to give them credit for initially. An amazing number of them are pretty capable of learning on their own. Putting them down doesn't do a thing to help them.

Originally Posted by mdarnton

A good friend of mine used to talk about "subversive" people--people who didn't want you to do well because it was a threat to their perceptions of themselves and their own abilities. I think it's a mistake to start right off by underestimating people. In my experience, most of the people I deal with are smarter than I want to give them credit for initially. An amazing number of them are pretty capable of learning on their own. Putting them down doesn't do a thing to help them.

Tom C, is that you?

John T

Originally Posted by mdarnton

A good friend of mine used to talk about "subversive" people--people who didn't want you to do well because it was a threat to their perceptions of themselves and their own abilities. I think it's a mistake to start right off by underestimating people. In my experience, most of the people I deal with are smarter than I want to give them credit for initially. An amazing number of them are pretty capable of learning on their own. Putting them down doesn't do a thing to help them.

You are mistaking a purely mechanical skill with mental abilities I think.
Honing is fine motor skill and even though it seems simple it takes time to learn properly, it would have been a breeze if all razors were created equal with nice even grinds and straight even bevels and edges, but they are not. It is easier to understand honing when one understands the razor, than when one just touched a razor to the cheek 1 week ago and decided it is not what they want it to be, so lets start honing to fix a problem that might not even exist in the first place.
Don't get us wrong, we are all for self sufficiency but it is cheaper if done right than if done the wrong way.

Everyone has to learn somehow. You didn't pop from the womb able to do it, either.